firefly aerospace signs customer spaceflight for alpha rocket launch in 2021
The Texas-based private aerospace firm Firefly
Aerospace is going to collaborate with Spaceflight Inc. on a rideshare mission on
the Alpha small launch vehicle of Firefly as per an agreement announced on 22nd
April. Spaceflight is going to provide most of the payloads for this vehicle.
This vehicle is supposed to launch in 2021 or late this year from Vandenberg
Airforce Base in California. This alpha rocket is able to place the 630kg
satellite in the sun-synchronous orbit.
As per the agreement signed, Spaceflight
will continue to supply payloads for future missions by Firefly. Firefly
founder and chief executive said, "We expect a long-term relationship with
Spaceflight. We consider them the preeminent aggregator of satellites in our payload
class".
Firefly is going to work with other payload
aggregators too. Firms like 'Innovative Solutions in Space' (Denmark) are going
to have collaborated with Firefly in the near future. These collaborations will result
in capturing the major share of the global rideshare market, says Brad
Schneider, chief revenue officer of Firefly. He mentioned that there is a good balance
between govt. and commercial business for Alpha.
Firefly is in the final stage of the
development of Alpha. The first launch is supposed to be performed later this
year. The company is planning to perform static-fire tests of the second stage
in May as it is assembling the first flight vehicle. After passing those tests,
the vehicles are going to be shipped to Vandenberg. A former Delta 2 pad of
Space Launch Complex 2 West in Vandenberg is being prepared already. That pad is
supposed to be modified within July for a "wet dress rehearsal", a
practice countdown that involves fuelling the vehicle. However, the launch date
is not fixed as it is the first mission and all the tests are yet to be passed
and the bugs to be removed, system Markusic, CEO of Firefly. He said that it
is going to be a demonstration mission, although some unnamed payloads of some
customers are going to be carried. He added that a second Alpha rocket is in
production concurrently with the first one.
Firefly has gone through several setbacks
in Alpha development. In January, a fire broke out during qualification tests
of the first stage, a misconfigured software led to this accident as the CEO says.
The development has been going through all the restrictions imposed by the
Coronavirus pandemic. The company has split its operations into two shifts,
it also has provided high-end laptops and upgraded networks for the use of
telework. As per the CEO, the company is going with at least 90% of its capacity. The company is
hiring employees at a rate of one person a day and expanding constantly.
The company has come up with new strategic
partnerships considering the economic effects of the pandemic. They are looking
forward to teaming up with their competitors for greater achievements for all.
Right now Firefly is a part of NASA's Commercial
Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) program. Firefly was one of an estimated 8 to 10
bidders for the latest CLPS task order, which NASA awarded to Masten space
systems. Markusic said, "Firefly will take the feedback it did get on its
proposal........and try to win again."
By,
Anirban Das
KOLKATA, INDIA
ON BEHALF OF SPACE RENAISSANCE INDIAN CHAPTER
ON BEHALF OF SPACE RENAISSANCE INDIAN CHAPTER
Wowowowo😉
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