Firefly lunar lander touches down on the moon
POSTED BY: second
UPDATED: Wednesday, August 5, 2026 17:26
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PAGE 10 of 21
And they're off.
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Firefly takes an early lead in the 1-ton rocket race
Eric Berger - 10/3/2022
Powered by four Reaver engines, the Alpha rocket lifted off from Vandenberg Space Force Base at 12:01 am local time (07:01 UTC) on Saturday, delivering several small payloads into low Earth orbit after relighting its upper stage. This success followed an initial launch attempt in September 2021, where one of the four Reaver engines failed during ascent.
In an interview shortly before Saturday's launch attempt, Firefly chief executive Bill Weber told Ars that the company was ready to break out not just as a launch company, but as a provider of spaceflight services. "Firefly is at the point where the only thing holding them back is execution," Weber said.
This is why Saturday's flight was critical. Firefly has a number of programs in development, including the ambitious "Blue Ghost" lunar lander that could fly to the Moon as early as 2023. The company is also developing an in-space reusable transport vehicle to go between Earth and the Moon, as well as other orbits. Finally, the company is working on the "Miranda" rocket engine, which will be used by Northrop Grumman for its Antares rocket, as well as a brand-new medium-lift vehicle the companies are jointly developing.
"Firefly needs maturity and scale to achieve its potential," said Weber, who became the company's new CEO earlier this year. He became the company's permanent leader after co-founder Tom Markusic stepped down as chief executive in June. As of Alpha's first flight, Firefly has about 450 employees, many of them at its headquarters in Texas, near Austin.
The company's partnership with Northrop Grumman is also notable, given that the major defense contractor had its choice of US rocket companies. After the Russian invasion of Ukraine, Northrop needed to find a new provider of engines for its Antares vehicle, which launches cargo to the International Space Station for NASA. It announced a partnership with Firefly this spring to jointly develop a new first stage.
This new Antares 330 rocket will use seven Miranda engines and significantly increase the payload capacity of the existing Antares launch vehicle, which can lift about 8 metric tons to low Earth orbit. Firefly plans to hot fire test the Miranda engine for the first time during the first half of 2023 and is confident in the design because it is based on a scaled-up version of the now flight-proven Reaver engine.
https://arstechnica.com/science/2022/10/with-orbital-launch-firefly-ta
kes-an-early-lead-in-the-1-ton-rocket-race/
The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at https://www.mediafire.com/two
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Quote:
Originally posted by second:
"Firefly is at the point where the only thing holding them back is execution," Weber said.
Ahhhhh... The step that every green initiative Kickstarter campaign failed to deliver.
But those CGI mockups they claimed were working prototypes sure looked good though.
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Falsus in unum, falsus in omnibus
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Quote:
Originally posted by 6IXSTRINGJACK:Quote:
Originally posted by second:
"Firefly is at the point where the only thing holding them back is execution," Weber said.
Ahhhhh... The step that every green initiative Kickstarter campaign failed to deliver.
But those CGI mockups they claimed were working prototypes sure looked good though.
It's safe for you to watch Thunderf00t's videos Second and Ted. He was against Brexit. He hated Boris Johnson. He hates Elon Musk and Donald Trump.
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Falsus in unum, falsus in omnibus
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Oh... and if you wonder why an LED solar roadway wouldn't live up to the claim that it could melt snow, check this out...
Quote:
May 14, 2018
Around the mid-2000’s, the LED traffic light began making its way onto the scene. Recent developments in LED technology meant that energy efficient replacements for the standard incandescent lamp were beginning to appear. Municipalities rejoiced with the energy savings they provided, but in cold climates they weren’t met with quite as warm a welcome. Not producing sufficient heat to melt snow on their lenses, some drivers became confused by ambiguous signals and caused fatal accidents.
And just so you know this video is also safe for the both of you to watch, he supports the move to LEDs...
Quote:
This video tells the tale of why this newfound “problem” generated harsh criticism to the new technology, and explains why this reaction is entirely dumb and regressive.
Hopefully none of us get into an accident during the winter because of these.
... But at least they actually do work, otherwise.
But no... without a separate heating element that uses a LOT more energy than the LEDs do, you're not going to melt snow with your solar roadways.
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Falsus in unum, falsus in omnibus
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Next flight
Tue • Nov 29th, 2022
6:00 PM CDT
https://www.spacelaunchschedule.com/launch/firefly-alpha-flight-three/
The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at https://www.mediafire.com/two
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Quote:
Originally posted by second:
Next flight
Tue • Nov 29th, 2022
6:00 PM CDT
http://www.spacelaunchschedule.com/launch/firefly-alpha-flight-three/
Good to know...
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Firefly is seeking additional capital. Fresh off of putting the Alpha rocket into orbit, Firefly Aerospace is seeking to raise as much as $300 million in a private fundraising round, Reuters reports. The Texas-based company was valued at more than $1 billion when private equity firm AE Industrial Partners became its controlling shareholder in March, but it has not set a valuation for this round.
How much money is out there? ... The new funding would be used to help complete the construction of manufacturing facilities for Firefly's Alpha rocket in Cape Canaveral, Florida (California is where Firefly is now launching) and accelerate the development of a medium-lift rocket the company plans to build with Northrop Grumman. Given the challenges of raising new capital for space-based companies in the current environment, it will be interesting to see how much Firefly can tap into.
https://arstechnica.com/science/2022/11/rocket-report-sls-boosters-may
-expire-in-december-blue-origin-delivers-the-be-4s/
The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at https://www.mediafire.com/two
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Typical KickScammer behavior.
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I'm a Democrat now. Let's erase history, burn everything down and start over. China's going to end up owning everything anyways.
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