Satellite delivery company Virgin Orbit is looking to secure as much as $200 million in private funding for its orbital-launch business.

The capital infusion will increase the company's total market valuation to $1 billion. The funding will allow Virgin Orbit to begin sending into space payloads similar to NASA's forthcoming mission that will put 10 compact satellites into orbit.

The fundraising comes as the Richard Branson-led travel-to-finance business group and the broader commercial space-aviation sector have struggled from the world health emergency.

The British billionaire is among business owners, including Tesla's Elon Musk and Amazon's Jeff Bezos, who have helped spearhead an era of commercial space exploration.

Should Virgin Orbit complete its latest funding and achieve $1 billion in value, it will be approximately 50% of what Musk's SpaceX has raised lately. Musk's rocket company completed its biggest funding to date in August.

Virgin Orbit announced in the same month it had hired Perella Weinberg Partners and LionTree Advisors to examine a deal. According to The Wall Street Journal, these lenders are helping Virgin secure around $200 million before the end of 2020 for expenditure on satellite launches.

Before Virgin Orbit's spinoff in 2017, its forerunner, Virgin Galactic, and OneWeb had sealed a contract in 2015 to transport to orbit OneWeb's satellites.

While the satellite arena has for many years been controlled by huge vehicles launching massive satellites, the Long Beach, California-based company and other competitors want to place smaller satellites into near-space, targeting commercial and military clients.

Virgin Orbit's fundraising is the third time Branson has sought the help of investors in the face of the coronavirus crisis which has crippled the travel markets that were the backbone of his Virgin Group.