VORB - Joint mission between UK US to launch aboard Virgin Orbit's first overseas flight

Virgin Orbit (NASDAQ:VORB) said Tuesday a joint mission between the U.K.'s Defense Science & Technology Laboratory and the U.S. Naval Research Laboratory will be aboard the first space launch out of Spaceport Cornwall later this year. The joint Coordinated Ionospheric Reconstruction CubeSat Experiment (CIRCE) is supported by the U.S. Dept. of Defense's Space Test Program. "CIRCE will use two 6U CubeSats flying in tandem formation to measure the ionosphere and radiation environment from multiple vantage points," said VORB. The mission will support development of a wide range of civil and defense applications. CIRCE will fly alongside other international commercial customers in VORB's first overseas flight. The flight will feature a Welsh-built satellite supplied by U.K. in-orbit manufacturing startup Space Forge, an earth observation satellite supplied through a joint project with Horizon Technologies and U.K.'s space-tech accelerator The Catapult, as well as Oman's first ever satellite.

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Joint mission between UK, US to launch aboard Virgin Orbit's first overseas flight