Virgin Orbit and the Luxembourg Minister of Defence has signed a Letter of Intent, according to which they will begin the process towards developing responsive space capabilities.
These responsive space capabilities will be inclusive of mobile launch infrastructure that would be based in Luxembourg. However according to the Letter of Intent, these capabilities will only be made available for NATO partners, and other Allies across the European continent.
As a part of the agreement, signed by Virgin Orbit Chief Executive Officer Dan Hart and Luxembourg Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Defence, Francois Bausch, Virgin Orbit will work closely with the Luxembourg Directorate of Defence and they will assess on how to develop a responsive space capability based in Luxembourg.
“We look forward to working with the Luxembourg Directorate of Defence to explore how Virgin Orbit’s flexible and mobile LauncherOne system can provide end-to-end responsive space missions to strengthen the resiliency of NATO and other Allies,” said Hart.
“As we approach the first historic launch in the United Kingdom and recent announcements to bring air-launch capability to other parts of the world, this initiative in Luxembourg resonates as another significant milestone in our journey to enable resilient space access by providing a game-changing global launch infrastructure,” he added.
Virgin Orbit’s role in the collaboration
According to the agreement, Virgin Orbit will develop a plan for the development, delivery, mobilization, and sustainment of LauncherOne Ground Support Equipment and other responsive launch infrastructure that would be allocated for Allied use.
Through this collaboration, both the companies will engage with the partners, who are interested in leveraging this capability and determine the necessary operating constructs and requirements for delivering responsive launch infrastructure to Luxembourg that would allow Allied nations to conduct horizontal launches from a network of active and on-call spaceports in Europe.
Developing a global spaceport network
“Luxembourg Defence is constantly searching for new ways to strengthen its role as a reference partner in the space domain. As highlighted in our Space Strategy, we aim at contributing to the joint effort in defence by developing high-end space capabilities and ensuring access to space through resilient satellite launch capabilities. We are looking forward to further investigate how we can contribute to the development of the responsive space capability with Allies and partners,” said Bausch.
Virgin Orbit’s LauncherOne flexible launch system offers transportable, mobile, rapid and responsive launch services with the goal of developing a global spaceport network that will offer launch and integrated mission services around the world.
