On Thursday, the UK’s space regulator UK Space Agency (UKSA) said it was not to blame for the delay of Virgin Orbit’s mission due to outgoing network connectivity issues the day before.
Virgin Orbit was hoping to launch its Cosmic Girl airborne launch vehicles for the Luxemburg micro-gravity project on Wednesday, however, the company had to scrub the mission due to issue with the customer’s communications networks.
However, UKSA said the delay of Virgin Orbit’s mission was not caused by its own communications and regulatory constraints.
The agency said in a statement: “UKSA is confident this delay was not caused by any restriction or requirements on behalf of the agency, nor do we anticipate any further delays to the mission due to any action of ours.”
The regulator also said it was pleased to be supporting the mission, which is part of the Luxemburg Moon Race program that aims to send a robotic spacecraft to the moon.
The UKSA added: “We look forward to watching the mission progress, and to helping launch days become a regular event this year in collaboration with Virgin Orbit.”
Virgin Orbit had completed the majority of countdown tests prior to the communications issue, which the company said had caused an “extended delay”.
The mission is now expected to take place in the next few days, though the precise timeline has yet to be announced.
The delay of the mission was a setback for Virgin Orbit, which has been working hard to demonstrate its capability to deploy payloads from its Cosmic Girl airliner.
The Cosmic Girl, a Boeing 747, is a unique concept in the space industry, allowing payloads to be launched from the air instead of from a traditional rocket launch pad.
Virgin Orbit hopes its technology will revolutionize satellite launches and could be used by countries and companies around the world.
The UK regulator said it was pleased to be able to offer its support to Virgin Orbit and was looking forward to the launcher’s mission going ahead soon.