The days of Virgin Orbit sending satellites into space with rocket-launched rockets are coming to an end. Virgin’s satellite launch subsidiary said it did not have the necessary funding to continue its operations after six years in operation and will close “in the foreseeable future”, according to the statement. As stated by CEO Dan Hart, about 90 percent of Virgin Orbit’s employees — a total of 675 people — will be laid off immediately.

Virgin Orbit has ceased all operations

Virgin Orbit was founded in 2017 to develop and commercialize LauncherOne, a satellite launch system placed under a modified Boeing 747 aircraft called Cosmic Girl. The system was designed to place cube satellites weighing 500 kilograms in Low Earth Orbit by firing a rocket from the aircraft in question flying at an altitude of between 30,000 and 50,000 feet.

The company, which carried out its first successful mission in January 2022, sent seven satellites into orbit in the same year. These include satellites belonging to NASA and satellites belonging to the US Space Force. Virgin Orbit operated a total of six flights between 2020 and 2023, of which only four were successful. The so-called Start Me Up event, which was supposed to save everything and marked the first commercial space launch from UK soil, also failed.

Virgin Group founder Sir Richard Branson had “funded more than $55 million into the sinking space company” in recent months, but Start Me Up’s embarrassing failure was the last straw. “Unfortunately, we were unable to secure funding to provide this company with a clear path. We have no choice but to implement immediate, dramatic and extremely painful changes,” Virgin Orbit CEO Dan Hart told employees. used the phrases. Dismissed employees will be eligible for full benefits and will also be referred to the recruitment department of Virgin Orbit’s sister company, Virgin Galactic.