Firefly Aerospace Just Acquired A New Company
Firefly Aerospace is in the process of expanding its capabilities with the hope to become a frequent and reliable launch provider. Current examples include work on the new Medium Launch Vehicle or MLV, an increased Alpha launch cadence, and now a new acquisition.
Specifically, just yesterday, Firefly announced they are acquiring Spaceflight Inc. This offers more services to the company and makes Firefly more than just a launch provider. In regard to this, we have seen Rocket Lab lead down this path of Vertical integration with the acquisition of multiple companies. This process has become one of the main revenue sources and is only expected to grow.
Firefly sees a similar opportunity and believes this is an important part of the company’s future. Here I will go more in-depth into the new acquisition, Firefly’s upcoming launch schedule, what to expect in the coming months, and more.
New Acquisition
In the past few months, we haven’t heard too much from Firefly despite the fact that the company has a lot on its plate. Yesterday, however, Firefly tweeted saying, “Big news today! Firefly is acquiring Spaceflight Inc. to further grow our on-orbit capabilities and service the entire lifecycle of our customers’ payloads.”
The acquisition is intended to support Firefly’s portfolio of low-cost space transportation services, including responsive launch and in-space mobility, on-orbit hosting and servicing, and lunar delivery operations. Terms of the transaction were not disclosed. “This acquisition is the result of Firefly’s business plan to strengthen the company through organic growth in addition to accelerating its capabilities with strategic acquisitions,” said Bill Weber, CEO of Firefly Aerospace. “The combination of Spaceflight’s on-orbit experience with Firefly’s launch vehicles, Blue Ghost landers, and Space Utility Vehicles is an overnight game changer for our customers and investors” he said.
As far as what this company has to offer, Spaceflight’s orbital vehicles provide payload deliveries, hosting, and transfer services. With extensive expertise in mission management and selling and filling manifests, the company has also supported the deployment of more than 460 payloads into space. Spaceflight operates manufacturing and payload processing facilities in Bellevue, Washington, including state-of-the-art clean rooms, environmental testing capabilities, and large high bays for concurrent spacecraft production. This facility features a state-of-the-art manufacturing capacity of 14,000 square feet, including a 2,000 square foot cleanroom. An ISO-7 level certified facility, the cleanroom is large and flexible, with the capacity to process five+ Sherpa OTVs at once with anywhere from 4–20 satellites assigned per Sherpa.
“With a high market demand for our on-orbit services and rapid response missions, this acquisition uniquely positions Firefly to respond immediately to our customers’ needs,” said Weber. “We look forward to welcoming this team into our incredible Firefly family!”
The addition of Spaceflight brings added capabilities that complement Firefly’s vertically integrated product line, including launch, lunar, and in-space vehicles. Firefly’s Alpha launch vehicle is manifested through 2023 with the U.S. Space Force, NASA, and other commercial customers, as the Company concurrently builds a new medium launch vehicle in collaboration with Northrop Grumman. Firefly’s Blue Ghost lunar lander is scheduled to complete the first of two missions to the Moon next year with NASA as the anchor customer, and Firefly’s Space Utility Vehicle has a mission scheduled early next year to demonstrate the vehicle’s on-orbit capabilities.
At the end of the day, Firefly is an end-to-end space transportation company with launch, lunar, and in-space services. They are focused on delivering responsive, reliable, and affordable space access for government and commercial customers. Firefly’s small- to medium-lift launch vehicles, Space Utility Vehicles, and Blue Ghost lunar landers provide the space industry with a single source for missions from LEO to the surface of the Moon and beyond.
Focusing more on the acquisition, Spaceflight has launched hundreds of satellites for customers, working with nearly every launch vehicle provider in the world. They specialize in offering a one-stop launch experience — from the initial capacity procurement to integration, export, shipping, licensing and more. Customers also have the flexibility to switch rides if delays occur — a big advantage. They acquire capacity and provide rideshare services on all commercially competitive launch vehicles within the limits of U.S. export regulations. This includes the U.S.-based SpaceX Falcon 9, Russian Soyuz, Arianespace Vega, Virgin Orbit Launcherone, Rocket Lab Electron, and others.
Firefly Mission Prep
As partially mentioned before, Firefly has a lot going on right now as they attempt to grow the company and its options. For one, next year in 2024 the first Blue Ghost mission is set to happen. For months now we have seen payloads being delivered to Firefly as they prepare for the mission. In addition, earlier this year Firefly was awarded a $112 million NASA contract to deliver multiple lunar payloads in 2026. As Firefly’s second task order won under NASA’s Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) initiative, the company will use its Blue Ghost spacecraft in a two-stage configuration to first place a satellite into lunar orbit and then deliver two research payloads on the far side of the Moon.
The NASA-provided payloads Firefly is delivering will advance lunar research and infrastructure in conjunction with NASA’s Moon-to-Mars roadmap. Before landing on the Moon, the company’s Blue Ghost transfer vehicle will deploy the European Space Agency’s Lunar Pathfinder satellite into lunar orbit to provide communications for future spacecraft, robots, and human explorers. After touching down on the far side of the Moon, the Blue Ghost lunar lander will deliver and operate NASA’s S-Band User Terminal, ensuring uninterrupted communications for lunar exploration, and a research-focused payload that measures radio emissions to provide insight into the origins of the universe.
Moving on, Firefly just completed risk reduction testing for Miranda engine components ahead of the first hot fire scheduled this summer. As a larger, scaled-up version of the company’s Reaver engines, Miranda will power the Medium Launch Vehicle (MLV) Firefly is co-developing with Northrop Grumman. The risk reduction testing was successfully completed for Miranda’s main fuel valve and the throttle valve hot seal design. The hot seal was tested several times during routine Reaver engine hot fires. Due to the commonality of Firefly’s engine designs, the team can conduct robust flight-like testing and validate performance for both Alpha and MLV.
With 230,000 pounds of thrust (lbf), Miranda is building on the success of Lightning (15,759 lbf) and Reaver (45,000 lbf) with proven engine scalability. Miranda uses the same engine architecture, injector design, and patented tap-off cycle as the Reaver and Lightning engines that power Firefly’s orbital Alpha vehicle. Miranda also incorporates a scaled-up version of Reaver’s turbopump, fluid systems, and valve technology. The company used extensive data from more than 500 Reaver and Lightning engine tests, accounting for more than two hours of run-time, to scale the Miranda engines and improve reliability.
Finally, Alpha is getting ready for a few more missions. Late last year the company announced that they had been selected by The U.S. Space Force’s (USSF) Space Systems Command (SSC) to provide launch services for SSC’s VICTUS NOX mission. The effort was awarded as the Tactically Responsive Space (TacRS-3) Launch Service Task Order under the Orbital Services Program 4 (OSP-4) Contract. The VICTUS NOX mission will demonstrate an end-to-end Tactically Responsive Space capability, including the launch segment, space segment, ground segment, and on-orbit operations. VICTUS NOX will perform a Space Domain Awareness (SDA) mission from Low-Earth Orbit (LEO).
The goal of the program is to bolster the United States “responsive space” capabilities allowing for the fast deployment of satellites during a conflict. This award comes on the heels of Firefly’s more recent orbital flight which the company considered a success. The company is also preparing for its upcoming Alpha Flight mission currently being integrated to carry the NASA VCLS Demo 2 payload.
They even have a demo Space Utility Vehicle launch planned. Launched aboard the Alpha vehicle, Firefly’s Space Utility Vehicle (SUV) is hoping to demonstrate on-orbit services post-launch and flexible payload deployments when and where customers need them. The mission will lay the groundwork for end-to-end transportation services with a streamlined customer experience for launch, deployment, and in-space mobility. All of which are expected to happen not long from now.
Conclusion
Firefly Aerospace is getting ready for more missions and work than ever before as progress continues. The recent acquisition is a big deal and will add to what the company is capable of doing and providing to others. We will have to wait and see how it progresses and the impact it has on the space industry.