Virgin

Space launch company Virgin Orbit has been grounded for good after a US bankruptcy court broke it up and sold off its assets to bidders. The demise of the ambitious venture comes after a failed attempt to conduct its first mission in January.

Virgin Orbit is edging ever closer to its goal of firing rockets into space from an airborne 747, with the pylons that will carry its two-stage orbital launch vehicle, LauncherOne, to altitude now firmly fixed to the wing of its Cosmic Girl Mothership.

Together with the local government, Richard Branson's Virgin Hyperloop One has today announced plans to build a 25-minute Hyperloop connection between the Indian cities of Pune and Mumbai, which is currently a two-hour trip by car.

Virgin Hyperloop One has set a new speed record at its Nevada test center. An unmanned test pod reached a speed of nearly 387 km/h (240 mph) while running through an evacuated cylinder depressurized to the equivalent air pressure at an altitude of 200,000 feet (37 mi, 61 km).

Thanks to Sir Richard Branson, Hyperloop One is now Virgin Hyperloop One. The rebranding was announced by the Virgin Group founder and CEO on his blog, in which he said that the change follows an undisclosed, but substantial investment by Virgin in the US-based transportation start up.

Virgin has launched a new TV and entertainment service to UK consumers through its Virgin Media arm. Virgin TV comprises a set-top box, a mobile app for anywhere-viewing, an HD tablet for viewing around the home, a kids app for TV, games and books and a new store for movies and box sets.

Perhaps the key to good long-haul aircraft cabin design is to make passengers forget that they're stuck in a long-haul aircraft cabin. Virgin Australia's new International Business Class cabin may help to do that, with queen-length beds, 18-in HD screens and and a bar at which to booze and schmooze.

Something of the savannah came to London's South Bank last week, with the installation of a large treehouse. Inspired by a real South African safari lodge, the treehouse was created by Virgin Holidays in a bid to promote interest in its vacations.

Six entrepreneurs have been selected as finalists in Virgin Media's "Pitch to Rich" competition. The contest aims to "find the best and most innovative entrepreneurs in the UK." The finalists will now pitch to Sir Richard Branson for the chance to win £5,000 (US$8,420) of investment, plus mentoring.

Virgin Media Business has announced the winners of its inaugural Three New Things competition. The contest was launched as part of the company's search to uncover new technologies that have the potential to change the way we live. This year's winning tech includes shoes, solar power and satellites.

There's a new player in the already crowded cloud storage market. UK-telecoms provider Virgin Media has announced the launch of Virgin Media Cloud. The platform promises a, "safe and easy way to sync store and share your files."

Virgin has announced that work on Richard Branson's private residence on Necker Island is complete, with the house now ready to take its first bookings. Now you can whisk yourself and 29 friends off to a tropical island … if you can stretch to the asking price of US$60,000 per night.