Is Virgin Orbit still alive? Apparently so, and want to launch again this year

Two weeks ago, Virgin Orbit filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection and laid off 85% of its workforce after failing to secure funding. However, it seems that doesn’t mean the company is finished, as it says it is working towards a launch later this year.

What has Virgin Orbit been up to?

Several tweets over the past few weeks show the company hasn’t shut down entirely. While the company is still looking for outside investment, CEO Dan Hart seems to want some team members to push forward with getting LauncherOne back flying.

First, a tweet was posted on April 11 that shared that Hart gave his plan to its remaining employees for how to get back to flight. The post also showed some hardware for assembling the company’s eighth rocket. An update tweet later showed the Newton-3 engine being installed into LauncherOne’s first stage.

Second, there was an update on Virgin Orbit’s 747 aircraft called CosmicGirl conducting a simulated launch run off the coast of California. CosmicGirl is the aircraft that carries LaunchOne off the side of its left wing using extra support left by Boeing for spare engine transport. CosmicGirl came from Virgin Atlantic and was initially purchased by Virgin Galactic before Orbit was spun off.

Virgin Investment Limited, who has funded Orbit for the past few months with loans, has first dibs on many of its assets if the company is dissolved. This 747 is one of them, a highly prized asset as Boeing is no longer producing the aircraft.

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Finally, Virgin Orbit updated us on the conclusion of its failure investigation from its launch back in December. It turns out it was a fairly straightforward issue that caused the failure. A filter came loose in the second stage, which could be verified on the ground. So now that the problem has been solved, I guess that means they can launch?

Is launching the right move?

Virgin Orbit failed because it couldn’t scale up its launch cadence or secure an anchor customer to provide stable revenue. To my knowledge, none of that is changing, so maybe this is just a tactic to prove its system works?

So my guess is if Hart makes Virgin Orbit look like it can continue launching its LauncherOne rocket, maybe someone will see the value and buy them up. So while several buyers fell through, there is time to find another, but that could mean a different direction altogether.

Industry analyst Caleb Henry notes that there are opportunities to pivot into hypersonic research like Stratolaunch. Rocket Lab also enters this scene with a modified version of its Electron rocket.

If this move to launch is a move to find a buyer, they better move fast. The company has a deadline for bidders on May 14.