Spaceport Cornwall has said it will continue to focus on growing the space cluster, after Virgin Orbit announced it was pausing its operations.

Richard Branson鈥檚 US satellite launch firm is working to secure additional funding for future launches, and in the meantime has furloughed staff,

In a statement, the company said: 鈥淰irgin Orbit is initiating a company-wide operational pause, effective (from) March 16 2023, and anticipates providing an update on go-forward operations in the coming weeks.鈥

The news comes after the company鈥檚 attempt to make British space history by launching a rocket into orbit from 海角视频 soil ended in failure, after suffering an 鈥渁nomaly鈥 during the flight at the start of the year

After taking off from Newquay, the Virgin Orbit plane flew to 35,000 ft over the Atlantic Ocean where it jettisoned the rocket containing nine small satellites towards space. Organisers of the Start Me Up mission said the rocket 鈥 with a variety of civil and defence applications 鈥 failed to orbit.

Virgin Orbit previously said it was anticipating and had been in 鈥渁ctive discussions鈥 with key government and commercial stakeholders to start plans for new missions 鈥渁s soon as later this year鈥.

Cllr Louis Gardner, Cornwall Council鈥檚 cabinet member for the economy, said: 鈥淚t is clearly a difficult time for the Virgin Orbit team as they navigate the next stage of their company, and we will await further information from them as events unfold.

鈥淥ur focus at Spaceport Cornwall is to continue to grow the space cluster in Cornwall, alongside progressing relationships with spaceflight operators. We remain the only licensed spaceport in the 海角视频 and our plan is to build on that position.鈥

Virgin Orbit is a key partner with Spaceport Cornwall and currently the only company which has launch capability. Cornwall Council has invested more than 拢10m into Spaceport Cornwall and claimed that the venture will result in hundreds of new jobs and attract businesses in the space industry to Cornwall.

A 海角视频 Space Agency spokesperson said: 鈥淭his is a commercial matter for Virgin Orbit, and we are engaging regularly with the company to understand the next steps.

鈥淲e recognise that launching into space is an inherently challenging endeavour 鈥 that鈥檚 why we continue to support multiple projects to make the 海角视频 the leading provider of commercial small satellite launch in Europe by 2030, generating jobs and growth in communities across the 海角视频.鈥

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