SANTA FE, N.M. — An issue with the higher stage of a Firefly Aerospace Alpha rocket positioned a Lockheed Martin expertise demonstration satellite tv for pc into the incorrect orbit on a Dec. 22 launch.
The Alpha rocket lifted off from Vandenberg House Drive Base in California at 12:32 p.m. Japanese on a mission known as “Fly the Lightning” by Firefly. The launch was initially scheduled for Dec. 20 however postponed two days due to climate.
The rocket’s ascent appeared to go as deliberate, and launch controllers reported that the higher stage had achieved a nominal switch orbit. Firefly then mentioned a second burn of the higher stage was deliberate to happen about 40 minutes later to circularize the orbit, adopted by payload separation.
Nonetheless, Firefly didn’t present an replace concerning the standing of the launch for a number of hours. Within the meantime, monitoring knowledge from the U.S. House Drive confirmed two objects in elliptical orbits of 215 by 523 kilometers from the launch. That prompt the higher stage malfunctioned in the course of the circularization burn.
Firefly confirmed in an announcement 12 hours after launch that the second stage malfunctioned. “Alpha’s scheduled stage 2 engine relight didn’t ship the payload to its exact goal orbit,” the corporate mentioned. “We are going to work with our buyer and authorities companions to analyze the stage 2 efficiency and decide the foundation trigger.”
The payload on the mission was a small satellite tv for pc developed and funded by Lockheed Martin. The spacecraft, utilizing a Nebula bus from Terran Orbital, was supposed to exhibit an electronically steerable antenna that may very well be used on future broadband satellites. The corporate deliberate to make use of the satellite tv for pc to indicate the antenna may very well be shortly calibrated and put into service.
Firefly mentioned in its assertion that communications had been established with the satellite tv for pc “and mission operations are actually underway.” Nonetheless, the low perigee of the spacecraft’s orbit signifies it’s prone to reenter inside a number of weeks.
This was the fourth launch of the Alpha, three months after it efficiently launched the Victus Nox responsive area demonstration for the U.S. House Drive. A launch in October 2022 additionally reached orbit, however the smallsat payloads it carried reentered days after launch after being positioned in an elliptical orbit moderately than the next round orbit. Firefly claimed the launch was a hit regardless of the early satellite tv for pc reentries, saying the efficiency of each levels met necessities.
The primary Alpha launch, in September 2021, failed to succeed in orbit when one in all its first stage engines shut down shortly after liftoff. The primary levels on subsequent launches have carried out as anticipated.
Firefly had deliberate to extend the Alpha flight fee, with at the very least 4 missions scheduled for 2024 and 6 deliberate for 2025, Invoice Weber, chief government of Firefly, mentioned in an interview in November. The corporate is engaged on new manufacturing amenities able to constructing as much as 24 Alphas a 12 months.
Firefly is balancing that work on Alpha with growth of a primary stage for a brand new model of Northrop Grumman’s Antares rocket, the Antares 330, that may also be used on a brand new launch automobile known as MLV. Weber mentioned the corporate hopes to have the Antares 330 able to enter service in mid-2025 and the MLV in late 2025.
