Tag • #virgin orbit

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No one should be surprised Virgin Orbit failed—it had a terrible business plan

news.movim.eu / ArsTechnica · Wednesday, 24 May, 2023 - 16:46

Branson dug the 747 aircraft acquired by Virgin Orbit. (credit: Eric Berger)

It's now official—the launch company Virgin Orbit is being sold for parts. In a new filing as part of the bankruptcy process, Rocket Lab purchased the company's main production facility in Long Beach, California, to support its Neutron rocket. Stratolaunch bought Virgin Orbit’s Boeing 747 aircraft and related equipment. And Launcher acquired the company's lease on a test site in Mojave.

That's it. After six years, Virgin Orbit is done, and its LauncherOne will fly no more. The purpose of this article is not to criticize the company's technology or employees. In truth, the engineering teams did a magnificent job of getting a liquid-fueled rocket to drop from a 747 aircraft, ignite its engine, and reach space.

No, the problem was Virgin Orbit's management, including Chief Executive Officer Dan Hart and its founder, Sir Richard Branson. Due to their leadership, the company had a terrible, unsupportable business plan and compounded those issues by hiring an unsustainable workforce of 700 people.

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Virgin Orbit va peut-être rester au sol pour de bon

news.movim.eu / Numerama · Tuesday, 4 April, 2023 - 09:33

Virgin Orbit

85 % des employés licenciés, des activités à l'arrêt depuis plusieurs semaines, une entreprise au bord de la faillite, un échec en début d'année. L'avenir de Virgin Orbit est désormais très sombre. [Lire la suite]

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Ça sent le sapin pour Virgin Orbit

news.movim.eu / JournalDuGeek · Sunday, 2 April, 2023 - 07:00

L'échec cuisant du lancement raté début janvier au Royaume-Uni a peut-être scellé le sort de Virgin Orbit. L'entreprise de Richard Branson spécialisée dans le lancement de petits satellites a annoncé une « pause » dans ses opérations. Prélude à la fermeture complète et définitive ?

Ça sent le sapin pour Virgin Orbit

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Au fond du trou, Virgin Orbit va licencier 85% de ses employés

news.movim.eu / JournalDuGeek · Friday, 31 March, 2023 - 15:30

Richard Branson et le Launcher One de Virgin Orbit

Minée par des résultats pas franchement encourageants, l'entreprise de Richard Branson va passer en coma artificiel dans l'espoir de trouver une perfusion financière salvatrice.

Au fond du trou, Virgin Orbit va licencier 85% de ses employés

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Virgin Orbit pauses all operations

news.movim.eu / ArsTechnica · Thursday, 16 March, 2023 - 15:20 · 1 minute

Enlarge / Virgin Orbit was founded by Sir Richard Branson. (credit: Virgin Orbit)

It's been a rough first quarter of 2023 for Virgin Orbit, Sir Richard Branson's US-based flagship satellite launch company. First, the company had a disastrous UK launch attempt in January; the launch failed after a problem with the rocket's second-stage engine. The company's already precarious financial situation went critical in the wake of that failure. As Ars' Eric Berger reported at the time , several financial analysts predicted that the company would run out of money sometime in March.

Those analysts proved quite prescient. BBC News reports that the beleaguered company will pause its operations on Thursday and furlough almost all its staff, although the company did not officially confirm the furloughs to BBC News. In a statement, the company merely said, "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." Shares dropped 18.8 percent to 82 cents (72p) in extended trading in response to the news.

Per our prior coverage , Virgin Orbit started as an idea in 2011 by Branson as an offshoot of his Virgin Galactic space business, with the goal of fully utilizing the White Knight aircraft. Eventually, it was decided that the company, formally created in 2017, would use its own aircraft, a modified Boeing 747-400 named Cosmic Girl , as a platform from which it could drop and launch small rockets. It was funded for most of a decade by the Virgin Group, the multinational company that owns and operates Branson's various businesses, as well as an Emirati state-owned holding company Mubadala Investment Company.

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Virgin Orbit receives another small investment from Branson—and it’s worrisome

news.movim.eu / ArsTechnica · Wednesday, 1 February, 2023 - 15:25

Photo of Cosmic Girl aircraft and LauncherOne rocket.

Enlarge / LauncherOne arrives on the runway at Long Beach Airport for a fit check with Cosmic Girl in October 2018. (credit: Virgin Orbit/Greg Robinson)

This week, Virgin Orbit formally notified investors that it has raised an additional $10 million from Virgin Investments Limited, an investment firm owned by Sir Richard Branson.

Exactly what this filing means for the company's future will probably not become clear until Virgin Orbit releases financial details about its fourth-quarter earnings for 2022, and this may not happen until late March. But there are a few things in the filing that raise concerns about the financial solvency of the US-based small-launch company.

Virgin Orbit was founded in 2017 by Branson as a small satellite launch company. At that time, it was separated from Virgin Galactic, which is a suborbital space tourism company that aims to fly paying customers on short forays above 80 km. Virgin Orbit drops its LauncherOne rocket from a modified Boeing 747-400 named Cosmic Girl .

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L&#8217;échec de la fusée de Virgin Orbit a bien été causé par un problème de propulsion

news.movim.eu / Numerama · Monday, 16 January, 2023 - 09:58

Virgin Orbit a bien constaté une extinction prématurée de la propulsion de son second étage de fusée Launcher One. [Lire la suite]

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Even before Monday’s launch failure, Virgin Orbit’s finances were dismal

news.movim.eu / ArsTechnica · Tuesday, 10 January, 2023 - 14:30

Enlarge / Virgin Orbit was founded by Sir Richard Branson. (credit: Virgin Orbit)

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.

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Le tout premier décollage d&#8217;une fusée au Royaume-Uni vire à l&#8217;échec

news.movim.eu / Numerama · Tuesday, 10 January, 2023 - 09:44

LauncherOne Virgin Orbit

La société Virgin Orbit n'a pas réussi à envoyer une fusée depuis le territoire du Royaume-Uni. Ce devait être une première. La fusée, au lieu de partir du sol, était lancée depuis un avion en vol. [Lire la suite]

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