This has generated a bit of a backlash in Oklahoma because the company moved there in 2004 to take advantage of tax credits offered by the state (something the company has previous dubbed “winning the ‘O-Prize'”). One state legislator, David Dank, told Tulsa TV station KOTV it was an “absolute sin” that the company had effectively abandoned the state. Lauer responded to the same TV station that the company was in “suspended animation until we get more money” and when that happened they would return to the state. (Back at Space Access Lauer estimated that they needed “well north of $100 million” of additional funding for Rocketplane Global.) Dank is unconvinced: “I don’t think they ever intended to launch a space craft from Oklahoma.”
One year ago today Virgin Galactic rolled out WhiteKnightTwo, the carrier aircraft for SpaceShipTwo. Yesterday the aircraft made a cross-country flight from Mojave to Oshkosh, Wisconsin for the EAA AirVenture air show. That last milestone had been anticipated for some time, but the announcement the company made this morning was something of a surprise: bringing in an outside investor from the United Arab Emirates. The highlights:
Aabar Investments is paying $280 million for a 32% stake in Virgin Galactic, valuing the overall company at about $900 million ($875 million by my calculations);
Aabar is also providing $100 million for the development of a smallsat launcher that would use WK2 as the launch platform;
Aabar will also build spaceport facilities in Abu Dhabi and have “exclusive regional rights” for Virgin Galactic tourism and research flights.
Virgin Galactic president Will Whitehorn had hinted for some time an interest in developing a smallsat launcher, provided someone provided the funding (Virgin itself had no plans to do so), and last month at the Royal Aeronautical Society space tourism conference in London he said he expected Virgin to bring in an outside investor in the next 12 months. Few people, I think, expected Virgin to make a deal so quickly.
Meanwhile, the festivities continue in Oshkosh. WK2 is scheduled to make a number of demonstration flights this week at AirVenture, including the first flight with Sir Richard Branson aboard, scheduled for later today.
The press release is below if you’re having problems viewing the Word version:
Aabar Investments and Virgin Group Agree Equity Investment Partnership in Virgin Galactic
Oshkosh/Abu Dhabi, 28th July 2009: Abu Dhabi’s Aabar Investments and Virgin Group today announced that they have agreed to enter a strategic partnership, which will see Aabar take an equity stake in the world’s first commercial spaceline – Virgin Galactic. To date, Virgin Galactic has been wholly owned and funded by Sir Richard Branson’s Virgin Group.
The deal, signed today at the EAA AirVenture air show in Oshkosh, Wisconsin attended by Sir Richard Branson, Founder of Virgin Group, and Mohamed Badawy Al-Husseiny, CEO of Aabar. The signing ceremony is taking place alongside Virgin Galactic’s new carrier space launch vehicle, WhiteKnightTwo (VMS Eve) which is making its public demonstration flying debut in Oshkosh.
Under the deal, Aabar will invest approximately US$280m and take around a 32% stake in Virgin Galactic’s holding company, valuing the business at about $900m. The transaction is subject to obtaining regulatory clearances in the United States and elsewhere. Additionally, Aabar has committed $100m (plus transaction cost) to fund a small satellite launch capability, subject to the development of a full business plan. It will also gain exclusive regional rights, subject to regulatory clearances, to host Virgin Galactic tourism and scientific research space flights. Finally, Aabar has plans to build spaceport facilities in Abu Dhabi.
Commenting on the acquisition, HE Khadem Al Qubaisi, Chairman of Aabar, said, “I am pleased to announce this partnership. Virgin Galactic is the leader in the realm of space tourism, having successfully established a potential global market for its offering in a very short span of time. Aabar’s stake in Virgin Galactic will open a new avenue of opportunity for Abu Dhabi in this unique and dynamic business. The significant partnership not only falls in line with Abu Dhabi’s larger plans to inculcate technology research and science at a grassroots level but also complements its aim to be the international tourism capital of the region.â€
Virgin Galactic is in the final stages of developing and testing commercial sub-orbital space vehicles based on the prototype SpaceShipOne, that flew successfully to space and back three times in 2004. The unique and innovative designs of the vehicles will transform the cost, safety and environmental impact of access to space for people, science research and education.
Sir Richard Branson said, “We are delighted to partner with Aabar in a strategic deal that is a first for Virgin Galactic. The initiative will leverage the solid financial backing of Aabar and the pioneering technology and strong global relationships of Virgin Galactic. This exciting deal is indicative of the interesting and high value investments that mark the UAE’s commercial portfolio.â€
The new joint venture also proposes to undertake additional development which would enable the space system to launch small satellites at unprecedented levels of cost, reliability and flexibility.
“This transaction carries multiple potential for the creation of an exceptional platform for space infrastructure such as research labs, space centre for commercial travel and much more,†said Mohamed Badawy Al-Husseiny.
Virgin Group has invested over $100m in Virgin Galactic since its formation in late 2004. The development of its new vehicles is being carried out by Scaled Composites, the renowned Mojave CA based aeronautical firm, owned by Northrop Grumman and led by Burt Rutan.
Scaled Composites was responsible for designing and building SpaceShipOne which won the $10m X Prize in 2004 as the first privately funded manned space vehicle. The system is highly innovative: it utilises a carrier aircraft for launch of the spaceship at high altitude, a controllable and benign hybrid rocket motor and a unique wing feathering design for a failsafe re-entry. The spaceship makes a runway landing rendering it almost entirely reusable.
The new commercial vehicles are now at an advanced stage of development. VMS Eve, VG’s new carrier aircraft is well into its test flight programme and is performing flawlessly. It is the world’s largest all carbon composite aircraft and has a unique high altitude, heavy lift capability. Sir Richard Branson is due to be onboard VMS Eve as a member of the crew for a demonstration flight during EAA AirVenture at Oshkosh on Tuesday 28th July.
The new spacecraft, SpaceShipTwo will commence its own test flight programme before the end of 2009. Both vehicles offer a unique environment for space tourism and a wide range of science research applications as well as a platform for small satellite launch.
Patrick McCall, the Virgin Group Commercial Director responsible for the transaction said, “We are building a great partnership for the development of the world’s first private sector integrated human and payload space launch system. All of us at Virgin Galactic are very much looking forward to working with Aabar’s Chairman, HE Khadem Al Qubaisi, its CEO Mohamed Badawy Al-Husseiny and the whole Aabar team as we move forward together at the cutting edge of the coming industrial revolution in space access. I would also like to take this opportunity to thank Brandt Mowry, the senior vice-president of corporate development who managed the transaction on behalf of Virgin Group.â€
Virgin Galactic expects the capital infusion to fully fund the company through to its commencement of commercial operations.
Credit Suisse acted as the exclusive financial advisor and placement agent to Virgin Galactic regarding the transaction.
One of the bigger developments at the event was a confirmation by Hugues Laporte-Weywada of EADS Astrium that their suborbital spaceplane project, launched with great fanfare just over two years ago at the Paris Air Show, is going into stasis because of a lack of funding. They have been working on some key technologies, including the LOX/methane rocket engine that the vehicle will use, but now that this work is wrapping up the project will on until (or if) they can raise the €1 billion (US$1.4 billion) they estimate they need to develop the vehicle. Laporte-Weywada conceded that this means that they won’t be the first to enter the market, but tried to liken the situation to that encountered by Airbus, which entered the commercial jetliner market many years after Boeing and other companies but is now an industry giant.
Another area of focus was on the regulatory situation, particularly in the UK. Will Whitehorn of Virgin Galactic noted that no other country has a regulatory environment as favorable as the US, thanks to the Commercial Space Launch Amendments Act of 2004, although Sweden is the closest, thanks to existing law that has governed sounding rocket launches there for decades. (A representative from Spaceport Sweden noted that they are working with the Swedish National Space Board to get final clarification on the regulations that would govern suborbital commercial human spaceflight there.) The UK has no enabling law, which is hindering proposals to establish a spaceport in northern Scotland. Whitehorn said he wanted to talk with other British space companies to seek a comprehensive overhaul of UK space policy (including but not limited to commercial suborbital spaceflight regulation), with an eye towards the national elections planned for next year.
A short video I shot with a pocket HD camera (Kodak Zi6) of one of the low overflights of Las Cruces International Airport by WhiteKnightTwo on Saturday. For better viewing go to the video on YouTube and be sure to select the HD option to see it in its full glory.
As promised, WhiteKnightTwo did make an appearance in the skies over Las Cruces on Saturday morning. The aircraft took off from Phoenix and, at around 9:30 am MDT (11:30 am EDT) made a series of three low passes over the airport. WK2 made a pair of passes over the 8/26 runway and then, after taking about 10 minutes to fly over the city itself, returned to make a nearly touch-and-go approach on runway 30, coming within a few feet of the runway before ascending, circling the airport once more at altitude, and departing.
The flybys were witnessed by a small crowd at the airport (on the order of a few dozen people), including a handful of media (myself included) who were able to get runway-side seats for the flybys. Everyone, even the Virgin staff at the airport, seemed impressed to the point of awestruck about the plane’s appearance. After the flybys WK2 then flew back to Mojave without incident.
The picture above is a tiny sample of much larger number of photos I took this morning; I hope to post more later this weekend after I return home.
Other than WhiteKnightTwo’s no-show, there wasn’t much in the way of breaking news (pun unintended) from Friday’s Spaceport America groundbreaking event in New Mexico. The picture above shows the actual ceremonial groundbreaking, eschewing shovels in favor of some heavy equipment that will likely soon be put to use with actual spaceport construction. Later the assembled dignitaries scooped up spoonfuls of dirt that was poured into an amateur rocket and launched.
I’ll have some more details about this event soon, but first I’m going to Las Cruces airport to try and see WhiteKnightTwo before I have to head back home…
It appears that (weather permitting) WhiteKnightTwo will make an appearance in New Mexico skies on Saturday morning. Details are in the press release below:
VIRGIN GALACTIC MOTHERSHIP TO FLY OVER LAS CRUCES SATURDAY MORNING JUNE 20
LAS CRUCES, NM – Virgin Galactic’s WhiteKnightTwo vehicle is expected to fly over the Las Cruces International Airport at around 9:30 AM on Saturday, June 20. The aircraft was originally scheduled to fly over Southern New Mexico on Friday as part of the groundbreaking ceremonies for Spaceport America. Due to a minor technical issue with an actuator, WhiteKnightTwo made a technical stop in Phoenix. Due to approaching thunderstorms, it was decided not to move forward on Friday.
Weather permitting, the WhiteKnightTwo is expected to arrive around 9:30 AM and circle the Las Cruces International Airport three times before beginning its return trip to Mojave, California.
The flight of the WhiteKnightTwo is the culmination of groundbreaking events planned around Friday’s formal groundbreaking for Spaceport America, the world’s first purpose-built commercial spaceport.
As you may have heard by now, WhiteKnightTwo was unable to make its planned flyover of the groundbreaking ceremonies for Spaceport America on Friday. Flightglobal.com has a good summary of the aborted flight, which ran into problems when an actuator warning light came on during the flight, apparently just as they reached the Arizona-New Mexico border, according to the flight track on FlightAware. The plane diverted to Phoenix-Mesa Gateway Airport, where as of this writing (7:15 pm EDT) it still is.
Virgin Galactic president Will Whitehorn broke the news of the diverted flight during the groundbreaking ceremonies at the Spaceport America site. “Today on flight 10 at 47,000 feet, the pilot saw an actuator light go on, and they have decided, as a matter of pure precaution, to land at Phoenix to check the plane,” he said at the end of his prepared remarks. “That’s normal in a test program. So it’s not going to be here shortly, but they’re hoping to come here later on in the day, or if not, tomorrow.” Whitehorn said afterwards that they diverted when they saw that warning light “despite the fact that there’s no problem with the aircraft at all.
Actually, New Mexico won’t be seeing WK2 later Friday or Saturday. I talked with Steve Landeene, executive director of Spaceport America, upon our return to Las Cruces, and he said he advised them to fix the problem with the plane and simply fly back to Mojave. The major reason for that is the lack of advance notice to tell people when and where the flyover would take place. Instead, they’re considering having WK2 make another trip to New Mexico at a future date, when sufficient advance notice can be relayed to the public.
“So I do apologize that you won’t be seeing WhiteKnightTwo in the next hour and a half, but that doesn’t matter to us because we know it’s capable of doing the job it’s going to do,” Whitehorn said. “It’s early in its test flying program; it’s only flight 10. We’re planning over 200 flights in the program; a bigger test program than Concorde had, because we are going to make sure that no one gets in that plane–commercially, scientifically, or industrially–unless it’s going to be 100 percent safe for them, 100 percent safe within the terms that we can be able to provide in the future.”
Update 7:35 pm: Stand by: there may be a WK2 appearance tomorrow morning in New Mexico after all. More details later tonight.
Today is the groundbreaking for Spaceport America, and events kicked off late yesterday with a public event on the campus of New Mexico State University in Las Cruces featuring Gov. Bill Richardson (speaking above) and representatives from the city, university, FAA, and Virgin Galactic. No news came out of that event, with the speeches largely congratulating Virgin and local and state officials for their work getting the spaceport from a concept to something that will actually start to be built. There was also a strong emphasis on the jobs, especially high-paying high-tech positions, that the region hopes the spaceport will create.
One other item: at a VIP reception after the NMSU public event, Will Whitehorn of Virgin Galactic announced that SpaceShipTwo will be unveiled and flown for the first time on December 7. Presumably that flight will be a glide test, not a powered flight.
Visit phantoms.fm for the latest updates, guides, and resources on the Phantom wallet, a top choice for Solana users to manage assets and interact with decentralized apps.
Recent Comments