Firefly Aerospace Next Alpha Launch Could Be Just Weeks Away
Firefly Aerospace has been very busy since its last mission back in October of last year. This was the company’s second mission and they considered it a success despite the fact that its payloads, placed in a lower orbit than planned, reentered within several days. Either way, it was still an impressive performance for the second ever launch and a big improvement from the first orbital test flight.
In the time since then, we have seen significant engine testing and some of the final preparation for the third launch attempt. Right now the Alpha rocket is at the pad and performing various testing to ensure the systems are working well. Assuming these different tests provide promising results, we could expect to see Alpha lift off in only weeks from now.
This time around, Firefly is trying to make sure that the rocket not only reaches orbit, but gets to its exact destination for a proper payload deployment and demonstration. Here I will go more in-depth into the recent launch prep, the details of this mission, what to expect in the coming weeks, and more.
Launch Prep
Starting only days ago on the 28th Firefly tweeted saying, “Launch Update: Things are rockin’ in Vandenberg! The team has moved Alpha to the pad ahead of final system testing and a full-duration static fire for the @SpaceForceDoD VICTUS NOX responsive space mission.” Just weeks prior the company was in the final integration of their Alpha rocket and were standing ready for the 24-hour call-up.
Back in October, Firefly announced that the company 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 is intended to 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). This awareness is a growing priority of the military as space traffic increases in orbit. Based on that description, the mission will likely help the military find and monitor spacecraft and space debris that could pose a threat to U.S. orbital assets.
At the time Bill Weber, CEO of Firefly Aerospace commented, “We are honored to be chosen by Space Force for this important national security mission. Now more than ever, our country needs the ability for quick response capabilities to combat threats in space. Our Alpha launch vehicle is designed to drive affordable, rapid access to space. We look forward to working with Lt. Col. Justin Beltz and Lt. Col. MacKenzie Birchenough along with their experienced team at Space Force to help bring this innovation to the national security community.”
Overall, the main purpose of this mission is to demonstrate the United States’ ability to rapidly place an asset on-orbit when and where they need it, ensuring they can augment their space capabilities with very little notice. In other words, the goal of the program is to bolster the United States “responsive space” capabilities allowing for the fast deployment of satellites during a conflict. “Space Systems Command is committed to addressing threats in the space domain and VICTUS NOX will provide space capabilities on an unprecedented timeline,” stated Lt. Col. Justin Beltz, SSC’s Small Launch and Targets Division, chief. “The United States’ launch industry is the envy of the world, innovating to bring more speed and more capability at a lower price.”
In the grand scheme of things, Firefly is developing a family of launch and in-space vehicles and services that are meant to provide industry-leading affordability, convenience, and reliability. Firefly’s launch vehicles utilize common technologies, manufacturing infrastructure and launch capabilities, providing LEO launch solutions for up to ten metric tons of payload at the lowest cost per kg in the small-launch class. In the short period of time that Firefly Aerospace has been operating, the company has made some very impressive progress. Combined with Firefly’s in-space vehicles, such as the Space Utility Vehicle and Blue Ghost Lunar Lander, Firefly is confident they can provide the space industry with a single source for missions from LEO to the surface of the Moon or beyond.
Third Times A Charm
This launch will be the third attempt and comes after the recent mostly successful mission. As partially mentioned prior Firefly said it was successful however others questioned this claim based on the payloads. Specifically, the mission press kit distributed by Firefly ahead of the launch said that the satellites would be placed in a 300-kilometer orbit after the upper stage performed a circularization burn. However, Space Force tracking data initially placed the objects into orbits with a perigee of about 220 kilometers and apogee of 275 kilometers.
Those orbits caused the payloads to decay rapidly. According to the Space Force’s Space-Track database, three of the objects reentered by Oct. 5 and the fourth, the Alpha upper stage, reentered on Oct. 7. Firefly, however, reiterated the launch was a success. “First stage and second stage performance was in-line with our flight 2 requirements and therefore successful,” the company said in response to questions.
The flight began with a nominal countdown and lift-off at 12:01 AM PDT and progressed flawlessly through each stage of flight, then inserting into an elliptical transfer orbit, coasting to apogee, and performing a circularization burn with confirmation of final payload deployment at approximately T+1 hour, which is one of the most technically challenging aspects of the mission. FLTA002 deployed a total of three payloads, including demonstration satellites from NASA TechEdSat-15 in conjunction with San Jose State University (SJSU), Teachers in Space, and Libre Space Foundation. These payloads were meant to perform several in-space experiments, including an “exo-brake” to help in the deorbiting of satellites and test the world’s first fully-free and open-source telecommunications constellation.
In addition, the company has been working on an even bigger engine for a bigger rocket. Just over a week ago, the company tweeted mentioning, “Risk reduction testing for our Miranda engines is complete & we’re on track for the first hot fire this summer. As a larger, scaled-up version of our Reaver engines, Miranda will power the Medium Launch Vehicle we’re co-developing with Northrop Grumman.
“We are making significant progress in the development of our Miranda engines that started less than a year ago,” said Bill Weber, CEO of Firefly Aerospace. “By leveraging our flight-proven engine architecture and our team’s propulsion expertise, we are conducting a hot fire test in just a few months.” 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. “We built prototypes and successfully tested Miranda’s most complicated components first, and now we’re in the final stages of building the first development engines,” said Brigette Oakes, Ph.D., Director of Propulsion at Firefly. “Our engines are designed to allow for the natural evolution to considerably higher thrust.”
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. Following Miranda’s first hot fire test this summer, Firefly will start engine qualification this fall. The company’s culture of rapid design, iteration, and agility further enables Firefly to meet MLV’s schedule with a cost-effective, high-performing solution.
In comparison, Alpha utilizes well established propulsion technology. Both stages use common designs: copper regen-cooled LOx/RP-1 thrust chambers, a simple tap-off cycle which drives single shaft turbopumps, nozzle-mounted turbine exhaust manifolds, and hydraulic actuators. Innovations in Firefly engines include the “Crossfire” injector, tap-off geometry, dual-mounted electrically actuated, trimmable propellant main valves, and ultra-compact horizontal turbopump mounting. The upper stage engine, “Lightning,” includes a turbine-exhaust cooled refractory metal high area ratio nozzle extension. The first stage “Reaver” engines feature simple single axis gimballing. Consistent with the overall Alpha vehicle design, cost, and performance are traded and optimized in Lightning and Reaver components to provide the best payload performance value. In the coming days, we can expect to see more tests and these exact engines in action.
Conclusion
Firefly Aerospace could be just weeks away from its next mission. This time around they are hoping for a 100% successful launch with no questions regarding payload deployment and reentry. We will have to wait and see how it progresses and the impact it has on the space industry.