This week Virgin Orbit, who had with great fanfair planned to become the next major satellite launch company and a competitor of SpaceX, has now filed for bankruptcy protection. This comes months after one of its rockets failed to reach orbit in January, and the company has reportedly been struggling ever since, first covered by The New York Times.
Virgin Orbit was ounded by Richard Branson,used a converted Boeing 747 aircraft that would carry a rocket beneath its wing to launch its rockets from the air instant of land.
Sadly, Virgin Orbit’s recent attempt failed to reach orbit and the nine satellites on board were all lost.
This news comes as recently Virgin Orbit laid off 675 employees, nearly 85% of its workforce, saying it was “inability to secure meaningful funding.”
The company’s chief executive, Dan Hart, said Virgin Orbit is seeking a purchaser. Fro now though there is no word on who maybe interested in buying Virgin Orbit.
“We believe that the cutting-edge launch technology that this has created will have wide appeal to buyers as we continue in the process to sell the company,” Hart said in a statement.