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Firefly Aerospace Urges Academic Institutions, Startup Companies and the Public to Submit Payload Launch Ideas to Launch the Company's Alpha Rocket Inaugural Orbital Flight Next Year, Free of Charge Vandenberg Air Force Base in California.
The Texas-based launch company said the initiative to host academic and educational payloads at the first launch of Alpha would promote education in the disciplines of science, technology, engineering and mathematics .
"We call the flight opportunity the mission of accelerator dedicated to research and education, or DREAM payload," said Tom Markusic, CEO of Firefly. "We're encouraging educational institutions, space start-ups, or any other institution with big space dreams to visit Firefly.com and tell us about the payload of their DREAM space."
Groups interested in the Firefly offer can read the terms of the company in this document.
The officials did not specify the mass and volume allocated to the payloads of education.
Firefly stated that DREAM payloads would enter orbit with an unspecified commercial payload. The identity of the main payload of the inaugural Firefly launcher Alpha flight was not disclosed.
The two-stage Alpha rocket developed by Firefly is designed to climb up to 1,000 kilograms in a low-altitude orbit. The Alpha is one of many small, privately developed satellite launchers coming onto the market. The kerosene rocket will initially be launched from Space Launch Complex 2-West at Vandenberg, a military base approximately 225 km northwest of Los Angeles. .
Electron of Rocket Lab, which is already operational, LauncherOne, Virgin Orbit air release, and Vector Launch Vector-R rocket are among Firefly's competitors in the market dedicated to the launch of small satellites.
"Making room for everyone" is an essential part of Firefly's vision and dream since the day we started, "said Markusic in a statement." I'm proud to announce today that we let's make that commitment by opening a contest for everyone to use the excess capacity of our first Alpha launch. "
"All ideas are welcome – from drawing a child to the scientific experience of a university, to the young CubeSat company – so we encourage everyone to come up with their DREAM payload idea at Firefly," he said. Markusic.
Firefly intended to take over the SLC-2W launch pad at the end of last year. The last SLC-2W Delta 2 rocket launch took place last September.
However, delays in placing the platform between United Launch Alliance and Firefly prevented ground crews from equipping the ground infrastructure of the Alpha rocket.
The Kovacs, vice president of business development at Firefly, said at an industry conference held this month that the first launch of Alpha was only scheduled for the first quarter of 2020.
"We have been working tirelessly for a few years to develop Alpha, a revolutionary little satellite launcher," said Markusic. "And finally, our first launch is in sight."
The two stages of the Alpha rocket, 29 meters high, will burn a mixture of kerosene and liquid oxygen. Four Reaver engines on the first floor will generate more than 165,000 pounds of thrust at maximum power, and a second-stage Lightning engine will produce more than 15,000 pounds of thrust.
In March, Firefly began hot testing of the turboprops-powered integrated first-stage Reaver engine at a test site in Briggs, Texas. The engineers proceeded to a qualification of firing a complete second stage Alpha – with a Lightning engine – at the Briggs test site in April.
Firefly Aerospace was previously named Firefly Space Systems before going bankrupt. The renowned company went out of bankruptcy proceedings in 2017 under a new property.
Noosphere Ventures, a Menlo Park, California-based company led by managing partner Max Polyakov, now funds the Firefly rocket development program. Markusic told Spaceflight Now earlier this year that Firefly was fully funded, with the support of Noosphere, through the initial launches of the company's Alpha rocket.
Firefly's other projects beyond the Alpha launcher include the Beta rocket, which will consist of three Alpha first-stage cores combined to carry heavier payloads into orbit. Firefly also has ambitions for a robotic lunar lander, a space tug powered by electric thrusters and a reusable space plane.
Firefly announced in February that its second launch site would be located on the disused launch pad of Complex 20, at Cape Canaveral Air Force Base in Florida.
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Follow Stephen Clark on Twitter: @ StephenClark1.
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