Enlarge / The Firefly Aerospace Alpha rocket can be seen on the pad before the To The Black mission.
Firefly
Since SpaceX first reached orbit in 2008 with the Falcon 1 rocket, a handful of other companies such as Rocket Lab and Virgin Orbit have developed and successfully launched small liquid fuel rockets. But all of these boosters, including the Falcon 1, could lift at most a few hundred kilograms into low Earth orbit.
However, a newer generation of companies have decided that their first rockets should be larger, to lift about 1 ton or a little more into orbit. Officials from these companies have said that they believe the micro-launchers do not have enough market viability to meet the needs of today’s satellite customers.
So these companies — like Firefly Aerospace, Relativity Space, and ABL Space Systems in the US, and Isar Aerospace and Rocket Factory Augsburg in Europe — have pushed to develop a larger rocket as the first vehicle. And this weekend, the first of those companies, Firefly, hit orbit on its Alpha rocket.
have to execute
Powered by four Reaver engines, the Alpha rocket lifted off from Vandenberg Space Force Base at 00:01 local time (07:01 UTC) Saturday, carrying several small payloads into low Earth orbit after re-igniting its upper stage would have. This success followed an initial launch attempt in September 2021 in which one of the four Reaver engines failed during ascent.
In an interview just ahead of Saturday’s launch attempt, Firefly CEO Bill Weber told Ars that the company is poised to break through not just as a launch company but as a space services provider. “Firefly has got to the point where the only thing holding her back is execution,” Weber said.
For this reason, the flight on Saturday was critical. Firefly has a number of programs in development, including the ambitious Blue Ghost lunar module, which could fly to the moon as early as 2023, as well as other orbits. Finally, the company is working on the “Miranda” rocket engine, which will be used by Northrop Grumman for its Antares rocket, as well as a brand new medium-lift vehicle that the companies are developing together.
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“Firefly needs maturity and scale to reach its potential,” said Weber, who became the company’s new CEO earlier this year. He became the permanent head of the company after co-founder Tom Markusic stepped down as CEO in June. On Alpha’s maiden flight, Firefly employs about 800 people, many at its Texas headquarters near Austin.
A crowded field
While Firefly has big plans for space services and the moon, the biggest short-term challenge is getting alpha from development to operations. Weber said the company will aim to launch another Alpha this year before flying six times in 2023. Firefly aims to reach a cadence of one launch per month by 2024.
Weber said there is a high demand for launch services in the 1-ton class, particularly for proven vehicles. The key in this competition will be to get to market early with a safe and reliable missile.
“Just as we’re going to be watching, so will the rest of the market,” he said. “We need to make sure we take care of things that Firefly can control. Regardless of what happens to Relativity or ABL, if we manage to get to orbit, our business will be good. Firefly’s plan doesn’t require others to fail, it requires us to succeed.”
Highlights of the To The Black mission.
The company’s partnership with Northrop Grumman is also notable, considering the defense giant had a choice of US missile companies. After the Russian invasion of Ukraine, Northrop had to find a new supplier of engines for its Antares vehicle, which carries cargo to the International Space Station for NASA. This spring it announced a partnership with Firefly.
The new Antares 330 rocket will use seven Miranda engines and significantly increase the payload capacity of the existing Antares launch vehicle, which can carry about 8 tons into low Earth orbit. Firefly plans to hot-fire test the Miranda engine for the first time in the first half of 2023 and is confident in the design as it is based on an enlarged version of the now flight-proven Reaver engine.