Tag: MLV
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Firefly advances production of Eclipse and Blue Ghost, announces Ocula imaging service
Firefly Aerospace is continuing to make good progress toward the debut of the company’s next-generation launch vehicle, Eclipse, in partnership with Northrop Grumman. Formerly known as MLV, or Medium Launch Vehicle, Firefly and Northrop Grumman announced the rocket’s new name on May 29. Firefly also announced Ocula, a new commercial lunar imaging service that will…
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Firefly Alpha launches FLTA006 Message In A Booster mission but fails to reach orbit
Firefly Aerospace launched its Alpha rocket from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California, but the mission failed to reach orbit. The Alpha FLTA006 mission, named “Message In A Booster,” launched on Tuesday, April 29, at 6:37 AM PDT (13:37 UTC) from Space Launch Complex 2 West (SLC-2W) during a 52-minute launch window. The attempt was…
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Firefly offers insight on MLV testing, reusability plans
As Firefly Aerospace prepares for its upcoming Alpha rocket launches, work continues apace on its next-generation Medium Launch Vehicle (MLV) rocket with its Miranda and Vira engines, utilizing its Briggs test site in Texas. MLV’s Chief Engineer, Miles Gray, showed NSF around the test site to update the status of the new vehicle and engines…
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Firefly Aerospace doubles Texas footprint to support testing of Antares 330, MLV rocket
Firefly’s new MLV manufacturing and integration building in Bertram, Texas. Image: Firefly Aerospace In the months following its fourth flight of it Alpha rocket, Firefly Aerospace continues to push forward with work on two new rockets in partnership with Northrop Grumman. On Wednesday, Firefly is set to hold a ribbon-cutting ceremony marking a manufacturing expansion…
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Northrop Grumman and Firefly’s Antares 330 and MLV plans take shape
As the Cygnus S.S. Laurel Clark spends its first days berthed to the ISS, the successor to the Antares 230+ launch vehicle that launched it is taking shape in the facilities of Northrop Grumman (NG) and Firefly Aerospace. The Antares 330/Medium Launch Vehicle (MLV), scheduled for its first flight in mid-2025, is being developed to…
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Firefly looking ahead after “To The Black” payloads reenter early
On Oct. 1, 2022, Firefly launched the “To The Black” mission which successfully deployed three satellites into low Earth orbit. However, space tracking data showed that the satellites were deployed at a lower-than-planned altitude, and just two weeks after launch, all payloads have reentered Earth’s atmosphere. Firefly has begun expansions to its test site in…