Virgin Orbit CEO details 'cadence of launches' as company scales

Virgin Orbit CEO Dan Hart joins Yahoo Finance Live to discuss the space flight company's SPAC deal, designing cost-effective satellite and flight launches, and its partnerships with government agencies.

Video transcript

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- Richard Branson's satellite-launching company, Virgin Orbit, is taking off today. The stock is up a healthy 26%, 27% after underwhelming investors when it went public last week on the NASDAQ via a SPAC. Joining us now is the company's CEO, Dan Hart, outside there in Times Square, right outside the NASDAQ. Dan, thanks so much for joining us. Cold day to be there, but I like the-- I like the rocket behind you.

So the company raised a little less money than expected, actually quite a bit less money than expected from that SPAC merger with NextGen Acquisition, about $228 million versus the $480 million that was expected. I know you've got a big satellite launch next week into space. How important is that launch to get investors on board here with Virgin Orbit?

DAN HART: Well, I mean, every launch is important. What's really important is that we're now in a cadence of launches. So we launched commercially for the first time a year ago. We launched again in the middle of last year. We've put up 19 satellites last year. There are seven more going up over the next few days. And then we have six more rockets after that. So, you know, this business is about getting satellite customers to where they want to be.

- Sir, thank you so much for being here with us. And congratulations. I'm fascinated by the fact that you can launch a satellite from the wing of a 747 plane. I didn't know that was possible, and I'm wondering what sort of advantage does that give you. And then further to that point, you know, space stocks did not do particularly well last year, and I'm so wondering, what do you do to drive that enthusiasm and investment? Because there are various parts, right? There's deep space, with exploration to Mars, and the moon. And then there are edge of space flights. And then there are all these various satellite launches, as well.

DAN HART: Well, we've brought disruptive technology to the heart of the growth of the space economy, which is right now in small satellites and small satellite constellations. The differentiation that we have, by starting your flight into space from a 747, you leave from a normal airport. You don't have the overhead associated with a launch range. You get to 35,000 feet, the better part of Mach I in speed and 2/3 of the way through the atmosphere, before the rocket has to do any work at all.

So it makes for a smaller and simpler and less expensive rocket. And so the economics are improved. We have one engine on each of the stages of our two stage rocket. If you look at our competition, they have many engines, and that's what drives cost. And the more that you have, the lower your reliability is. So those are enduring advantages.

The other things that it gives us is incredible flexibility. We can turn any airport that can handle a large airplane into a spaceport overnight. There are almost 80 space agencies across the world. There are about 10 countries that have space launch. That's a huge business opportunity, and later this year we plan on doing our first international flight. We'll be flying out of Cornwall, which will be the first flight ever from the UK to space, the first flight from Europe, European soil to space.

And then, lastly, I mean, there's a unique place that a system like this, that can fly from anywhere at any time to any orbit, has with the National Security community in the US and our allies. So really, a differentiation and a bright future.

- So it sounds like your company, Virgin Orbit, is much more nimble than the competition. Talk to us a little bit, though, Dan, about your client base, and also what this SPAC deal, the money raised from the SPAC deal, will allow the company to do going forward.

DAN HART: Sure. So, I mean, our client base spans commercial companies, the National Security community, Space Force, as well as our allies, the RAF. There's an RAF pilot that's been loaned to us, for instance. Certainly NASA. We put up the first satellites for NASA, a dozen satellites a year ago. And then international economic communities and space agencies.

And so a very broad base across the sector. And as far as the funds and where we're applying it, I mean, we're at the point where we're ready to ramp up, and we are ramping up the cadence. We have our launch next week. We have six rockets in flow in the factory. We have our first international flight, as I mentioned.

And we also have other space ports being set up. We signed a deal with ANA airlines, for instance, late last year, to fly out of Japan in a similar way. We have an agreement with Brazil. We're in discussions with over a half a dozen other countries about setting up space ports and flying out of their countries, as well.

- And Dan, really quickly, only a few seconds left, Elon Musk's SpaceX just got in trouble with China, right, for almost bumping into one of its satellites. So I'm wondering, how crowded is it up there? And then, you know, how much room is there for investment and growth?

DAN HART: You know, there's a need for infrastructure, space traffic management, like we have air traffic management. We have the technology. We have the resources. Governments need to collaborate, probably through the UN, and really make norms of behavior, coordination, collaboration, and space traffic management a real thing. And then I think we'll be out of the woods in these kinds of areas. There's lots of space in space. There are many more aircraft that are flying around the world than spacecraft flying in space, but the infrastructure needs to be in place.

- Yeah, sounds like there's traffic even up there in space. Dan Hart, Virgin Orbit CEO, thanks for joining us. And again, congratulations on going public.