Firefly Aerospace, a private aerospace company that develops small to medium-lift launch vehicles, recently signed a launch-agreement with aerospace-giant Lockheed Martin to support a demonstration mission on the Firefly Alpha launch vehicle.
The CEO of Firefly, Bill Weber, discussed about the agreement: “Firefly’s flight-proven hardware and rapid launch capabilities are well-aligned with Lockheed Martin’s mission needs, and we’re proud to serve as one of their launch providers. We have the infrastructure, technologies, systems, and a dedicated team in place to provide on-demand launch services for both government and commercial customers.” Lockheed Martin Space's VP of Strategy and Business Development, Dan Tenney, affirmed, “We are working with Firefly because of their innovative performance in offering access to space for small payloads on Firefly Alpha. We look forward to collaborating with them, as we focus on creating a resilient launch environment for our upcoming technology demonstration.”
The Firefly Alpha is a small-lift expendable launch vehicle powered by four Reaver-1 kerolox tap-off cycle engines on its first stage delivering 165,500 pounds of thrust. The second stage is powered by a Lightning 1 kerolox engine, outputting 15,800 pounds of thrust with a specific impulse (ISP) of 322 seconds. The airframe is composed of all carbon-fiber composites, making the rocket more fuel-efficient. The vehicle is designed to launch up to 1,170 kilograms to Low Earth Orbit (LEO) for a cost of $15 million per launch. The Firefly Alpha successfully reached orbit on its second orbital attempt on October 1st, 2022.