Virgin Orbit to be sold in pieces to three companies
Totaling $36 million, three companies will take hold of the build of Virgin Orbit’s assets, including buildings, test sites, and the company’s 747 aircraft. What has yet to be sold so far has been the company’s IP, which I would guess would stay in Virgin Group and the six rockets that are being assembled. According to CNBC, a fourth company, Inliper, purchased all of Virgin Orbit’s office equipment for about $650,000.
First up is Rocket Lab, which is paying $16.1 million for Virgin Orbit’s headquarters in Long Beach, California. A good deal since Rocket Lab is headquartered less than a half mile in the same business park even tho the company launches out of New Zealand and Virginia. The SmallSat launcher is also getting manufacturing equipment like 3D printers and a tank welding machine. This is a massive win for Rocket Lab which is looking to increase its production to meet the demand for rapid, responsive launch, a process Virgin Orbit helped start when it was created.
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The second company is Stratolaunch, a quiet company that avoided its own bankruptcy back in 2019. Stratolaunch will pay $17 million for Virgin Orbit’s 747 aircraft named “Cosmic Girl.” The plane was modified to carry the company’s LauncherOne rocket and is one of the crowning jewels of Virgin Orbit’s assets. Stratolaunch has pivoted from a commercial air launch provider to becoming a hypersonic research platform. A sector that the US is desperately trying to catch up on, and this aircraft will fit exceptionally in Stratolaunch’s fleet, which consists of the world’s largest plane, “Rok.”
The final bit of Virgin Orbit being sold is its facilities at Mojave Air and Space Port. Mojave is the premier spaceport for anyone trying to make it as a launch start-up. This is where Elon Musk met Tom Mueller, the man that developed the Falcon 9’s Merlin engine, Virgin Galactic was founded here, and many more. It’s safe to assume that if a rocket company is hopping around, they probably cut their teeth at Mojave. Launcher, the company that was acquired by Vast earlier this year, is purchasing what Virgin Orbit had at Mojave as well as some machinery and parts, for $2.7 million. While Launcher won’t be developing a rocket anymore since the Vast acquisition, the company is still developing a rocket engine to sell to others.
So that’s it for Virgin Orbit
While we’ll probably hear some final stories about what happens to the remaining assets Virgin Orbit has for sale, this is most likely the end.
Virgin Orbit was the first company to push the ability to launch whenever and wherever the customer wants. That has now been taken to heart by a few other companies, but overall, the idea has died out, being replaced with traditional spaceports but with faster launch turnarounds. SpaceX and Rocket Lab have been the champs at doing this, and with Rocket Lab’s expansion into Virgin Orbit’s facilities, I would expect them to grow their capabilities even more.
