Virgin spinoff company Virgin Orbit has been awarded a license for its maiden attempt to do just that, with hopes of beginning commercial services before the year is out.

Virgin Orbit's space ambitions hinge on a similar methodology to sister company Virgin Galactic's, in that both aim to use motherships as high-flying launchpads for smaller vehicles to travel to space.

Where Virgin Galactic hopes to give rise to space tourism by carrying well-heeled thrill-seekers to suborbital altitudes inside supersonic spaceplanes, Virgin Orbit will instead focus in launching small satellites.