Launch company Virgin Orbit is going through some tough financial times, according to media reports.
Branson's Virgin Group had spent something like $1 billion on Virgin Orbit over the years, including $60 million since November 2022, Sky News reported. A source speaking anonymously said"the funding provided to the company had not been sufficient to counter the strong headwinds and liquidity crisis facing it," the outlet wrote.
The headwinds were not specified by the source, but aside from Virgin Orbit's failure in January, market conditions have been poor lately for startup space companies. For example, the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank, a commercial bank friendly to young tech-oriented firms, has sent shockwaves through the markets this past week.
Virgin Orbit's 70-foot-long LauncherOne is designed for sending small satellites to orbit underneath the wing of a modified Boeing 747 called Cosmic Girl. Each mission sees the plane bring LauncherOne high in altitude before dropping the rocket for the booster to make its way to space. In the past, Virgin Orbit representatives said the air-launching effort would make the company more flexible for customer needs than standard rockets. Air-launching is also used for space tourists who fly withVirgin Galactic hasn't flown any tourists since
, pending upgrades and maintenance to its vehicles. With that work almost completed, the next mission could fly as soon as this spring, according to recent Virgin Galactic updates.?" , a book about space medicine. Follow her on Twitter
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