Reaction Engines Ltd., a British company that has worked for decades on an air-breathing rocket engine for spaceplanes and other hypersonic vehicles, has filed for bankruptcy.
Did Virgin Orbit fail because they were British, or because air-launched rockets just aren’t very practical? It’s not like Pegasus is doing great business in comparison.
But that doesn’t mean we have zero space industry; Cornwall and just outside of London is host to a good number of space companies that produce satellites and other space hardware.
But as exciting as that is, it doesn’t capture the public’s imagination which is disappointing when we had a filmmaker like Gerry Anderson who created iconic TV shows and films like Thunderbirds, Captain Scarlet, Stingray, Joe 90, Fireball XL5, and Space 1999.
But hopefully Scotland’s Spaceport will invigorate the industry here when they manage to Caber Toss a rocket into orbit.
Did Virgin Orbit fail because they were British, or because air-launched rockets just aren’t very practical? It’s not like Pegasus is doing great business in comparison.
VO somehow managed to spend a billion dollars developing their little rocket. Shout-out to their Boeing exec who way overhired.
Virgin Orbituary:
https://arstechnica.com/space/2023/05/no-one-should-be-surprised-virgin-orbit-failed-it-had-a-terrible-business-plan/
I can’t comment on why they failed because I don’t know enough about the launch method’s pros and cons.
But we British seem to have a bit of a jinxed history when it comes to rockets.
But that doesn’t mean we have zero space industry; Cornwall and just outside of London is host to a good number of space companies that produce satellites and other space hardware.
But as exciting as that is, it doesn’t capture the public’s imagination which is disappointing when we had a filmmaker like Gerry Anderson who created iconic TV shows and films like Thunderbirds, Captain Scarlet, Stingray, Joe 90, Fireball XL5, and Space 1999.
But hopefully Scotland’s Spaceport will invigorate the industry here when they manage to Caber Toss a rocket into orbit.
Air launched rockets aren’t practical because they were british. 👍