Firefly Aerospace Is Trying To Reach Orbit In Multiple Ways
Ever since Firefly’s second orbital test flight with the Alpha rocket, we have seen a significant increase in work on a few different projects. This not only includes work toward more Alpha launches but also a new medium-lift vehicle hoping to expand what the company is capable of.
Just days ago we learned more about this new vehicle’s engine and some of the tests it’s completed in the past couple of months. Not to mention new Alpha launch contracts including one with Lockheed Martin. This joins an already busy list of launches scheduled to lift off in only a few months from now. While the last flight was considered a success by the company, in reality, the payloads were deployed into a lower orbit than intended and reentered the atmosphere sooner than planned.
This next launch is hoping to be 100% successful and use the information learned from past missions to reach orbit and stay there. Here I will go more in-depth into what Firefly Aerospace has been working on, when the next launch will be, what to expect in the coming months, and more.
Miranda Engine
Last year in August both Firefly Aerospace and Northrop Grumman announced that they had joined forces to provide a new medium launch vehicle to serve commercial, civil and national security space launch markets. The new rocket will utilize seven of Firefly’s Miranda engines and leverage its composites technology for the first stage structures and tanks, while Northrop Grumman provides its avionics and software, upper-stage structures and Castor 30XL motor, as well as vehicle integration and launch pad operations.
Just over a week ago, Firefly tweeted saying, “Sneak peek of our Miranda chamber standing more than 7 feet tall. More to come as we get closer to our first engine hot fire for the medium launch vehicle we’re co-developing with @northropgrumman.” This included an image that partially shows the engine with a human next to it for scale. Standing at 7 feet tall this engine is much larger than anything the company has worked on before.
As mentioned in the tweet, the company is just about ready to hot-fire the engine for the first time. This comes after a long lists of tests and checks were completed earlier this year. Back in March for example Firefly completed risk reduction testing for critical Miranda engine components. “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 commonalty 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 planned to happen this summer, Firefly will start engine qualification in the fall. The company is confident that its culture of rapid design, iteration, and agility further enables Firefly to meet MLV’s schedule with a cost-effective, high-performing solution. With the first flight scheduled for 2025, MLV will be capable of launching 16,000 kg to lower Earth orbit with a 5-meter class payload fairing that can be customized based on customer needs. The vehicle will enable direct payload deliveries to customers’ preferred orbits at a comparable cost per kilogram to existing reusable rockets. An ambitious goal but something Firefly is continuing to work on.
Upcoming Launches
There are now officially three upcoming missions planned with the Alpha rocket. The first launch we should expect to see is Victus NOX. In this case, Firefly has been selected by the U.S. Space Force’s (USSF) Space Systems Command (SSC) to provide launch services for the VICTUS NOX responsive space mission. As the launch provider, Firefly will have the payload encapsulated, mated, launched, and placed into low Earth orbit within 24 hours of receiving the launch notice and orbit requirements. The goal of the program is to demonstrate the United States’ capability to rapidly respond to on-orbit needs during a conflict or in response to a national security threat.
To prepare for the mission, Firefly manufactured and acceptance tested each critical flight component, engine, and vehicle stage to improve reliability before shipping Alpha to their launch site. With the launch vehicle now in Vandenberg, Firefly is also conducting several dry runs, including mating the payload fairing to Alpha on the launch pad – a first for Firefly and a key capability to enable responsive space missions. As of April 12, 2023, the team also completed a full-duration static fire on the first attempt, verifying all Alpha systems and components operate within flight parameters. By now, the company is just about ready to launch this mission. This being said, Firefly hasn’t officially released a launch date and instead has said the timeframe is to be determined. In reality, a launch within the next month or so would be a good estimate.
After this launch, assuming everything goes well, Firefly will launch the Elana 43 mission. In this case, Firefly was selected by NASA to provide launch services as part of its Venture Class Launch Services Demonstration 2 (VCLS Demo 2) contract. These launches can tolerate a higher level of risk than larger missions, and they help demonstrate the capabilities of launch vehicles like Alpha that support a new launch class and provide more access to space for small satellites and spacecraft.
When selected, the company president commented, “Firefly is pleased to have been selected by NASA for this operationally challenging mission. We applaud NASA’s commitment to the nation’s emerging small launch industrial base and look forward to supporting America’s civil space launch needs for many years.”
Finally, the last officially scheduled mission will be an SUV demonstration. Launched aboard the Alpha vehicle, Firefly’s Space Utility Vehicle (SUV) will demonstrate their on-orbit services post-launch and flexible payload deployments when and where customers need them. The mission is expected to lay the groundwork for the company’s end-to-end transportation services with a streamlined customer experience for launch, deployment, and in-space mobility.
With payload capacity still available, the SUV demonstration mission offers opportunities for multiple payload deployments in Sun-Synchronous Orbit for 1-12U CubeSat form factors. Firefly’s SUV utilizes much of the same flight-proven hardware from the Alpha launch vehicle and Blue Ghost lunar lander, including the core avionics, thrusters, and carbon composite structures, to provide robust reliability. With small launch vehicles, they can benefit heavily from additional control and propulsion in the form of a third stage. The Space Utility Vehicle offers responsive on-orbit solutions with a high delta V spacecraft bus. The modular, scalable vehicle provides in-space mobility, hosting, and servicing when and where customers need it.
The company was quoted saying, “Firefly’s fleet of Space Utility Vehicles are evolving to service the entire lifecycle of our customers’ satellites and spacecraft. SUV Lux supports long-duration missions with enhanced maneuverability, power, pointing, and communications services and the ability to carry multiple payloads from LEO to GEO, lunar orbit, and nearby planets. With the first mission launching in 2025, SUV Lux will serve as a transfer vehicle for Blue Ghost Mission 2, enabling additional customer opportunities for lunar orbit delivery and operations” they said.
If all of these different missions and projects weren’t enough, the company is also preparing for its first mission to the Moon. Firefly’s first Blue Ghost mission will deliver 13 commercial and government payloads to the lunar surface in 2024, including 10 NASA-sponsored payloads as part of the Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) initiative. The Blue Ghost lunar lander will provide data, power, and thermal resources to enable payload operations through transit to the Moon, for an entire lunar day (about 14 Earth days), and well into the freezing lunar night.
Conclusion
Firefly Aerospace has a lot on its plate including a medium-lift rocket, Alpha, and even the Moon. In the next few months, we can expect an Alpha launch and more progress all around. We will have to wait and see how it progresses and the impact it has on the space industry.