UPDATE! Virgin Orbit Launcher One Anomaly

On January 9th, Virgin Orbit experienced a tragic anomaly with their LauncherOne rocket during the historic first orbital launch from the United Kingdom, which resulted in the loss of the vehicle and its payloads.

Overseeing the investigation into the anomaly were distinguished aerospace veteran Jim Sponnick and Virgin Orbit Chief Engineer Chad Foerster. The failure investigation team received immediate access to extensive telemetry data collected during the mission from the ground stations in the UK, Ireland, and Spain, as well as systems onboard its carrier aircraft, Cosmic Girl (which performed as expected), providing a robust dataset that the investigation team has thoroughly examined.

Working alongside Virgin were a plethora of government agencies from both the USA and United Kingdom, those included the FAA, the UK Air Incidents Investigation Branch (acting as the Space Accident Investigation Authority (SAIA) for the UK), as well personnel from the U.S. Department of Defense, U.S. National Transportation Safety Board, the National Reconnaissance Office, and of course the UK Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) who are the licensing body for all UK launches.

"In space launch, a failure is painful for all involved. Intense disappointment gets quickly channeled into the motivation to dig into the cause, to understand all contributing elements and to thereby get back to flight with a better system and a wiser team. Our investigation is not yet complete; the team is hard at work and we’ll pursue the cause and contributors to wherever the system analysis takes us. ", Virgin Orbit CEO Dan Hart says, "However, with many clear clues from extensive data assessment now understood, we are modifying our next rocket with a more robust filter and we are looking broadly to assure that all credible contributors to mission failure are rooted out and addressed. With those modifications being incorporated on our factory floor, we will proceed cautiously toward the launch of our next rocket, which is well into the integration and test process."

What Went Wrong?

Let's start with what did go as planned. Virgin Orbit determined the team on the ground at Spaceport Cornwall executed all pre-launch procedures and tests as planned, Cosmic Girl had a nominal flight and release of LauncherOne. Following release of the rocket, the first stage, stage separation, ignition of the second stage and fairing jettison all performed as expected.

The investigation into the anomaly continues, however the following is known:

• The data is indicating that from the beginning of the second stage first burn, a fuel filter within the fuel feedline had been dislodged from its normal position.

• Additional data shows that the fuel pump that is downstream of the filter operated at a degraded efficiency level, resulting in the Newton 4 engine being starved for fuel. Performing in this anomalous manner resulted in the engine operating at a significantly higher than rated engine temperature.

• Components downstream and in the vicinity of the abnormally hot engine eventually malfunctioned, causing the second stage thrust to terminate prematurely.

• The early thrust termination ended the mission, and the second stage and its payloads fell back to Earth, landing in the approved safety corridor in the Atlantic Ocean.

The Plan Forward

Virgin Orbit's investigation team have provided a list of a number of issues and how best to resolve them, such as swapping a cheaper filter for a more expensive/trusted filter. Teams at VO's factory in Long Beach will be responsible for implementing the corrective actions.

Virgin says in a press release that the company is expecting a return to flight in the near future from Mojave Air and Space Port with additional details being released about that mission in the coming weeks.