Virgin Orbit files for bankruptcy:
Virgin Orbit, the low-Earth orbit small payload launch company that was spun out of Richard Branson's Virgin Galactic, has filed for bankruptcy protection with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. The bankruptcy filing follows weeks of bad news for the company, including a pause on all operations, a brief hunt for more money to continue as a going concern, and massive layoffs to try to right-size to the company's actual available budget, which today's news essentially confirms was non-existent.
Prior to this fast and furious couple week meltdown, Virgin Orbit had already shown signs that it was essentially on life support: the company's marquee first flight from a brand new British spaceport in January ended in failure due to an anomaly, and there was very little indication on when another attempt might arrive.
Virgin Orbit spun out of Virgin Galactic way back in 2017, as the Branson-backed space company divided its efforts into two separate avenues of focus: Galactic would pursue human spaceflight, targeting suborbital trips for scientists and wealth thrill-seekers. That has borne some fruit, but also hasn't yet achieved the scale and cadence of operation that it aspired to have accomplished at this stage. Orbit, meanwhile, aimed at delivering small payloads to low-Earth orbit, using small rockets that launched from the wings of a large carrier ship, a modified 747-400 commercial passenger aircraft.
[...] Virgin Orbit will seek a sale of the entire company or its assets as possible recourses to resolve its bankruptcy status, the company said in the filing.
Previously:
Even Before Monday's Launch Failure, Virgin Orbit's Finances Were Dismal
Historic UK Mission Reaches Space Falls Short of Orbit
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[Ed. note: original story submission was about the upcoming launch and this submission has been updated with the launch result --hubie]
After successfully taking off from the runway at Spaceport Cornwall – which just a few weeks ago was transformed from a mere slab of empty cement at a commercial airport to the world's newest space launch operations center – and travelling to the designated drop zone, Cosmic Girl, the customized 747 that serves as the LauncherOne system's carrier aircraft, successfully released the rocket.
The rocket then ignited its engines, quickly going hypersonic and successfully reaching space. The flight then continued through successful stage separation and ignition of the second stage. However, at some point during the firing of the rocket's second stage engine and with the rocket travelling at a speed of more than 11,000 miles per hour, the system experienced an anomaly, ending the mission prematurely.
From the original story submission:
Seeing as Start Me Up is the "first" in several ways — it's also the first international launch for Virgin Orbit, as well as the first commercial launch from western Europe — the private space corp said it will "maintain a conservative posture with regard to system health, weather, and all other elements of scheduling." That ups the probability of a delay, unless everything falls into place for Virgin Orbit on Monday. Even so, the LauncherOne orbital launch vehicle that will be used for this mission is now attached to Cosmic Girl, the Boeing 747 aircraft that will serve as its first stage launch platform. The company had to transport LauncherOne, which was manufactured in Long Beach, California, to the UK to make the journey possible.
[...] In addition to making history, the mission will ferry satellites from seven customers, both commercial and government, to orbit. Its payload include CIRCE (Coordinated Ionospheric Reconstruction CubeSat Experiment), which is a joint project between the UK Defense Science and Technology Laboratory and the US Naval Research Laboratory, and two CubeSats for the UK Ministry of Defense's Prometheus-2 initiative.
Some financial analysts believe the company will run out of money in March:
On Monday night Virgin Orbit's attempt to launch a rocket from the United Kingdom failed after a problem with the rocket's second-stage engine.
The US-based launch company did not provide any additional details about the cause of the accident, which led to the loss of nine small satellites on board. In the wake of the failure, officials sought to put a brave face on the mission's outcome and Virgin Orbit's future.
"We will work tirelessly to understand the nature of the failure, make corrective actions, and return to orbit as soon as we have completed a full investigation and mission assurance process," said Dan Hart, Virgin Orbit's chief executive officer, in a prepared statement.
However, the confident words belie a reality that the financial road ahead for Virgin Orbit is a very, very difficult one.
[...] In 2021 the company answered its short-term cash needs by going public, merging with a special purpose acquisition company, or SPAC. However, funds raised from this merger were far less than anticipated. Upon announcing its intent to go public, Virgin Orbit said it anticipated raising $383 million from the proceeds of the SPAC transaction; however, it raised just $68 million from this process and instead had to turn to private investments for an additional $160 million to keep operating.
(Score: 1, Offtopic) by coolgopher on Friday April 07, @06:03AM (1 child)
They say that what goes up must come down, provided it doesn't escape orbit.
(Score: 2) by DannyB on Friday April 07, @02:44PM
That saying does not bode whale for suborbital Jeff. Especially if you can't put even one milligram into orbit; nevermind escaping orbit as a flaming streak across the sky with pieces surviving and landing on a cow patty in a field.
How often should I have my memory checked? I used to know but...