Virgin Orbit bankruptcy casts shadow over Japan’s space dreams

authored by Eimi Yamamitsu

TOKYO( Reuters )- Richard Branson’s’s Virgin Orbit Holdings Inc. filed for bankruptcy, which has put a damper on hopes for Japan to develop its own private space industry. Plans for an international shuttle based in Kyushu that is intended to draw tourists have been put on hold due to lack of funding.

In 2020, Virgin Orbit and the Oita Prefecture, which is home to the most hot spring in Japan, collaborated to build the country’s’s very Asian shuttle there, using a Boeing 747 for horizontal rocket launches.

Virgin Orbit, which was founded by American billionaire Branson, promoted itself as a military and intelligence dish launch stand for the U.S. and its allies, including Japan, when both Tokyo and Washington are concerned about China’s’s fall to building power.

Another setback in Japan’s’s try to compete in the crowded markets for commercial satellite launch after two subsequent rocket build failures was the original intention to launch small satellites from Oita as early as next year, but that never happened.

When Virgin Orbit requested Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection on Tuesday, two Japanese companies — ANA Holdings unit All Nippon Airways Trading Co and little-known Japanese satellite development start-up iQPS Inc — appears among the top six creditors.

In 2021, ANA, which owed$ 1.65 million, entered into a temporary agreement with Virgin Orbit for 20 planes of its LauncherOne rocket at the Oita spacecraft. ANA expressed optimism that Virgin Orbit, which has stated that it is looking for a consumer, would be able to rebuild and pick up where it left off.

The Fukuoka-based iQPS had made a$ 5.2 million deposit to launch its small, lightweight constellation satellites, which weighed less than 100 kilograms( 220 pounds ), which made up the majority of the$ 17.2 million in Series A funding it had raised in 2017.

Regarding the bankruptcy filing, iQPS stated that” We were disappointed when we heard the announcement because we had hoped the situation may better.” For the growth of the global yard field, we pray that Virgin Orbit will begin operations.

Hospitality DESIRES

Similar to Virgin Orbit’s’s facility in Cornwall, England, Oita Prefecture estimated that over the course of five years following its initial release, the shuttle would generate economic benefits of about 10.2 billion yen($ 77.4 million ) in the area.

Local businesses produced alien-related mementos, from mysterious passports to” E. T.” with the expectation of nearly 240, 000 visitors to the site. motorbikes.

The locals continue to hold out hope that a spacecraft may one day appear. ” It’s’s possible that another business will purchase Virgin Orbit. Oita still has many choices to join into a contract with them because some businesses and rivals besides Virgin Orbit are already considering vertical launches, according to Kunio Ikari, an economics professor at OITa University.

While declining to post on Virgin Orbit or the project’s’s present situation, Oita Prefecture stated that its attempts to draw a shuttle have not changed. Additionally, Oita Airport declined to comment.

Japan has had some prior setbacks in addition to its lofty house goals, including Tokyo’s’s claim that it plans to send one of its astronauts to the moon in the second half of the 2020s.

Following a failed build the previous month, Japan’s’s medium-lift H3 jet failed in March, ending its efforts to reduce the cost of accessing space and rival Elon Musk ‘ SpaceX.

After launch in October, the solid-fuel Epsilon rocket from the Japanese space agency, which was intended to carry iQPS ‘ small satellites, also failed.

Some analysts are urging Japan to change the direction of its building business in light of the fruitless launch.

According to Jun Nagashima, a computer and space authority and advisor at Nakasone Peace Institute,” Japan is concentrating too much on debuts.” It would be better for Japan to engage in various building activities and fields once SpaceX releases cheaper, repeatable missiles.

( 1 x 131.7900 yen )

( Reporting by Nobuhiro Kubo and Eimi Yamamitsu, additional reporting by Kantaro Komiya, and Jamie Freed’s’s editing )

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