Scivillage.com Casual Discussion Science Forum

Rocket Lab has purchased Virgin Orbit's rocket factory and headquarters in Long Beach California.

They say they will be using the factory for their planned Neutron rocket.

https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/2...nia-Assets

https://twitter.com/RocketLab/status/166...7667283968

https://twitter.com/Peter_J_Beck/status/...1793579009

Peter Beck says

"Virgin Orbit built a fantastic production facility with the very best equipment. We're fortunate to have nearly completed the acquisition of this facility and equipment to help advance Neutron's future production and reduce the overall cost of the program significantly."

Neutron is Rocketlab's future reusable Soyuz-class mid-size rocket, smaller than Falcon 9 but much bigger than Rocketlab's current Electron.

https://www.scivillage.com/thread-7284-p...n#pid42323

Virgin Orbit had originally hoped to sell the entire company intact, to a new buyer who would keep it operating. But sadly, they were unable to find a buyer willing to buy the whole thing. So they were forced to sell the company piece by piece.

In addition to Rocket Lab acquiring Virgin Orbit's factory in Long Beach, Stratolaunch has purchased Cosmic Girl, VO's Boeing 747 launcher plane. And Vast Space has purchased VO's aircraft hanger and rocket test stands at Mohave Air and Space Port.

All this is to be finalized in a California bankruptcy court this morning.

https://www.cnbc.com/2023/05/23/virgin-o...ncher.html