BNN Bloomberg (CAN) reports that Virgin Orbit “has paused operations and furloughed staff while it attempts to secure more funding.” The changes “were announced at an all-hands meeting with employees on Wednesday, according to a person familiar with the matter.” A company spokesperson said in a statement, “Virgin Orbit is initiating a company-wide operational pause, effective March 16, 2023, and anticipates providing an update on go-forward operations in the coming weeks.”
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Tag: Virgin Orbit
Virgin Orbit Closing for Good After $36.4M Asset Sale
Reuters reports that on Tuesday, Virgin Orbit “revealed that it was closing for good after a $36.4 million asset sale, including an agreement to sell the bulk of its Long Beach, California, headquarters to small-launch firm Rocket Lab USA Inc.” Rocket Lab won Virgin Orbit’s “primary manufacturing site for $16 million during an auction held on Monday, according to a court filing disclosing the results of a weeks-long Chapter 11 bid process. The purchase agreement includes machinery and equipment that had been used to manufacture Virgin Orbit’s flagship LauncherOne rockets, which air-launched from the belly of a modified Boeing 747. It is subject to the bankruptcy court’s approval during a hearing scheduled for Wednesday.”
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Virgin Orbit Files for Bankruptcy
Reuters reports that Virgin Orbit “filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy on Tuesday after the satellite launch company failed to secure the long-term funding needed to help it recover from a January rocket failure.” The company is seeking a sale of its assets after laying off almost 90% of its employees last week, with the assets having a listed value of $243 million and debt of $153.5 million as of September 30. The company suffered a rocket failure earlier this year and then failed to find necessary funding, which caused the layoffs last month.
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Virgin Orbit On Track to Launch LauncherOne In Last Week of June
Fox Business reports that Virgin Orbit “announced Tuesday that its upcoming orbital mission, dubbed ‘Tubular Bells, Part One’…is on track to launch in the last week of June.” The company “said that its rocket, LauncherOne, has been shipped to Mojave Air and Space Port in California where final preparations are underway.” LauncherOne’s “payload will include satellites from the U.S. Department of Defense’s Space Test Program, SatRevolution, and the Royal Netherlands Air Force.” Last week, Virgin Orbit “conducted a successful cryoload test, where LauncherOne was filled with liquid oxygen propellant and fully pressurized to flight-like levels.” The company “will now move forward with a ‘wet dress rehearsal,’ where it will run through all combined launch operations up until takeoff.”
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Virgin Orbit Space Plane Arrives In Cornwall for UK Launch
The Daily Mail (UK) reports, “The first ever orbital launch on British soil is another step closer – with Virgin Orbit’s space plane set to arrive in Cornwall later this week.” As soon as next month, Cosmic Girl will take off from Newquay with a 70-foot rocket full of satellites, which will be flown to high altitude and launched into space from there. This will mark the first satellite launch from Britain, as well as the first commercial launch from Europe and the first international launch by Virgin Orbit.
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Virgin Orbit to Launch Seven Satellites into Space Thursday
The Daily Mail (UK) reports that Virgin Orbit “is set to fire seven satellites into space later today, when RAF pilot [Matthew Stannard] ‘Stanny’ unleashes the LauncherOne rocket from a Boeing 747.” The jet “will fly up to 35,000ft over the Pacific Ocean for an hour, before deploying the Launcher One rocket and roughly 660lb of satellites contained within,” sending the satellites “into a 310 mile orbit” at 16:00 ET (21:00 GMT).
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Richard Branson Defends Space Travel
CNBC reports that Richard Branson spoke to the BBC in an interview and expressed his optimism for space travel, saying that it is “incredibly important” for the Earth. However, many are pushing back against the environmental implications of the growth of rocket launches for space tourism, with a study by the NOAA in June 2022 suggesting “that a significant boost in spaceflight activity may damage the protective ozone layer on the one planet where we live.” Branson answered that criticism by saying, “What Virgin and our principal competitors have managed to do is bring the environmental costs of space travel down dramatically, in terms of carbon cost.” He added that these costs would “come down even further.”
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Virgin Galactic and Virgin Orbit Face Challenges
SPACE reports, “Shareholders in Virgin Galactic launched a class action lawsuit with numerous allegations about the space tourism company, which grounded its VSS Unity SpaceShipTwo vehicle and its carrier plane, VMS Eve, for maintenance and upgrade work after a high-profile flight in July 2021 starring Branson himself. The two vehicles are likely to start flying again in early 2023, company officials said recently.” US District Judge Allyne Ross ruled that shareholders could attempt to prove fraud in overpaying for Virgin Galactic’s shares, but the class action’s other claims were dismissed. Virgin Orbit’s regulatory approval is still pending for a Cornwall-based launch originally planned for November. “On Monday, Virgin Orbit lowered its 2022 launch forecast to three excursions (down from a previously estimated range of four to six launches). Its cash on hand has fallen to just $71.2 million, and more than a third of the money remaining ($25 million) came from a Friday (Nov. 4) investment by major shareholder Virgin Group, which is the portfolio of Branson’s businesses.”
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