Virgin Orbit launched its sixth mission, and this rocket launch not only failed to reach orbit - but the satellite crashed into the ocean.
👉 Background: Virgin Orbit was founded by serial entrepreneur Richard Branson back in 2017. The idea was to launch small satellites into the air, which could be used for space communications, climate change and intelligence. It was much more flexible and cheaper than a vertical rocket launcher (ya know, 3,2,1 liftoff).
👉 What happened: Virgin Orbit listed on the Nasdaq stock exchange via a SPAC in 2021. But in January this year, Virgin Orbit launched its sixth mission, and this rocket launch not only failed to reach orbit - but the satellite crashed into the ocean.
👉 What else: Now, Virgin Orbit will shut down after it failed to raise enough money to keep the company going after its big launch fail.
💡When the stakes are high, one high-profile mishap can ruin a company. The Virgin Orbit satellites that crashed into the ocean in January were US and British intelligence satellites - with highly sensitive data.
💡And Virgin Orbit aren’t the only ones competing for this highly-competitive and potentially-lucrative space...
💡So far, SpaceX has launched 4,000 satellites successfully and Amazon has also announced new satellites too. So sadly for Richard Branson, Virgin Orbit could no longer be trusted.
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