Firefly Aerospace buys the ultimate scraps of doomed Virgin Orbit

The final remnants of Virgin Orbit have been offloaded. Firefly Aerospace has agreed to purchase the defunct satellite-launch firm’s remaining belongings for $3.8 million. Firefly’s buy included the leftovers from a Might public sale that cleaned out many of the firm’s possessions, netting $36 million in Virgin Orbit’s chapter proceedings. Firefly’s buy was reported in June fifteenth filings in a Delaware chapter court docket (by way of SpaceNews).

Firefly Aerospace’s bought belongings embody stock at two of Virgin Orbit’s former Lengthy Seaside, CA, manufacturing services. Amongst them are engines and different elements for Virgin’s LauncherOne automobiles and two further engines saved at a Mojave, CA, check web site. Eventually month’s public sale, Virgin Orbit mentioned it “deemed it in the very best pursuits of the Debtors’ estates” to hold onto the remaining belongings in the meanwhile. Negotiations reportedly continued afterward, resulting in this week’s sale to Firefly.

As soon as-promising Virgin Orbit, a by-product of Virgin Galactic specializing within the air-launching of satellite tv for pc rockets from a modified Boeing 747, noticed its inventory nosedive within the months main as much as its downfall. Solely 4 of the corporate’s six flights between 2020 and 2023 have been profitable, and its most up-to-date try earlier this 12 months reportedly failed due to a dislodged $100 gasoline filter. The corporate started an “operational pause” in March as a last-gasp try to seek out new traders earlier than submitting for chapter safety and eventually falling by the wayside a few weeks later.

In the meantime, Firefly Aerospace, primarily based in Cedar Park, TX, is creating a launch car referred to as Firefly Alpha. The 2-stage, liquid-fueled rocket is designed to be launched from varied websites. Its first try failed in 2021, however the rocket had {a partially} profitable orbital launch the next 12 months. The corporate expects to launch a 3rd time for the US Area Power.