Credit: Orbex
The UK-based services provider Orbex has entered insolvency proceedings after a planned takeover by European space logistics startup The Exploration Company fell through.
In December 2025, The Exploration Company entered negotiations to acquire Orbex. On 21 January, the companies announced they had signed a letter of intent, with The Exploration Company’s CEO Hélène Huby describing the businesses as “complementary.”
On 20 January, Orbex made 90 employees redundant as it shut down its rocket engine factory in Denmark, with the subsidiary that managed it filing for bankruptcy. On 11 February, the company announced that it had filed a notice of its intention to appoint administrators, formally beginning insolvency proceedings and putting the remaining 150 UK-based employees at risk of redundancy. In a statement, Orbex said the decision came after all “fundraising, merger and acquisition opportunities had all concluded unsuccessfully.”
“Disappointing doesn’t come close to describing how we feel about this moment,” said Orbex CEO Phil Chambers. “We have been successfully developing a sustainable, world-class sovereign space launch capability for the UK and were on the cusp of our first test flights later this year.”
According to the company, the appointment of administrators will give Orbex time to secure “as positive an outcome as possible for its creditors, employees and wider stakeholders.” It did, however, add that the process could include the sale of all or parts of the business or its assets. The exact extent of the company’s financial woes is unclear, with it currently overdue in filing its 2024 financial accounts, which were due on 31 December 2025.
Prior to the acquisition talks and subsequent insolvency proceedings, Orbex had been working towards an inaugural flight of its Prime rocket this year. The company was also developing a second, larger rocket called Proxima, which was intended to succeed Prime. Without a significant injection of capital, it is unlikely that either will ever leave the ground.
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