CAN CHINA SPACE TOURISM MECCA SAVE VIRGIN ORBIT?

Virgin Orbit Green Hydrogen Relaunch: 

Can Richard Branson's rocket firm lift off from bankruptcy?

 

London  1 April  04:31 GMT

Virgin Orbit, the bankrupt rocket company of Virgin Atlantic billionaire Sir Richard Branson may be saved by Sino-Saudi space tourism consortium  72 Virgin Islamic 

 

The propsed deal would enable the California based satellite launch company, which  launches rockets from Boeing 747 planes to send satellites into orbit to rehire the 85% of its 750-strong workforce laid off after a Virgin Orbit rocket failed to complete its first-ever satellite launch from UK soil.

 

The company listed its shares on New York's Nasdaq in 2021.

A Saudi official speaking on condition of anonymity said Islamic banks could provide 100 million riyals in interest-free finance if Vegan Obit, the successor company to Virgin Orbit agrees to reorganization as 72 Virgin Orbit Pty.  

Duchy of Cornwall spaceport head Pendragon Quine said the news about Virgin Orbit was "very sad" but said the facility would will "remain focused on providing Duchy of Cornwall organic produce and biscuits for Virgin Atlantic Upper Class until we can relocate to Vegan Obit's Mount Kilimanjaro equatorial launch facility, which will go carbon-negative using free Green Hydrogen rocket fuel from the Victoria Falls hydroelectric project China is building on the Zimbabwe/ Zambia. border"

The Saudi source said Chinese investors in the consortium envision a second space tourism profit center: an astrodrome in Xinjiang's Tien Shan mountains to provide millions of Uighurs unable to secure exit visas for the Hajj with a suborbital glimpse of Mecca.

The Saudi IP bundle includes Virgin Orbit's logo 

Sir Richard and Virgin Group invested more than $1bn in the business in a quest to launch satellites through Virgin Orbit but also to develop reusable "space planes" to take tourists on brief trips to sub-orbital space, and has already started selling tickets for $250,000 for these journeys and celebrities such as pop star Justin Bieber have signed up.

 

But the main players in the "billionaire space race" have also faced criticism for what some see as offering joy rides for the super-wealthy at a time when countries across the globe are being impacted by climate change.

However, Mr Bezos has insisted his space exploration is partly an environmental mission to "to take all heavy industry, all polluting industry and move it into space, and keep Earth as this beautiful gem of a planet that it is."