Virgin's Cosmic Girl on its way over to Cornwall for Sept satellite launch

[DaveL59]

1 minute ago, Alien 13 said:

I thought only the Guardian/Telegraph and Observer had that honor of lining a Budgie cage... its all they are good for..

Give me a proper newspaper any day 😀

Alan

 

did you forget the "i"? 😉 

[DaveL59]

so root cause seems that a fuel filter dislodged in the second stage

UK space launch: Dislodged fuel filter blamed for rocket failure - BBC News

 

[DaveL59]

 

[DaveL59]

oh dear, lets hope they get their issues sorted, soon.

Virgin Orbit to pause all operations from Thursday - BBC News

 

 

[DaveL59]

Oh dear, news gets worse re Virgin Orbit 😞

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-65133099

 

 

Edited March 31, 2023 by DaveL59

[PeterW]

Ouch, spending too much too quickly. Good to hear that the UK space activity seems to be in much better overall health. Be interesting to see what happens in the coming years

 

Peter

[DaveS]

Yep, Jordan's not happy at all.

Problem with Branson is, he has too many irons in the fire. Musk is more focused.

[Macavity]

Good to know the employees have not been totally abandoned?!? Maybe they deserved
more than ONE attempt? Recently, the Japanese also suffered a similar "orbital failure"? 😐

I only noticed 'cos ESA sent them a rather sporting: "Better luck next time, Folks!" Tweet! 😎
https://youtu.be/pf-iZz3Pggw  (Japanese H3 Rocket Failure - Destruct Command issued)

Of course the *Elon Fans* are forever "roaring him on"... seemingly forgetting any failures?

 

Edited April 2, 2023 by Macavity

[Shimrod]

3 hours ago, Macavity said:

Of course the *Elon Fans* are forever "roaring him on"... seemingly forgetting any failures?

 

Failure is part of Musk's development process - much like Brian McCready (who won the Kremer prize). Unpinning this is having components that are reusable (as well as easily repairable) to enable a fast development cycle. It also helps to be well capitalised at the start which it seems Virgin Orbit was not if it only took one failure to bring the company to near collapse.

[maw lod qan]

No one trying to get into space has not had failures.

I just wonder what you get for a dollar spent today, compared to the '60's?

[Macavity]

<Pondering> I could never work in "Space Science"! Spend TEN YEARS of your
life *building* something... and then it might just "blow up" on the launchpad?!?😱

I do feel a bit sorry for NASA... They can do nothing right... in the eyes of some...
Hope R. Branson is OK too! Back in the 70's, "risk" was owning a Virgin Record? 😅


 

Edited April 3, 2023 by Macavity

[DaveL59]

ouch, bankrupt

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-65172594

[DaveS]

Not unexpected, but still depressing.

I expect Mr Angry to have something to say.

[maw lod qan]

I hate to see this. Must have been on a very tight budget. 

Hope it does sell, but worry about investors who might lose in the process!

[Shimrod]

3 minutes ago, maw lod qan said:

I hate to see this. Must have been on a very tight budget. 

Hope it does sell, but worry about investors who might lose in the process!

I had a quick look at the financial filings - looks like they have been burning through $150m per year, with revenues in the last year of around $2m. Even if the satellite launch had been successful, I'm not sure the profit on a launch (estimated at $12m cost per launch) would have been enough to get the company to breakeven given the current competition level in the launch market.

[DaveS]

But of course we won't. The UK has form when it comes to missing the boat.

 

[DaveL59]

Game over, sadly

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-65692302

 

[DaveS]

Yep, I saw that too on the beeb.

Edit: I expect our favourite Angry Astronaut will have something excoriating to say.

Edited May 24, 2023 by DaveS

[DaveL59]

Yep, I'm sure he will put something more out on this one. Hopefully Spaceport Cornwall will be OK after losing their lead mover too...

[DaveS]

He's not the only angry bloke.

 

[Mognet]

It might have also been a case of the business not being viable long term even if the technology is good https://arstechnica.com/space/2023/05/no-one-should-be-surprised-virgin-orbit-failed-it-had-a-terrible-business-plan/

[tomato]

C4 documentary on the Virgin Orbit story airing now…