Virgin Galactic, a private space tourism company, unveiled plans to add satellite launches to its list of commercial space services, which would use the expendable two-stage liquid-fuelled rocket LauncherOne.
The announcement was made by Richard Branson himself, the billionaire founder of Virgin Galactic. The company announced that it targets its first blastoff for 2016.
"I'm delighted to say that we can announce the next step of the Virgin Galactic journey. A step that will bring great long-term benefits to our existing SpaceShipTwo program. It will unlock new technologies and will help fast-track the potential of space as a positive force for powerful change," Branson said as he unveiled LauncherOne, according to Space.
The LauncherOne rocket will launch satellites into the orbit for interested clients for the price of $10 million. It is ready to loft up to 225 kilograms into a low-Earth orbit and 102 kilograms satellite into a sun- synchronous orbit, Yahoo! News reports.
Virgin Galactic officials said there are already several clients lined up for the rocket's first flight. One of the clients is OneWeb Ltd., a startup company that aims to provide the fastest global Internet service. OneWeb hired Virgin Galactic to put at least 39 satellites into orbit, the Wall Street Journal reports.
