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.
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It’s been a turbulent week for Virgin Orbit, headquartered out of Long Beach California. The company suspended all operations and furloughed most of its workforce for a week as it sought relief by raising funds to rescue its rocket-flying business, according to sources close to the matter on March 15.
During a 5 p.m. EDT meeting that day, company higher-ups explained that employees could cash in their paid time off as the furlough would be unpaid with a small team remaining in place continuing to work.
During the third quarter of 2022, Virgin Orbit reported a loss of $42.9 million as cash demands continued, with fourth quarter funding coming from an investment arm of its founder Richard Branson’s parent company, Virgin Group.
Notes in the amounts of $25 million, an unsecured convertible note secured in November of 2022, along with another $30 million in senior secured notes in December 2022 and January 2023 gives “first priority” access to assets by Branson’s parent company.
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Virgin Orbit is back at it again with their one-of-a-kind LauncherOne rocket. Wednesday, the rocket will launch mid-air from Virgin Orbit’s custom Boeing 747 with several customer satellites onboard. Here’s everything we know and how you can watch it live.
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After becoming a publically traded company last week, Richard Branson’s commercial launch provider, Virgin Orbit, is preparing for its first launch of 2022. Onboard will be four payloads from both civil and commercial entities. Continuing on with fun names Virgin Orbit has given its mission, this one is called “Above the Clouds.”
Launch Date: Wednesday, January 12, ~5:00 p.m. EST (Takeoff: ~4:00 p.m. EST)
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The smallsat launcher owned by Richard Branson announced it will be joining the trend of other space companies and merging with a Special Purpose Acquisition Company (SPAC). This also comes with some new future plans for Virgin Orbit like turning LauncherOne into a reusable rocket and developing a new LauncherTwo vehicle.
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This morning Virgin Orbit is attempting their third flight of the LauncherOne air-launched vehicle. This will be the first operational flight of the vehicle after their successful Demo-2 mission in January.
Date: Wednesday, June 30th, 10:47 a.m. EDT (Drop and Launch)
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Virgin Orbit has become one of the newest launch providers to come online with the success of their Demo 2 launch earlier this year. Now their first operational mission is nearing launch readiness by the end of this month.
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In a press release Wednesday, Virgin Orbit announced that they were selected by geospatial analytics company Hypersat, and QinetiQ, a defense and security company, to launch 6 hyperspectral satellites into low earth orbit.
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Virgin Orbit attempted its second demonstration launch on Sunday after their first attempt failed shortly after the first stage ignition last year. This time around they didn’t just launch a mass simulator but actual payloads from NASA’s Educational Launch of Nanosatellites program ElaNa 20 which contained several CubeSats from universities across the nation.
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Virgin Orbit is developing a launch system that can deploy small rockets from anywhere on the planet, but the spread of COVID-19 continues to affect the pace of progress.
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After the first Demo Mission of its LauncherOne air launch system ended in the ocean rather than orbit, Virgin Orbit plans to launch Demo Mission 2 on December 19. This will be its second-ever launch attempt, and this time, it will be adding customer payloads to the top of the rocket.
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Virgin Orbit will return to flight as soon as late 2020 with a second demonstration mission aimed at dropping a space-bound LauncherOne rocket from the wing of a 747 plane named Cosmic Girl. The second orbital flight test will include NASA payload this time with 11 small satellites onboard for deployment.
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