Satellite Built by Open
Cosmos and RHEA Group to Fly on LauncherOne as Part
of First UK Mission
July 21, 2022
In what will be a mission of
firsts, Virgin Orbit has been selected to launch
RHEA Group’s first satellite into space. The
international engineering and solutions firm is
working with Open Cosmos to design, build and
operate its mission. Open Cosmos and RHEA have
selected Virgin Orbit from its UK business to carry
the satellite, DOVER Pathfinder (DOVER), to Low
Earth Orbit aboard its historic flight from
Spaceport Cornwall later this year. The mission will
mark the first time in history that a satellite
launch has been conducted from British soil, helping
fulfill the goals of the UK government to enable
full end-to-end space capability.
DOVER is funded in part by the
UK Space Agency through the European Space Agency’s
(ESA) Navigation Programme (NAVISP), which was
created to support innovation and competitiveness in
the European position, navigation, and timing (PNT)
landscape. The DOVER satellite, for which the
payload was designed by the RHEA team in the UK, and
is built by UK-based Open Cosmos, will serve as a
pathfinder for resilient global navigation satellite
systems.
“We are delighted to have been
selected by RHEA Group and Open Cosmos for their
first joint mission. The fact that the DOVER
Pathfinder satellite was designed and built in the
UK by Open Cosmos, was co-funded by the UK Space
Agency and the European Space Agency, and now will
be launched by Virgin Orbit from Spaceport Cornwall,
is a great example of the power that comes with the
infusion of space collaboration taking place across
the globe,” said Virgin Orbit CEO Dan Hart. “The
work RHEA will do with DOVER will help to assure
reliable navigation, which touches all of us and can
be vital for everything from environmentally
efficient shipping to national security.”
RHEA Group is privately-owned
and has specialized in providing bespoke engineering
solutions, system development and security services
for space, military, government, and other critical
infrastructures since its founding in 1992.
John Bone, RHEA Group’s Chief
Commercial Officer and UK Vice President, has
expressed that the company is pleased to be joining
Virgin Orbit in this historic mission.
“We are celebrating our 30th
anniversary this year, and we can’t think of a
better way to mark this milestone than by partnering
with Virgin Orbit to launch our first ever satellite
as part of such an historic launch,” said Bone.
Emma Jones, RHEA UK Business
Director, noted that DOVER was named after the Dover
Strait, the narrowest part of the English Channel
which is also known to possess the busiest shipping
lanes. Historically, the Dover Straight has been a
key location for testing new techniques for PNT.
Open Cosmos is focused on the
delivery of satellite missions and the data of the
world they can gather from space. Since its creation
in 2015, it has developed multiple advanced
satellites for telecommunications, earth
observation, navigation, and science.
Aleix Megias, Open Cosmos’
Co-Founder and VP of Operations, has expressed that
the company is pleased to be joining Virgin Orbit in
this historic mission. “It is a pleasure to join
Virgin Orbit’s first launch from the UK with this
first pathfinder satellite mission of RHEA. The
short delivery time of this mission is a
demonstration of our capabilities to provide
responsive manufacturing, launch and operations of
satellite infrastructure, all from the UK. This is
why we founded Open Cosmos, to enable companies,
organizations and governments to launch their own
satellites and benefit from the ability to collect
and monitor data from space,” Megias said.
This first-ever orbital launch
from British soil will also be Virgin Orbit’s first
overseas flight. It will also serve as LauncherOne’s
fifth consecutive mission carrying commercial and
government customers since beginning operations in
2021, an achievement which demonstrates its ability
to launch from any 747-capable airfield globally.
Virgin Orbit has been working closely with the UK’s
Civil Aviation Authority (CAA), the Royal Air Force
(RAF), and the Spaceport Cornwall team to make all
necessary preparations for mission liftoff.
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