Firefly lunar lander touches down on the moon

POSTED BY: second
UPDATED: Wednesday, August 5, 2026 17:26
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SECOND

Monday, January 13, 2020 5:54 PM

The new rocket can loft 2,200 lbs. (1,000 kilograms) to low-Earth orbit.

Firefly Aerospace has pushed the planned debut launch of its Alpha rocket to April as the company prepares for a very busy 2020.

In particular, figuring out the two-stage rocket's avionics system "gave us fits," Firefly CEO Tom Markusic told Space.com in a recent interview. That's because the company was originally hoping to make Alpha's flight-termination system fully autonomous, he explained.

When the vendor couldn't qualify that advanced system in time, the vendor switched to the usual "human in the loop" system. But waiting for parts pushed back Firefly's December 2019 launch time frame to something closer to March 2020. Firefly then chose to take a little more time for further refinements and is now aiming for April 2020 for the first launch of the 95-foot-tall (29 meters) rocket, Markusic said.

When it's ready, the rocket will launch from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California.

www.space.com/firefly-aerospace-alpha-rocket-first-launch-april-2020.h
tml

Firefly Aerospace https://firefly.com/

Firefly Aerospace https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Firefly_Aerospace

SECOND

Saturday, January 25, 2020 12:26 AM

On Wednesday evening at Firefly Aerospace's test site about an hour north of Austin in Central Texas, some sort of anomaly occurred. The Burnet County Sheriff's Office reported that the incident took place at 6:24pm CT (00:24 UTC, Thursday), and that officers had called for evacuations of residences within one mile of the test site.

Earlier in the evening, in a subsequently deleted tweet, the company stated that it was loading liquid oxygen onto the rocket and about to attempt a qualification hot fire test of the first stage of its Alpha booster. This rocket is powered by four Reaver engines and has a reported capacity of 1 metric ton to low-Earth orbit. Firefly has been working toward the inaugural launch of the rocket, from Vandenberg Air Force Base, in April.

More at https://arstechnica.com/science/2020/01/firefly-experiences-a-test-ano
maly-as-it-works-toward-first-launch/

The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at www.mediafire.com/folder/1uwh75oa407q8/Firefly

THG

Monday, January 27, 2020 1:38 AM

Can hardly wait!!!

T

Deep state describes dedicated, educated professionals.

SECOND

Wednesday, January 29, 2020 12:30 AM

Firefly Aerospace has engine bay fire during rocket test – exactly like the fire that almost killed Kaylee in the Out of Gas episode.
www.space.com/firefly-aerospace-rocket-engine-test-fire-video.html

The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at www.mediafire.com/folder/1uwh75oa407q8/Firefly

THG

Wednesday, January 29, 2020 1:16 AM

That can't be good...

T

Deep state describes dedicated, educated professionals.

SECOND

Wednesday, January 29, 2020 3:23 AM

Quote:
Originally posted by THG:
That can't be good...

T

Deep state describes dedicated, educated professionals.

Kaylee already knows how to fix it:
"Catalyzer on the port compression coil blew. That's where the trouble started."
Now if there is a junkyard somewhere in Texas specializing in used rocket parts . . .
More at www.myths.com/pub/tv/firefly/script-out-of-gas.html

The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at www.mediafire.com/folder/1uwh75oa407q8/Firefly

SECOND

Thursday, February 13, 2020 5:32 PM

Two founders and board members of Texas space startup Firefly Aerospace appear to be involved in running a ring of sham dating websites, according to the results of a two-year investigation published by Snopes on Wednesday.

Firefly CEO and co-founder Thomas Markusic said in a phone call with The Verge on Wednesday that the spacefaring startup is “a completely independent entity,” and that while Polyakov’s venture fund is the company’s majority shareholder, the Ukrainian businessman is not involved in the day-to-day operations. He says he and Firefly are “not exposed” to any of Polyakov’s other businesses.

“We have government contracts, and we’re just incredibly vigilant about being totally transparent and open with our shareholders and other stakeholders, our customers,” Markusic said. “We have a whole legal team that ensures we are compliant with all legal and ethical requirements for contracts with the government.”

Firefly Aerospace was founded in 2014 as Firefly Space Systems. The company set out to build the “Model T of rockets,” something that would be easily mass-manufactured, cost less than what SpaceX makes, but take smaller payloads to orbit.

More at www.theverge.com/2020/2/12/21134844/firefly-aerospace-founders-max-pol
yakov-ceo-dating-site-sham

The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at www.mediafire.com/folder/1uwh75oa407q8/Firefly

SECOND

Monday, March 30, 2020 9:45 AM

Firefly targets summer launch, unveils plans for lunar delivery service

https://arstechnica.com/science/2020/03/firefly-outlines-plans-to-expa
nd-beyond-small-satellite-launch/

Markusic said Firefly is on track to launch the Alpha rocket for the first time this summer. He anticipates shipping flight hardware to Vandenberg Air Force Base in June, where the vehicle will be assembled, rolled out for tests, and ultimately given a launch attempt.

NASA's Artemis plan to return humans to the surface of the Moon has gotten the lion's share of public attention over the last year, but the space agency's innovative program to deliver material to the surface of the Moon has arguably spurred more commercial activity.

The Commercial Lunar Services Program (or CLPS, which rhymes with chips) has put $2.8 billion on the table for delivery services. Over the next decade, a pool of more than a dozen companies is eligible to bid for contracts to deliver scientific instruments to the surface of the Moon.

"I see CLPS as a contemporary opportunity," Tom Markusic, founder of Firefly, said in an interview. "For Firefly, I saw this as something we had to go for."

The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at www.mediafire.com/folder/1uwh75oa407q8/Firefly

THG

Friday, April 3, 2020 5:36 AM

Think I'll pass on investigating here second.

T

Deep state describes dedicated, educated professionals.

SECOND

Sunday, April 26, 2020 7:32 PM

Firefly signs deal with Spaceflight for 2021 launch.

Texas-based launch company Firefly said April 22, 2020 it had reached a deal with Spaceflight to manage payloads on a 2021 launch of its Alpha booster to Sun-synchronous orbit. The rocket has a capacity of 630kg to such an orbit, and as the mission's "anchor customer," Spaceflight will work to maximize the usage of that lift capability.

Larger lift among the littles ... Firefly sees the larger capacity of its rocket as a major asset in the smallsat launch competition. "Our Alpha launch vehicle will quickly fill a major market gap with the capability to deliver 1 metric ton to low-Earth orbit and 630kg to the highly desirable 500km SSO, about four times the current payload capability of other small satellite launch vehicles," Firefly's Tom Markusic said. The company is still targeting this summer for Alpha's first launch from Vandenberg Air Force Base.

More at www.businesswire.com/news/home/20200422005195/en/4743642/Firefly-Aeros
pace-Spaceflight-Sign-Launch-Services-Agreement

The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at www.mediafire.com/folder/1uwh75oa407q8/Firefly

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