Saudi Arabia plans $1 billion investment in Virgin‘s space tourism and to a space-centric entertainment center.
The Crown Prince His Royal Highness Mohammad bin Salman Al-Saud announced plans for a $500 billion new city in the north of the Kingdom.
Above, space-centric entertainment center in Saudi Arabia. Credit Virgin Galactic
Richard Branson said about the project: “Today I’m pleased to announce the intention of the Public Investment Fund (PIF) of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA), pending approval by the US government, to invest approximately $1 billion into our US based space companies, Virgin Galactic, The Spaceship Company and Virgin Orbit.”
“This is exciting news for our companies. For our wonderful staff, customers and partners, this investment is a sign of confidence from the international investment community that our vision, our approach and our technology are the right path to commercialising space access. Both VSS Unity and LauncherOne are poised to reach significant technical milestones in the run-up to launch, and we are eager to build out R&D and our US facilities to support next generation vehicles and services.”
“We are now just months away from Virgin Galactic sending people into space and Virgin Orbit placing satellites around the Earth. This investment will enable us to develop the next generation of human spaceflight, more economic satellite launches and accelerate our programme for trans-continental point-to-point space travel. It also includes the possibility to develop a space-centric entertainment industry in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.”
source Virgin
It would be great if they could start flaying by 2020 but considering their track record it will probably be 2050