American spaceflight company Virgin Galactic has successfully tested the Newton Three main stage engine to be used on its small satellite launch vehicle LauncherOne.

The in-house rocket propulsion team of Virgin Galactic has test fired the engine at a custom-built test stand in Mojave, California.

The latest test firings of key propulsion components by the LauncherOne team are considered to be a milestone towards Virgin Galactic’s satellite launch mission.

Through the project, the LauncherOne team has achieved a longer duration steady-state operation and is able to capture high-quality data about the main stage engine during start-up, operation, and safe shutdown.

"LauncherOne will now be able to launch 200kg into the standard Sun-Synchronous Orbit, commonly preferred by small satellite missions."

The team also achieved multiple full-duration firings of the gas generator for LauncherOne’s upper-stage engine.

Two rocket engines were used during LauncherOne’s orbital flights; a single 73,500lbf thrust ‘NewtonThree’ main-stage engine, and a single 5,000lbf thrust ‘NewtonFour’ upper-stage engine.

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Virgin Galactic has built and tested both engines, which are highly reliable and pump-fed LOX/RP-1 liquid rocket designed.

Previously, Virgin Galactic successfully completed test campaigns on pressure-fed demonstrator engines of both ‘NewtonOne’ and ‘NewtonTwo’ engines, which has been withdrawn now. Recently, Virgin Galactic announced it had increased the payload performance of LauncherOne to meet the demands from the growing small satellite market.

Following this, LauncherOne will now be able to launch 200kg into the standard Sun-Synchronous Orbit, commonly preferred by small satellite missions for a price of less than $10m.

Customers can also purchase further increases in performance of the same orbit, as well as launches that reach other altitudes or inclinations.

The system will be able to launch more than 400kg of payload to lower low-earth orbits.