The review brought together members from Firefly, NASA, and JPL to assess Elytra’s design against mission requirements. MoonFall forms part of the first phase of NASA’s Moon Base, a long-term lunar exploration and infrastructure initiative intended to enable sustained human presence and expanded scientific and commercial activity at the lunar south pole.
The PDR examined Elytra’s structural, thermal, propulsion, avionics, trajectory design, guidance and navigation, communications and control systems, along with the spacecraft’s qualification and environmental test plans. The review confirmed the design meets mission requirements, and Firefly will now work toward a final critical design review ahead of hardware production and assembly. JPL is building the drones and managing the mission for NASA, which will source the launch vehicle. After launch, Elytra will transit from Earth orbit to lunar orbit and deploy the drones above the south pole, where they will use high-definition optical cameras and instruments to survey the terrain and map safe landing spots and resources for future human missions.
“Completing PDR less than four months after contract award is a testament to the speed and rigor Firefly brings to every mission,” said Ray Allensworth, Vice President of Spacecraft at Firefly Aerospace. “As NASA accelerates its Moon Base Program, we’re rapidly scaling spacecraft production to support MoonFall and a growing manifest of lunar surface missions, utilizing proven systems, hardware, and operations from our first successful Blue Ghost mission.” MoonFall is targeted to be ready for launch by late 2028.
Firefly framed the milestone as evidence of its pace in scaling spacecraft production to meet NASA’s accelerating lunar program and a growing manifest of lunar surface missions. The company noted it is drawing on proven systems, hardware, and operations from its first successful Blue Ghost mission.
Firefly will next work toward Elytra’s critical design review before moving into hardware production and assembly, with MoonFall targeted for launch readiness by late 2028.
