Virgin Galactic's deal for 39 launches of OneWeb satellites is the company's first contract for its LauncherOne system, its chief executive said June 25. "This is the first contract we've publicly announced," George Whitesides said in an interview. "We're negotiating several other firm contracts right now, but this is the first one. You can see why we wanted to start big." The contract covers 39 launches of OneWeb satellites using LauncherOne, a small air-launched vehicle the company is developing, with an option for up to 100 additional launches. Those initial 39 launches will take place "roughly over the next five years," Whitesides said. Each LauncherOne mission will be able to carry between one and three OneWeb satellites, he said. The exact number will depend on the final satellite configuration, the launch vehicle's capacity, and the orbits the satellites will go to. OneWeb will launch the bulk of its constellation using Soyuz launches provided by Arianespace. LauncherOne will instead deploy individual satellites to fill gaps in the overall system.
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