The American space company Virgin Orbit announced the termination of its activities for the delivery of satellites into Earth’s orbit. The reason for this decision was the lack of funding.
Unfortunately, we were unable to secure funding to provide a clear path for the company. We have no choice but to make immediate, dramatic and extremely painful changes.
According to CEO Dan Hart, the company will lay off 90% of its employees, leaving only a hundred people.
Virgin Orbit was founded in 2017. The company was working on the LauncherOne rocket, which was launched from a modified Boeing 747 aircraft. From 2020 to 2023, Virgin Orbit conducted six launches, two of which were unsuccessful.
The company’s latest high-profile failure was an attempt to carry out the first ever space launch from the territory of Britain. The rocket’s second stage failed and as a result it crashed to the ground. 9 satellites were lost.