Spaceport Cornwall has said hundreds of job losses at Virgin Orbit, months after the company attempted to launch a rocket into space from the Duchy, would have “no direct impact” on the South West space cluster.
Sir Richard Branson’s US satellite firm has confirmed it is cutting 675 staff, around 85% of its workforce, as it looks to reduce costs after failing to secure new funding.
According to a Financial Times report, the company, which announced it would pause its operations earlier this month, is racing to seal last-minute investment to prevent its collapse.
Mr Branson is set to inject almost £9m to go towards severance costs, with Virgin Orbit saying it expects payments to staff and other costs related to the cuts to cost it around $15m (£12.1m).
In US regulatory filings, the firm said the layoffs, which are due to be completed by Monday (April 3), will affect workers in the “all areas” of the company.
It comes after Virgin Orbit’s attempt to make British space history, by launching a rocket into orbit from Cornwall ended in failure, after suffering an “anomaly” during the flight in January.
Melissa Quinn, head of Spaceport Cornwall, said: “We are saddened to hear the news from Virgin Orbit. We wish the very best for all of the team who have been affected.
"Spaceport Cornwall continues to operate with no direct impact to the team or project. As the UK’s only licensed Spaceport we continue to grow the space cluster in Cornwall through developing future launch operations, opening a new facility to support global space and satellite businesses and inspire local school children into STEAM through our outreach programme.”
Virgin Orbit had previously said it was anticipating additional launches from Spaceport Cornwall, and had been in “active discussions” with key government and commercial stakeholders to start plans for new missions “as soon as later this year”.
Bosses at Spaceport Cornwall had also vowed after January's launch to 'go again' with a second planned for later this year, with Cornwall-made satellite - Kernow Sat1 - on board.
Virgin Orbit is a key partner within Spaceport Cornwall and currently the only company which has launch capability. Cornwall Council has invested more than £10m into the project, and has previously claimed it could result in hundreds of new jobs while attracting businesses in the space industry to the Duchy.
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