Some VO people I've talked to said that when he and the Boeing
entourage came in they went hard on traditional "failure is not an
option", and that the first orbital attempt had to work. That refocus
significantly delayed the first flight, which then delayed learning
from actual flight test data, and the first flight didn't succeed
anyway, as is nearly standard for first flights.
It would be fantastic if there was one person there who wrote a modern
"Soul of a New Machine". It's relatively rare to be there for the
entire arc of a company from scrappy startup to venture funded to
public to going under, and rocket development stories are always
interesting to read. There are a few books written about the industry
so far, but they're mostly from outside perspectives. (I'm waiting to
see if any of the dumb shit I've said is in Ashlee Vance's new book,
coming out shortly.)
On Mon, Apr 3, 2023 at 5:43 AM Troy Prideaux <troy@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
Thanks Chuck. Certainly not a flattering portrait of company CEO Dan Hart.
Troy
From: arocket-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx <arocket-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> On Behalf
Of crogers168 ("crogers168")
Sent: Monday, April 3, 2023 12:46 PM
To: arocket@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [AR] Re: The end of Virgin Orbit
To All:
I thought this was a good article on What Went Wrong with Virgin Orbit on the
CNBC web site.
Virgin Orbit: What went wrong with Richard Branson's company (cnbc.com)
A few excerpts:
"Given the company’s burn rate near $50 million a quarter, Virgin Orbit was
targeting profitability once it got beyond a launch rate, or cadence, of a
dozen missions per year."
A dozen launches a year for a continuing launch business was at least a good
place to start. They were nowhere near that. See the next quote.
"While Virgin Orbit had aimed to launch seven missions last year, that number
was steadily guided down quarter after quarter, closing out 2022 with just
two completed lunches – the same as the year before."
Another excerpt:
"Branson, Virgin Orbit’s largest stakeholder, was unwilling to fund the
company further, as CNBC previously reported. Instead, he began hedging
against his 75% equity stake through a series of debt rounds. That debt gives
the flashy British billionaire first priority of Virgin Orbit assets in the
event of the now-impending bankruptcy."
"first priority on assets in event of the now-impending bankruptcy". This
supports the "Branson gets the assets" theory, whatever it will be worth to
get them. As other have noted, I don't think the assets will be useful
without the associated personnel.
Charles E. (Chuck) Rogers