Shulou(Shulou.com)11/24 Report--

May 24-Virgin orbit, the bankrupt rocket company owned by British billionaire Richard Richard Branson, confirmed on Tuesday that it would be shut down after selling its facilities and equipment to three aerospace companies.

"as Virgin Orbital follows this path, management and employees express their heartfelt gratitude to all stakeholders," Virgin Orbital said in a statement. Virgin's legacy in the aerospace industry will always be remembered. Its groundbreaking technology, its relentless pursuit of excellence, and its unwavering commitment to advancing the forefront of air launch have left an indelible mark on the industry. "

In 2017, under the leadership of founder Richard Branson, Virgin Orbital reached the edge of space through several flights. But the difficulty of raising funds and slow implementation led to the bankruptcy and eventual closure of the company, which was once worth billions of dollars.

Virgin Rail assets were carved up by three companies. Virgin Rail had total assets of about $36 million at Monday's auction. A spokesman for the company confirmed that six more rockets in Virgin orbit are at different stages of manufacturing and assembly, and that their intellectual property rights have not yet been sold.

Rocket Lab (Rocket Lab) successfully bid $16.1 million for Virgin track's headquarters in long Beach, Calif., with a total area of about 140000 square feet (13000 square meters), a spokesman said. Although Rocket Lab was founded in New Zealand, it has become a neighbor to Virgin orbit, and the company's headquarters and facilities are also in the long Beach area. In addition, Rocket Lab has acquired assets such as Virgin track 3D printers and dedicated fuel tank welders.

Virgin Orbital's assets will help improve its production, manufacturing and testing capabilities, particularly in the development of larger Neutron rockets, Rocket Lab said in a press release.

"because the design and development of neutron rockets are very advanced, this deal represents an opportunity to save capital expenditure, enhance our production capacity and quickly bring neutron rockets to the launch pad. to serve our customers and their future success. The Virgin orbit lease facility strengthens our existing business in long Beach and provides our neutron rocket team with common engineering, manufacturing and testing capabilities, "Rocket Lab founder and CEO Peter Baker (Peter Beck) said in a statement.

Stratospheric launch Corporation (Stratolaunch) bid $17 million for Virgin Orbital's Boeing 747s. Stratospheric launch companies are "constantly evaluating ways to improve our capabilities to meet the need to test hypersonic technology through leapfrog flight demonstrations," the company said in a statement. The company added: "We will share more relevant information after the transaction is completed."

In bankruptcy proceedings, Virgin orbit agreed to the terms of the stratospheric launch company's bid to buy the Boeing 747 jet Cosmic Girl and other aircraft assets. Stratospheric launch has been developing its own airborne systems, developing the world's largest aircraft and calling it the "ROC" as a platform for hypersonic flight tests.

Launcher, a subsidiary of Vast Space, bought Virgin Rail's facilities in Mojave, Calif., as well as some machinery, equipment and inventory for $2.7 million. Virgin orbit's Mojave facility lease includes infrastructure such as rocket engine test rigs and aircraft hangars.

Clearing firm Inliper will buy Virgin Rail office equipment for $650000. Launcher didn't respond to a request for comment.

The bankruptcy court is scheduled to hold a hearing at 2 p.m. local time on Wednesday to decide whether to approve the deals.

The unsuccessful sale of Virgin Orbital was spun off from Branson's space tourism company after the team saw the potential to use aircraft as a platform for launching satellites. Although the "aerial launch" satellite is not a new idea for Virgin orbit, the company's goal is to do so faster and at a lower cost than before.

Virgin orbit has become one of the few American rocket companies to successfully use privately developed carrier rockets to enter orbit. Since 2020, Virgin orbit has carried out six missions, including four successes and two failures. Through an ambitious and technically difficult process, the so-called "aerial launch", Virgin orbit uses a modified 747 jet as the parent aircraft to launch rockets at high altitude and send small satellites into space.

With the exception of one plane taking off from the UK, most of Virgin Orbital's missions take off from Mojave Aerospace Port in California. The launch in Britain in January this year was also the last launch of the company's aircraft.

In March, Virgin Rail announced that it would suspend operations and lay off almost all its employees because it was desperately looking for financing. But those financial negotiations failed, and the company fired most of its employees before filing for bankruptcy protection on April 4.

Tony Tony Gingiss, Virgin Rail's former chief operating officer, reportedly sent an email to all employees in April and apologized to them. Mr Gingis praised Virgin track employees for "taking part in a bold, challenging and satisfying job", but regretted that they "had no chance to show the world what you can do and how this product has become a lasting force in the market."

While Virgin track's goal was to find buyers willing to buy the company as a whole through bankruptcy proceedings to keep its assets and intellectual property intact, the company ultimately failed to do so, which led to the decentralized auction.

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