The Firefly Alpha rocket will benefit from a massive upgrade with the ion booster overpressure phase

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Eric Ralph · June 18, 2019

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Although the company quietly commented on the concept for the first time several months ago, Firefly has released a detailed update of its Orbital Transfer Vehicle (OTV), an ambitious spacecraft designed to complement its Alpha and Beta launchers. If Firefly succeeds in keeping the technical promises of the independent spacecraft, the combination of Alpha (~ $ 15M) and OTV could help usher in a new era of small high-performance satellites launched on small high-performance rockets .

In fact, Rocket Lab – currently the only truly commercial Smallsat product provider in the world – has already demonstrated the power of this new paradigm, albeit on a smaller scale. After an unsuccessful attempt, the first successful launch into orbit of the company's Electron rocket also marked the unexpected start of a tiny third step used to circle the orbit of the payload. After five successful uses in orbit, Rocket Lab has gone one step further by adding redundant avionics, solar panels, etc., to effectively create an independent satellite / satellite bus called Photon. Obviously, the Firefly TVO is much larger than Photon but its operation is quite similar. Leveraging the considerable benefits of Alpha's performance over Electron, Firefly has designed a third stage / spacecraft capable of delivering hundreds of kilograms into the geostationary orbit, the moon and (perhaps) beyond.

Change the delta V game

  • In general, OTV is quite small. According to the Fireload User Guide, the spacecraft will weigh only 130 kg dry and will carry perhaps 30 to 70 kg of xenon for its electric ion thrusters. This is a key differentiator from Rocket Lab's Photon and Kick stages, which are based on Curie's inefficient (but simple and reliable) chemical rocket engine.
    • According to Firefly, Alpha is designed to launch a maximum of 2,000 kg (2,200 lb) in a 200 km (125 mi) LEO. With a wet weight of around 200 kg, OTV offers incredible capabilities in relation to the size and design of the rocket.
    • Powerful electric thrusters add a lot of complexity to any spacecraft that chooses to use them, but this pain is often considered worthwhile for the benefits it can offer. More particularly, ion propulsion is extremely effective.
This graph shows the potential benefits of Alpha + OTV on performance compared to Alpha alone. (Firefly)
  • Thanks to the OTV-optimized electric thrusters and lightweight carbon composite, the potential benefits of Alpha + OTV are hard to believe for a rocket as small as the Alpha.
  • On its own, Alpha can only provide a significant payload (~ 100 kg) at perhaps 4,000 km. Thanks to the OTV, Alpha can suddenly supply about 600 kg in a circular geostationary orbit (about 36,000 km) and more than 400 to 500 kg orbiting the moon.
    • For reference, despite a weight of about 10% of Falcon 9, Alpha and OTV would offer perhaps 10 to 15% of Falcon 9's performance at trans lunar injection (TLI). This totally undermines the general rule that a rocket becomes significantly smaller and that its performance (especially for high-energy orbits) deteriorates disproportionately.
  • With OTV, Alpha – name a $ 15 million launcher relegated to LEO payloads – becomes an incredibly intriguing option for small geostationary communication satellites and private and private exploration of the Moon, asteroids close to the Earth and possibly to be even of Mars / Venus.
  • According to a senior Firefly investor and board member, Firefly hopes OTV will be ready for its orbital debut at the third Alpha launch, which has not yet been scheduled for mid-2020.

Alpha is preparing for the launch

  • Of course, OTV is a wingless bird without the Firefly Alpha Launcher. Of a power of 54 000 kg (120 000 lb) fully powered, the Alpha is a two-story rocket of a height of 1.8 m (6 ft) and a height of 29 m (95 ft). Powered by four Reaver engines, the first stage will produce about 740 kN (166,000 lbf), or about 85% of one of the nine Falcon 9 Merlin 1D engines.
  • Firefly is working tirelessly for the ambitious debut of Alpha's launch in December 2019, a goal that will likely come in early 2020 due to the inherent complexity of the task at hand. However, Firefly has made tremendous progress towards this goal.
    • Notably, Firefly's second stage – equipped with a vacuum-optimized Lightning engine – has already been qualified for launch with full-length static fires at the company's facilities in Texas. Firefly is preparing an identical series of qualifying tests for its more powerful first stage, illustrated above in the form of a Reaver engine associated with an Alpha S1 thrust structure.
    • Starting in July, a full set of four Reaver engines will be installed on the same thrust structure to perform static fire tests, much like SpaceX has progressively added Merlin 1D engines to Falcon 9 development tests.
  • If all goes according to plan, Firefly will complete its first Alpha rocket – first phase, second phase and payload fairing – in October or November 2019. Expect lots of new photos and updates on the way the inaugural launch of Alpha.
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– Eric




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