Wednesday, October 9, 2019

Virgin Orbit Plans Mars Satellite Launch

Virgin Orbit, one of the space launch startups backed by The Virgin Group, is planning an effort to launch small satellites to Mars, the company said on Wednesday. Virgin Orbit, which is based in Mojave, says it has teamed up with a Poland-based satellite company called SatEvolution, to create a new consortium dedicated to launching a commercial small satellite mission to Mars. Financial details of the consortium effort were not announced. Virgin Orbit--led by Sir Richard Branson--said that the deal includes development of up to three Mars missions, with initial launch as early as three years from now.