News for hackers. Stuff that matters.
Re:Virgin Orbit to lay off 85 percent of staff, freeze opera... by Diederich on Friday March 31, 2023 @02:30PM (#35391265)
That's a damn shame.

We definitely need more rather than less competition in 'new space'.

Re:Virgin Orbit to lay off 85 percent of staff, freeze opera... by stametseater on Friday March 31, 2023 @04:13PM (#35392915)
There's already a ton: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_private_spaceflight_co...

Note that Virgin Orbit's niche (small plane-launched rockets into unusual orbits) is already served by the Pegasus rocket, previously by Orbital Sciences and now owned by Northrop. There's doesn't seem to be much demand for it though.

Re:Virgin Orbit to lay off 85 percent of staff, freeze opera... by Eisenstein on Friday March 31, 2023 @04:20PM (#35393024)
Why? Sending stuff into space isn't something I want an incompetent company doing. You can do a lot of damage in a lot of ways.
Re:Virgin Orbit to lay off 85 percent of staff, freeze opera... by thom on Friday March 31, 2023 @04:53PM (#35393494)
SpaceX’s first three launches were failures. I think the world is probably better for them not folding after the first.
Re:Virgin Orbit to lay off 85 percent of staff, freeze opera... by pie420 on Friday March 31, 2023 @06:12PM (#35394400)
and Virgin Galactic's first 50 launches were failures and VG's first 20 years of existence were a colossal failure. Maybe if a company can't make things work after two decades, it should be dissolved? Or should we let them exist in a malaise of failure for another decade?
Re:Virgin Orbit to lay off 85 percent of staff, freeze opera... by thom on Saturday April 01, 2023 @02:22AM (#35397684)
Virgin Orbit actually had four successful launches and two failures (their first and apparently last launches). What’s sad about them collapsing right now is they were the only launch partner for the UK’s only spaceport, and if we were generous enough to chalk up the last failure as bad luck, it’s a shame if the whole ecosystem suffers, perhaps irreparably, because of it.
Re:Virgin Orbit to lay off 85 percent of staff, freeze opera... by Kranar on Friday March 31, 2023 @11:58PM (#35396959)
As a correction, it was only the first two of SpaceX's launches that were failures. The third launch succeeded.
Re:Virgin Orbit to lay off 85 percent of staff, freeze opera... by thom on Saturday April 01, 2023 @02:04AM (#35397583)
As a correction, the first three were failures and Musk himself acknowledges that had the fourth failed they would have folded:

https://www.cnbc.com/amp/2017/09/29/elon-musk-9-years-ago-sp...

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Falcon_1#Launches

Re:Virgin Orbit to lay off 85 percent of staff, freeze opera... by Teever on Friday March 31, 2023 @08:39PM (#35395759)
I think you know that OP didn't suggest that we have more incompetent companies.
Re:Virgin Orbit to lay off 85 percent of staff, freeze opera... by Kranar on Saturday April 01, 2023 @12:00AM (#35396969)
If OP isn't suggesting that, then what's the shame in having an incompetent company go out of business?
Re:Virgin Orbit to lay off 85 percent of staff, freeze opera... by stonogo on Saturday April 01, 2023 @03:13AM (#35397976)
It's a shame the company wasn't competent enough to succeed. Why must this be spelled out? I feel like half this thread is bad faith face-value pedanticism for no benefit.
Re:Virgin Orbit to lay off 85 percent of staff, freeze opera... by Kranar on Saturday April 01, 2023 @02:20PM (#35402606)
Because it's about as meaningless a comment as saying "thoughts and prayers". There's nothing shameful about an incompetent company going out of business, it's actually exactly what should happen.