Tag: Firefly Aerospace
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Aerojet Rocketdyne, Firefly to collaborate on propulsion
At its Central Texas test site, Firefly is conducting “quad” testing of four Reaver first stage engines for the company’s Alpha launch vehicle. Credit: Firefly Aerospace/Edwards Media Firefly Aerospace and Aerojet Rocketdyne have announced a strategic partnership to collaborate on rocket propulsion, an agreement that could lead to Firefly’s use of Aerojet’s AR1 engine in…
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Firefly to build U.S. version of Israeli Beresheet lunar lander
Artist’s illustration of the Genesis lunar lander. Credit: Firefly Aerospace Firefly Aerospace, a Texas-based company which is already developing a small satellite launcher, has signed an agreement with Israel Aerospace Industries to build lunar landers in the United States and carry NASA science instruments to the moon, officials announced Tuesday. The agreement will permit Firefly…
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Firefly offering free launch for research and educational payloads
Firefly Aerospace conducted a 300-second qualification firing of the Alpha rocket’s complete second stage in April at the company’s test site in Central Texas. Credit: Firefly Aerospace Firefly Aerospace is asking academic institutions, startup companies and the public to submit ideas for payloads to launch, free of charge, on the inaugural orbital flight of the…
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NASA to soon announce winner of first commercial lunar lander competition
Artist’s concept of Astrobotic’s Peregrine lander. Credit: Astrobotic Within days, NASA is expected to select a winner from a roster of nine eligible companies to try and become the first commercial entity to accomplish a soft landing on the moon with a robotic spacecraft. The privately-developed probe would be the vanguard in a series of…
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Firefly Aerospace gets a Florida launch site
An architectural rendering shows Firefly Aerospace’s future rocket production facility at Exploration Park on Florida’s Space Coast. (Firefly Aerospace Illustration) Firefly Aerospace, a Texas-based launch venture that was lifted out of bankruptcy, says it’s struck a deal with Space Florida to establish business operations at Cape Canaveral Spaceport. The terms of the newly executed agreement…
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NASA picks nine companies to compete for commercial lunar lander missions
A concept illustration of Lockheed Martin’s McCandless lunar lnader for NASA’s Commercial Lunar Payloads Services (CLPS) program. Credit: NASA/Lockheed Martin NASA announced Thursday nine companies that will be eligible to compete for up to $2.6 billion in contracts over the next decade to ferry scientific instruments and tech demo payloads to the moon aboard commercial…
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NASA picks nine commercial teams for moon deliveries – including dark horses
Lockheed Martin is offering its McCandless lunar lander, shown here with an onboard rover in an artist’s conception, for future NASA missions to the moon. (Lockheed Martin Illustration) NASA says it’s partnering on lunar delivery services with nine commercial teams, headed by companies that run the gamut from the space industry’s heavyweights to startups. The…
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Firefly’s commercial satellite launcher to use Delta 2 pad at Vandenberg
File photo of a Delta 2 rocket at Space Launch Complex 2-West at Vandenberg Air Force Base, California. Credit: United Launch Alliance A commercial rocket under development by Firefly Aerospace will conduct its first orbital test flight in 2019 from a launch pad at Vandenberg Air Force Base in California that will become vacant with…