Many New Mexicans long ago wrote off the chances of tourists being launced into space on Virgin Galactic rockets from the NM Spaceport near T or C. After all it's been nearly 20 years since the plan was announced by Virgin's billionaire owner Sir Richard Branson and then Gov. Bill Richardson.

So, while hope still springs eternal in a few quarters, the company's cash is making the firmest forecast. As we hear in this update from longtime Spaceport watcher Brent Eastwood in DC there could be cloudy days to come: 

Joe: Virgin Galactic's latest earnings are not good. The company had only $500,000 in revenue in the first quarter. They lost $84 million--a little better than the $102 million they lost in Q1 2024. These guys are losing money faster than a rapper at a strip club. 

They say they are working on the new spacecraft that will launch the tourists and that there will be regular flights in the fall of 2026. Here is the problem. Since they are losing on average about $100 million a quarter and they need another six quarters before there are regular flights, they need around $600 million in reserves. 

They have $567 million in cash left as of March 31. Virgin Galactic could run out of money before the space tourists can fly on a regular basis and that's assuming no delays with the new spacecraft. Sir Richard would need to put in more funds which he says he won't do. So here we are. 

Virgin Galactic's share price was at $3.32 a share Friday, with the market valuing the company at $134 million. 

Barron's reports:

The company’s goal is to essentially build a “spaceline” business—think airline, but for space—with multiple Delta class ships operating at multiple spaceports around the world. It’s a bold vision that has been difficult to achieve. Sales in 2025 are expected to be less than $2 million. In 2019, when the company became publicly traded Virgin Galactic projected 2022 sales of about $400 million. Revenue came in just over $2 million that year.    

BROADBAND UPDATE

Look beyond the state's borders and the program to provide broadband internet to deprived rural areas keeps looking worse. 

The state is still refusing to start distributing the service via available satellite links and clinging fast to expensive high speed fiber--no matter how long it takes. 

This looks nearly ludicrous in the face of a barrage of news, including a report that the kids in rural India needing broadband could very well get it before our kids do. Why? Because they are going with Starlink service:

Elon Musk’s Starlink Inc. has got regulatory approval in India, paving the way for rolling out its satellite internet services in the world’s most-populous country. Starlink has secured the license from India’s telecom ministry, according to a government official, who spoke to reporters in New Delhi, asking not to be named as the information is not public yet.

And there's this:

A growing number of states are rolling out subsidies for satellite connectivity in rural areas, a change that could be a boon to Elon Musk’s Starlink and another nascent service from Amazon. From Maine to Nevada, states are starting to help some of the 24 million Americans who lack reliable broadband pay for satellite internet, rather than focusing such aid primarily on fiber connectivity as they have in the past. 

We haven't quoted the great former NM territorial Gov. Lew Wallace lately, but it's high time:

Every calculation based on experience elsewhere fails in New Mexico.

This is the Home of New Mexico Politics.