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dangerbird2 t1_jefwkus wrote

Reply to comment by ArmsForPeace84 in Virgin Orbit fails to secure funding, will cease operations and lay off nearly entire workforce by getBusyChild

The problem with virgin orbital is that they did exclusively air-launched rockets, which have a hard limit on the payload size that makes manned flight pretty much impossible (i.e. if it won't fit under a 747 wing, it won't fly). Moreover, air-launched rockets have been all but obsolete ever since Space-X and Rocket Lab have proved first-stage recovery to be reliable and extremely economical.

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ArmsForPeace84 t1_jeg3b0z wrote

Agreed. Turning a profit from air-launched rockets is impossible with launch prices having fallen so dramatically with the arrival of Falcon 9, in particular.

There might yet be a market for soft-ride orbital spaceplanes that launch like this, or even from a runway. As opposed to "mere" hypersonic airliners.

But I wouldn't bet any of my own money on seeing these emerge by even 2050.

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