Virgin Galactic, Branson's space venture

[tater]

 

[mikegarrison]

The launch business is a hard one to break into. Even rich people with lots of money to (literally) burn can't always make it work.

[StrandedonEarth]

2 hours ago, mikegarrison said:

The launch business is a hard one to break into. Even rich people with lots of money to (literally) burn can't always make it work.

And that’s their problem right there, if they’re burning money to get to orbit, I bet the ISP of hundred-dollar bills is pretty lousy….

Edited April 4, 2023 by StrandedonEarth

[Meecrob]

12 minutes ago, StrandedonEarth said:

And that’s their problem right there, if they’re burning money to get to orbit. I bet the ISP of hundred-dollar bills is pretty lousy….

Haha...orbit.

 

Edit, Didn't they use a SPAC to IPO?

Edited April 4, 2023 by Meecrob

[tomf]

9 hours ago, StrandedonEarth said:

And that’s their problem right there, if they’re burning money to get to orbit, I bet the ISP of hundred-dollar bills is pretty lousy….

Burning hundred dollar bills would be foolish, you will get much better propellant density from 500 euro notes.

[steve9728]

And the most ironic part I think is the name of their most recent launch called "Start Me Up"

[tater]

Maybe they can reorganize, launch something, then sell themselves to... someone.

[tater]

 

[mikegarrison]

I guess that's nice, but wasn't the problem that grounded them something to do with the rocket motor?

[tater]

5 minutes ago, mikegarrison said:

I guess that's nice, but wasn't the problem that grounded them something to do with the rocket motor?

 

From the linked article from 2021:

Quote

The rocket motor on Virgin Galactic’s ship is programmed to burn for a minute. On July 11th, it had a few more seconds to go when a red light also appeared on the console: an entry glide-cone warning. This was a big deal. I once sat in on a meeting, in 2015, during which the pilots on the July 11th mission—Dave Mackay, a former Virgin Atlantic pilot and veteran of the U.K.’s Royal Air Force, and Mike Masucci, a retired Air Force pilot—and others discussed procedures for responding to an entry glide-cone warning. C. J. Sturckow, a former marine and NASA astronaut, said that a yellow light should “scare the excrements out of you,” because “when it turns red it’s gonna be too late”; Masucci was less concerned about the yellow light but said, “Red should scare the crap out of you.” Based on pilot procedures, Mackay and Masucci had basically two options: implement immediate corrective action, or abort the rocket motor. According to multiple sources in the company, the safest way to respond to the warning would have been to abort. (A Virgin Galactic spokesperson disputed this contention.)

 

Was there some other issue?

[darthgently]

Oh well, kind of inevitable given recent developments

https://spacenews.com/court-approves-plans-for-virgin-orbit-bankruptcy-sale/

[tater]

 

[mikegarrison]

5 hours ago, tater said:

 

Everyone seems happy about it except for Luke Mays.

[tater]

40 minutes ago, mikegarrison said:

Everyone seems happy about it except for Luke Mays.

He paid for the ticket, then thought he had dodged a bullet, now he has to go through with it?

[Ultimate Steve]

3 hours ago, tater said:

He paid for the ticket, then thought he had dodged a bullet, now he has to go through with it?

I was under the impression that these were more employees, are they actually paying customers?

[tater]

3 minutes ago, Ultimate Steve said:

I was under the impression that these were more employees, are they actually paying customers?

Probably. I was making a joke.

If he's an employee, he was told he had to fly, and now he's sad cause he has to get his affairs in order?

[tater]

https://investors.virgingalactic.com/news/news-details/2023/Virgin-Galactic-Announces-First-Quarter-2023-Financial-Results-And-Provides-Business-Update/default.aspx

Quote

May, 09, 2023

 

• First Commercial Flight 'Galactic 01' Remains on Track Targeting Late June

• Successful Completion of VSS Unity Glide Flight Clears the Path for Spaceflight

• Next Spaceflight With Virgin Galactic Crew On Board Scheduled for Late May

ORANGE COUNTY, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Virgin Galactic Holdings, Inc. (NYSE: SPCE) (“Virgin Galactic” or the "Company”) today announced its financial results for the first quarter ended March 31, 2023 and provided a business update.

Michael Colglazier, Chief Executive Officer of Virgin Galactic said, “We are excited to return to space with the 'Unity 25' mission planned for the end of May, and we are actively readying for commercial service to begin in late June. Concurrently, we are making steady progress on the development of our Delta Class spaceships, the driver of revenue growth and profitability in the business. Our strong cash position, combined with focused cost discipline and strategic investments in our growth initiatives, will enable our business to scale over the long-term.”

 

[tater]

[SunlitZelkova]

17 million feels incredibly cheap for such assets. I don’t know why, it’s not like I have been looking at the debt or defence budget recently.

EDIT- Maybe because of the recent talk about launch costs in the SpaceX thread? A Falcon 9 is like $20 million I think.

Edited May 18, 2023 by SunlitZelkova

[tater]

5 hours ago, SunlitZelkova said:

17 million feels incredibly cheap for such assets. I don’t know why, it’s not like I have been looking at the debt or defence budget recently.

EDIT- Maybe because of the recent talk about launch costs in the SpaceX thread? A Falcon 9 is like $20 million I think.

I looked up a 2001 747-400, and the average sale price of those is a few million under $17M. Not sure what else they have, a chase plane?

[mikegarrison]

Prices are low for 747-400s. A new 777 is much more profitable to fly even though the cost to buy one is much higher. Airplanes can keep flying almost forever, with proper maintenance, but it just gets more and more and more expensive to do that proper maintenance.

[tater]

Just now, mikegarrison said:

Prices are low for 747-400s. A new 777 is much more profitable to fly even though the cost to buy one is much higher. Airplanes can keep flying almost forever, with proper maintenance, but it just gets more and more and more expensive to do that proper maintenance.

The newer planes don't have that additional wing hard point for testing (which is where they mount the launch vehicle, right?), do they?

[mikegarrison]

32 minutes ago, tater said:

The newer planes don't have that additional wing hard point for testing (which is where they mount the launch vehicle, right?), do they?

AFAIK all 747s had that hard point (intended to ferry a spare engine) at least from the originals to the 747-400. They may have deleted it from the 747-8 because AFAIK that was an all-new wing. But maybe it wasn't all that all-new.

I was in noise and emissions the entire time I worked for Boeing. So I know a lot about the performance, and not so much about the structures.

Edited May 19, 2023 by mikegarrison

[tater]

8 minutes ago, mikegarrison said:

AFAIK all 747s had that hard point (intended to ferry a spare engine) at least from the originals to the 747-400. They may have deleted it from the 747-8 because AFAIK that was an all-new wing. But maybe it wasn't all that all-new.

I was in noise and emissions the entire time I worked for Boeing. So I know a lot about the performance, and not so much about the structures.

I was thinking the 777, etc. Do they have the capability to ferry engines, or do they use bespoke transport aircraft for that?

Sorry if that wasn't clear. It's the superpower that makes Cosmic Girl a relatively easy thing to have for air-drop launches.

[mikegarrison]

14 minutes ago, tater said:

I was thinking the 777, etc. Do they have the capability to ferry engines?

No. AFAIK only 747s were ever built to do that. At the time the 747 was designed, high bypass ratio turbofans were brand new, and there was a real risk that an airplane could be stranded someplace with difficult access for spare engines. That's not so much a concern now, except in places like Iran or Russia where the difficulty for bringing in a spare parts is political rather than technical.