Virgin Orbit had barely tweeted news of the successful Jan. 17 space debut of its LauncherOne vehicle on social media when new launch contracts began arriving in the company’s email inbox.

A testament to the pent-up market demand for small-satellite launch capability, the speedy reaction to the long-awaited demonstration of the new space-access vehicle paves the way for multiple follow-on Virgin Orbit missions by year-end and a potential doubling of the rate in 2022.

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