plans Virgin Galaxy offer their space tourism services are moving to a new stage. Richard Branson’s company announced an alliance with Boeing’s subsidiary Aurora to design and manufacture of new “base ships” which you will use to send your sub-orbital ships to the edge of space.
The company did not provide further details about the new aircraft, but the first concept retains a design similar to that of the first aircraft. Navy Evaaircraft, which currently serves as a launch pad for VSS Unity. In other words, a four-engine, twin-fuselage vehicle capable of loading a ship at a central attachment point and releasing it in flight at an altitude of more than 15,000 meters.
Aurora has been confirmed to build two new Virgin Galactic motherships. The first will enter service in 2025therefore, the company plans to use it with its Delta-class ships, which will enter service in the same year or, at the latest, in 2026. mentioned VSS Unity and not yet released VSS Imagine—. This means that you can streamline your flight schedule by breaking them down into just a week.
The American firm supports its idea of holding 400 commercial space flights per yearand the new aircraft, developed jointly with a Boeing subsidiary, will be an important part of achieving this goal.
Michael ColglaserCEO of Virgin Galactic, was enthusiastic about this new opportunity:
“Our next-generation motherships will be integral to scaling our operations. They will be faster to produce, easier to maintain, and will allow us to complete many more missions each year. Drawing on Boeing’s scale and strength, Aurora is the ideal manufacturing partner. facility for us as we build our fleet to support 400 flights a year at Spaceport America.”
Virgin Galactic maintains ambitious space tourism plans
The key definition in Colglazier’s statement is “to scale our operations.” Like this. According to financial results released at the end of February last year, Virgin Galactic lost $1 billion between 2020 and 2021, compared to an income of just $3,530,000 in the same period. Meanwhile, in the first quarter of 2022, revenue was only $319,000.
Richard Branson’s company has already launched ticket sales for the lucky ones who want to travel to the edge of space. Price? $450,000, no more, no less. Obviously, the big challenge is to bring that number down so that flying becomes more accessible to the general public. But this is easier said than done.
Be that as it may, there is nothing about this that neither Virgin Galactic nor its shareholders know. Colglazier has stated in the past that the company positive cash flow only in 2026.
For now, the company is betting that the new motherships will allow it to make a significant leap forward in its plans for the future. Meanwhile, the VMS Eve aircraft is undergoing refurbishment, which is expected to be completed in the current quarter. Commercial space flights will resume at the end of the year; while the new VSS Imagine suborbital spacecraft will enter service in the first quarter of 2023.
Virgin Galactic is one of the protagonists of a fierce private space race in which it directly competes with Jeff Bezos and his Blue Origin. The relationship with SpaceX is different, as Richard Branson is a friend of Elon Musk, and they have exchanged praise for the performance of their companies on more than one occasion.
Source: Hiper Textual
