The space market It opens up great opportunities for many private companies looking to take it to orbit (or with even more complex missions). Despite the many opportunities that this type of space economy offers, the competition is also very high and with it comes great risk and the possibility of failure. A recent example is that of Virgo Orbit what he stated bankruptcy.
The company of the billionaire group Richard Branson (and not directly related to Virgin Galactic) had developed a new light carrier known as LauncherOnewhich cannot take off from the mainland but is docked under the wing of a Boeing 747 (Cosmic Girl), which makes it possible to reach space from different places in the world, basically anywhere where there was a runway to lift the plane. This could potentially have opened up many opportunities, but it wasn’t enough to save the company.
Virgin Orbit files for bankruptcy
After the first rumours, official confirmations soon arrived. The company said bankruptcy on April 4, not to build a sustainable business, even if the conditions were initially good. Now Virgo Orbit is on the market looking for a buyer who can also solve the current financial problems and give the remaining employees (85% of the 800 employees were laid off early) a future.
Dan Hart (CEO of Virgin Orbit) he explained “While we have made great efforts to improve our financial position and secure additional funding, ultimately we must do what is best for the company. We believe the state-of-the-art launch technology this team has developed will attract buyers as we continue the Sale of the company continue procedure”.
The company’s properties would be worth $243 million, but they would be there too $153.5 million in debt. Despite the investments made by the Virgin Group through Virgin Investments Limited, it has not been possible to maintain positive operating results.
It certainly didn’t help the issue when first launching from the UK. It would have been a great opportunity both in terms of publicity and to demonstrate the solidity of launch operations (including carriers). However, the failure resulted in the loss of the payload as well as the space rocket, and while it didn’t cause any problems on the ground, it was another issue to deal with. What will happen next is hard to say, but this could be one of many “the victims” the new space economy.
