Virgin Orbit to lay off 85 percent of staff, freeze operations
Comments
JumpCrisscross
chrispeel
Mass manufacturing may be important, but there's also a fully reusable first stage, and then just executing. These days they're reusing things enough that I'm not sure the mass manufacturing is so important
mlyle
> realising the specialty plane Virgin’s launch systems relied on
Virgin Galactic which depends upon those "specialty planes" is doing fine, apparently. It's Virgin Orbit with the 747-based system to orbit that is probably at its end.
JumpCrisscross
> Virgin Galactic which depends upon those "specialty planes" is doing fine, apparently
Mhm.
mlyle
Well, it's been a rocky ride overall but they're not running out of cash and have a big order book.
jillesvangurp
SpaceX went through a similarly fragile stage where it nearly went bankrupt before it turned things around and managed to get the Falcon 9 going. Elon Musk got lucky with securing funding at the last minute. And of course he did take on a lot of personal financial risk at the time. Maybe the difference between Branson and Musk is how far they are willing to go.
fuzzfactor
Maybe also a lot of difference in what kind of engineering could be a foundation before becoming a billionaire?
It is kind of a space race after all.
Diederich
That's a damn shame.
We definitely need more rather than less competition in 'new space'.
stametseater
There's already a ton: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_private_spaceflight_co...
Note that Virgin Orbit's niche (small plane-launched rockets into unusual orbits) is already served by the Pegasus rocket, previously by Orbital Sciences and now owned by Northrop. There's doesn't seem to be much demand for it though.
Eisenstein
Why? Sending stuff into space isn't something I want an incompetent company doing. You can do a lot of damage in a lot of ways.
Teever
I think you know that OP didn't suggest that we have more incompetent companies.
Kranar
If OP isn't suggesting that, then what's the shame in having an incompetent company go out of business?
stonogo
It's a shame the company wasn't competent enough to succeed. Why must this be spelled out? I feel like half this thread is bad faith face-value pedanticism for no benefit.
Kranar
Because it's about as meaningless a comment as saying "thoughts and prayers". There's nothing shameful about an incompetent company going out of business, it's actually exactly what should happen.
thom
SpaceX’s first three launches were failures. I think the world is probably better for them not folding after the first.
Kranar
As a correction, it was only the first two of SpaceX's launches that were failures. The third launch succeeded.
thom
As a correction, the first three were failures and Musk himself acknowledges that had the fourth failed they would have folded:
https://www.cnbc.com/amp/2017/09/29/elon-musk-9-years-ago-sp...
pie420
and Virgin Galactic's first 50 launches were failures and VG's first 20 years of existence were a colossal failure. Maybe if a company can't make things work after two decades, it should be dissolved? Or should we let them exist in a malaise of failure for another decade?
thom
Virgin Orbit actually had four successful launches and two failures (their first and apparently last launches). What’s sad about them collapsing right now is they were the only launch partner for the UK’s only spaceport, and if we were generous enough to chalk up the last failure as bad luck, it’s a shame if the whole ecosystem suffers, perhaps irreparably, because of it.
sub7
Oops a Chamath SPAC turned out to be just a vehicle to fleece retail?
It is truly amazing what you can legally get away with
iancmceachern
What are the remaining people going to spend their time doing?
fuzzfactor
I can only imagine.
A company doesn't develop the need to cease operations overnight.
There's usually a core of faulty decision-makers who have become ingrained over time, leading the way toward financial unsustainability. Their jobs can be basically untouchable while the company is seemingly operating without undue threat.
Once too much failure is undeniable, these people keep themselves on board to continue administering the company as well as possible before the money runs out.
Still untouchable but when you do the math the company will last a lot longer before total closure, being administered the way they do but without all that expensive operations stuff.
And maybe make a comeback if they can get some support but it may take confidence in their team's ability to succeed with perhaps a proven-to-fail mindset.
Some people can build that kind of confidence sometimes, you never know.
The same thing that leads toward doom could also be what keeps things alive as a zombie.
dave333
Long term Virgin Orbit probably did itself a favor with the launch failure - better a fast end than a slow strangulation by not being competitive with reusable rockets.
bork1
Link without paywall: https://web.archive.org/web/20230331173423/https://www.washi...
SpaceX’s secret sauce was mass manufacturing. Not building a rocket, but building a system that builds rockets. I remember, over a decade ago, looking at these shops and realising the specialty plane Virgin’s launch systems relied on were being built as works of art. Falcons, on the other hand, were not. Even with the company’s eye on reuse.