By Christiana Sciaudone
Investing.com -- Virgin Galactic slumped after a test flight to space was aborted shortly after takeoff because of a technical snag.
Shares tumbled 12% after White Knight Two's ignition sequence to light the space plane failed to complete on Saturday in New Mexico, Ars Technica, a tech and science news website, reported. It was the first attempt to fly in two years. The rocket motor failed to fire and the two pilots on board glided the vehicle back to a runway in New Mexico.
"The flight did not reach space as we had been planning. After being released from its mothership, the spaceship’s onboard computer that monitors the rocket motor lost connection," said Chief Executive Officer Michael Colglazier in a statement. "As designed, this triggered a fail-safe scenario that intentionally halted ignition of the rocket motor. Following this occurrence, our pilots flew back to Spaceport America and landed gracefully as usual."
Virgin Galactic is now conducting post-flight analysis and said that the onboard computer that monitors the propulsion system lost connection, triggering a fail-safe scenario that intentionally halted ignition of the rocket motor. This system, like others on the spaceship, is designed such that it defaults to a safe state whenever power or communication with sensors is lost.
"As we do with every test flight, we are evaluating all the data, including the root cause assessment of the computer communication loss. We remain focused on the test flight program we have previously announced, beginning with a repeat of this test flight," Colglazier said. "This will be followed by another test flight which will include mission specialists in the cabin. And following that flight, we will have another test flight which will include our founder, Sir Richard Branson."
Virgin Galactic's first successful suborbital flight took place in December 2018, according to Ars Technica. New Mexico invested more than $200 million to attract and retain Virgin Galactic, which recently moved from California.