RpK funding

[docm]

Link....<br /><br /><blockquote><font class="small">In reply to:</font><hr /><p>Randy Brinkley, president and CEO of Rocketplane Kistler, tells AvWeek that RpK expects to fulfill its private funding goal for the K-1 COTS program by the end of July: Rocketplane Kistler 'On Track' For Private Funding: Rocketplane Kistler late on funding as sister unit lays off key manager - Aviation Week - July.1.07 (subscription required).<br /><br /><b><font color="yellow">However, in the meantime, they have laid off David Urie, who was both leading the Rocketplane XP project and assisting on the RpK side. He will be rehired once the funding is acquired.</font></b><br /><br />RpK needs to raise $500M in private investment to compliment the $207M that it will receive incrementally from NASA as it meets a sequence of milestones. In the original agreement, RpK was to have raised $120M by February and $380M more by September. For some reason, RpK's investment banker (Jeffries Quarterdeck) advised RpK to renegotiate that agreement with a goal instead of raising all $500M by the end of May, which did not happen. NASA is now giving them some extra time to get the rest of the money.<br /><br /> "We have not completed full funding, but we have a lead investor who has completed the due diligence, and we're on track to complete everything, the full $500 million, by the end of July," Brinkley says.<p><hr /></p></p></blockquote><br /> SpaceX finished their funding earlier this year. <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> </div>

 

[spacelifejunkie]

With RpK's history of raising money without results, how do they continue get even more from investors? Have they even had a rocket engine test fire? I don't see how they are even going to come close to putting something in space any time soon. I hope I'm wrong, we need as much space competition as possible.<br /><br /><br />SLJ