Virgin Orbit has announced its intention to become the first private company to send small artificial satellites - cubsats - to Mars. SatRevolution and about a dozen Polish universities help her in developing spacecraft. The first launch is scheduled for 2022.

Virgin Orbit is Virgin Galactic's sister company, Richard Branson, which provides space travel services. The idea of ​​covering the Red Planet with tiny satellites of Virgin Orbit was inspired by NASA's InSight mission, in which two cubsats were sent to Mars. The company wants to repeat this success by launching similar, 50-pound spacecraft on the LauncherOne launcher into outer space.

Upon reaching Mars, interplanetary cubsats will be able to take photographs, study the atmosphere and search for water. In addition, the devices can be involved in the study of the satellites of Mars, Venus, as well as objects in the asteroid belt, said Will Ver Pomerantz, vice president of special projects at Virgin Orbit.

However, before the company will have to complete the construction of LauncherOne. It is estimated that the 21-meter launch vehicle will be dropped from the modified Boeing 747 (Cosmic Girl) right in the air, at an altitude of about 11 kilometers. In many ways, the success of the entire Virgin Orbit mission will depend on the success of LauncherOne launch.

hitech.vesti.ru