• Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Home
  • News
  • Featured
  • More News ⌄
    • SatNews
    • SatMagazine
    • MilSatMagazine
  • Events ⌄
    • MilSat Symposium
    • SmallSat Symposium
    • Satellite Innovation
  • Contacts
  • SUBSCRIPTION

SmallSat News

You are here: Home / News / Virgin Orbit Partners with Oita Prefecture and the Oita Airport as Another Smallsat Launch Services Site

Virgin Orbit Partners with Oita Prefecture and the Oita Airport as Another Smallsat Launch Services Site

April 6, 2020 by editorial

Virgin Orbit has announced a new partnership with Oita Prefecture to bring horizontal launch to Japan.

With the support of regional partners ANA Holdings Inc. and the Space Port Japan Association, Virgin Orbit has identified Oita Airport as its preferred pilot launch site — yet another addition to the company’s growing global network of horizontal launch sites — in pursuit of a mission to space from Japan as early as 2022.

Virgin Orbit and Oita Prefecture have agreed to commence a joint technical study to facilitate development of the future spaceport.

Oita Prefecture is widely recognized in Japan as not only a top-ranked tourist destination, but also as a hub for numerous high-tech ecosystems, including the steel, petrochemical, semiconductor, and automobile industries. The Oita Prefectural Government now has ambitions to extend that leadership into the space domain.

Photo of Oita Airport, Japan.

LauncherOne, Virgin Orbit’s uniquely mobile launch system, will leverage sites around the world like Oita to provide flexible and responsive flights to space for a broad variety of customers. Most recently, the UK Space Agency announced a multi-million dollar grant to facilitate horizontal launches from Spaceport Cornwall. In April of 2019, Virgin Orbit revealed that it would also conduct launches from Andersen Air Force Base on the Pacific island of Guam — Virgin Orbit is also working closely with multiple governments and international organizations interested in establishing launch capabilities closer to home.

After successfully demonstrating all major vehicle assemblies and completing an extensive flight test program, the Virgin Orbit team is in the midst of final preparations for an orbital launch demonstration expected soon.

Katsusada Hirose, Governor for the Oita Prefectural Government, said, “We are eager to host the first horizontal takeoff and landing spaceport in Japan. We are also honored to be able to collaborate with brave technology companies solving global-level problems through their small satellites. We hope to foster a cluster of space industry in our prefecture, starting with our collaboration with Virgin Orbit.”

Dan Hart, the CEO for Virgin Orbit, said the global use of smaller satellites and related launch activities are expected to ramp up rapidly in the coming years, a flexible domestic launch capability becomes a crucial factor. It’s a key element in ensuring the availability and responsiveness of launch — a core enabler for the growing space economy. As Japan looks to establish a regional launch hub for Asia,
Virgin Orbit is excited to work alongside Oita to enable launch operations for space ventures, stimulate the local economy, and facilitate the growth of Japan’s broader space ecosystem.

 

 

Filed Under: News

Primary Sidebar

WEEKLY NEWSLETTER

Archives

  • March 2023
  • February 2023
  • January 2023
  • December 2022
  • November 2022
  • October 2022
  • September 2022
  • August 2022
  • July 2022
  • June 2022
  • May 2022
  • April 2022
  • March 2022
  • February 2022
  • January 2022
  • December 2021
  • November 2021
  • October 2021
  • September 2021
  • August 2021
  • July 2021
  • June 2021
  • May 2021
  • April 2021
  • March 2021
  • February 2021
  • January 2021
  • December 2020
  • November 2020
  • October 2020
  • September 2020
  • August 2020
  • July 2020
  • June 2020
  • May 2020
  • April 2020
  • March 2020
  • February 2020
  • January 2020
  • December 2019
  • November 2019
  • October 2019

© 2019–2023 SatNews

x
Sign Up Now!

Enjoy a free weekly newsletter with recent headlines from the global SmallSat industry.

Invalid email address
We promise not to spam you. You can unsubscribe at any time.
Thanks for subscribing! You will now receive weekly SmallSat News updates.
We love our advertisers.
And you will too!

Please disable Ad Blocker to continue... We promise to keep it unobtrusive.
We promise not to spam you. You can unsubscribe at any time.
Invalid email address
Thanks for subscribing! Please check your email for further instructions.