Advanced Television

Richard Branson

Virgin Galactic boss steps down

Chamath Palihapitiya, chairman and a member of Virgin Galactic’s board, Is stepping down. He says he wants “to focus on other public company board commitments.” His departure is immediate, says a company statement. As part of the announcement, the Board appointed director Evan Lovell as Interim Chairman until a new chair is in place. Lovell […]

February 21, 2022By Chris Forrester

Virgin Galactic to offer $425m of new debt

Sir Richard Branson’s Virgin Galactic Holdings is looking to sell $425 million (and up to $500 million if the response is good) of convertible bonds in a private offering. Virgin Galactic will use the cash to fund working capital and general administrative purposes. The company has next-to-zero income (last year it declared just $3.2 million […]

February 1, 2022By Chris Forrester

Virgin Orbit schedules launch from Cornwall

An Omani scientific satellite will be carried and launched from Virgin Orbit’s LauncherOne rocket when it makes its first launch from Cornwall in the UK later this year. The Omani payload, developed by Earth observation specialist Poland-based SatRevolution, will be put into low Earth orbit to collect climate data. The mission is the follow-on to […]

January 28, 2022By Chris Forrester

Virgin Orbit invests in Hypersat, SatRevolution

Sir Richard Branson-backed Virgin Orbit has taken a 17.5 per cent stake in Earth Observation image company Hypersat, as well as investing in a funding round for Poland-based SatRevolution. Hypersat is already a client of Virgin Orbit and used Virgin’s rocket plane to launch 6 of its Hyperspectral satellites. Poland’s SatRevolution is busy raising cash […]

December 17, 2021By Chris Forrester

Musk shares more on bankruptcy fear

Elon Musk’s SpaceX team postponed the planned December 1st launch of another batch of Starlink satellites for 24-hours until around 6pm (Florida time) on December 2nd. However, Musk was again Tweeting over his concerns about raising more capital and the potential risk of failure. “If a severe global recession were to dry up capital availability […]

December 2, 2021

ANA books 20 Virgin Orbit flights

Japan’s All Nippon Airways (ANA) has reserved 20 Virgin Orbit flights aboard the company’s LauncherOne rocket-plane. An earlier MoU established the relationship between the two. The updated MoU, signed on November 4th, and initialled by Virgin Orbit’s CEO Dan Hart and ANA’s EVP Koji Shibata, has one special condition: the flights must happen from Japan […]

November 9, 2021

VMO2 launches converged Volt package

Virgin Media O2, the multiplay telco formed by the £31 billion merger of UK broadband cabler Virgin Media and cellco O2, has launched its first joint product, Volt, which it says gives customers the best of both brands, with even greater value. It says that Virgin Media and O2 customers can now supercharge their services […]

October 18, 2021By Colin Mann

Virgin Galactic can resume flights

The Federal Aviation Authority (FAA) has approved Sir Richard Branson’s Virgin Galactic resumption of its flying status. The hold up was due to a review of Virgin Galactic’s most recent SpaceShipTwo flight which deviated from its agreed flight plan on July 11th. There were 6 people on board including Branson and the flight reached an […]

October 1, 2021By Chris Forrester

Virgin Orbit signs MoU with Southwest Research

Virgin Orbit (and not Virgin Galactic, which has problems with the US FAA over flight safety) has signed a Memorandum of Understanding and collaboration with Southwest Research Institute (SwRI). The agreement sees Virgin Orbit and SwRI exploring multiple specialized mission opportunities using the company’s LauncherOne rocket system and “coupled with SwRI’s deep expertise in space […]

September 7, 2021By Chris Forrester

Bitmax to distribute Eating Our Way to Extinction

Bitmax, the global media management and licensing company, will be releasing the documentary Eating Our Way to Extinction across digital platforms including iTunes & Google from September 30th. The acclaimed documentary, narrated by Academy Award winner Kate Winslet and featuring Sir Richard Branson, will premier in London on September 8th and will be available for […]

September 3, 2021