{"id":7737,"date":"2024-01-29T22:31:44","date_gmt":"2024-01-29T14:31:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp-productionenv-bjg9h2g2bgg5b8aa.southeastasia-01.azurewebsites.net\/news\/firefly-aerospace-selected-by-nro-as-launch-provider-with-alpha-rocket\/"},"modified":"2024-01-29T22:31:44","modified_gmt":"2024-01-29T14:31:44","slug":"firefly-aerospace-selected-by-nro-as-launch-provider-with-alpha-rocket","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/news\/firefly-aerospace-selected-by-nro-as-launch-provider-with-alpha-rocket\/","title":{"rendered":"Firefly Aerospace Selected by NRO as Launch Provider with Alpha Rocket"},"content":{"rendered":"<p style=\"text-align: center;\" itemprop=\"image\" itemscope=\"\" itemtype=\"https:\/\/schema.org\/ImageObject\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.satnow.com\/news\/firefly_aerospace_cover_638421060587325475.png\" width=\"712\" height=\"377\" alt=\"Firefly Aerospace Selected by NRO as Launch Provider with Alpha Rocket\" class=\"imageload removeImageattr\" data-original=\"https:\/\/cdn.satnow.com\/news\/firefly_aerospace_cover_638421060587325475.png\" style=\"\"><meta itemprop=\"url\" content=\"https:\/\/cdn.satnow.com\/news\/firefly_aerospace_cover_638421060587325475.png\"><meta itemprop=\"width\" content=\"712\"><meta itemprop=\"height\" content=\"377\"><\/p>\n<p><strong>Firefly Aerospace<\/strong>, an end-to-end space transportation company, announced it was selected by the <strong>National Reconnaissance Office<\/strong> to serve as a launch provider with Firefly\u2019s Alpha rocket. As part of the NRO\u2019s Streamlined Launch Indefinite Delivery\/Indefinite Quantity Contract (SLIC), the agreement has a 10-year ordering period with a ceiling value of $700 million across all firm fixed-price task orders.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cFirefly is ready to support the NRO\u2019s responsive space needs as we continue to advance our rapid launch operations capability,\u201d said <strong>Bill Weber, CEO of Firefly Aerospace<\/strong>. \u201cIn order to support the increased demand for Alpha launches, we\u2019ve doubled the size of our facilities, implemented automated carbon composite technologies, and fine-tuned our operations to rapidly produce, test, and launch in response to our customers\u2019 urgent mission needs.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The <strong>SLIC program<\/strong> was established by the NRO\u2019s Office of Space Launch to leverage commercial best practices for responsive space missions and encourage competition among emerging launch providers. SLIC is open to U.S. launch vehicles with a proven orbital record and allows providers to bid for dedicated rideshare or multi-manifest launch services.<\/p>\n<p>As an SLIC provider, Firefly can compete for NRO launches with its Alpha rocket, capable of lifting more than 1,000 kg to low Earth orbit from the Vandenberg Space Force Base and the Cape Canaveral Space Force Station. Firefly minimizes launch costs and increases reliability and responsiveness by utilizing robust in-house manufacturing capabilities, sharing components across its vehicles, and leveraging innovative technologies, such as carbon composite sandwich structures and patented tap-off cycle propulsion systems.<\/p>\n<p>Firefly\u2019s next Alpha launch for NASA is on track for early 2024. The company will also support a responsive on-orbit mission for the NRO onboard Firefly\u2019s Elytra vehicle in 2024.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><strong><span class=\"fr-video fr-deletable fr-fvc fr-dvb fr-draggable\" contenteditable=\"false\" draggable=\"true\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/u2bzJuMEfXM?&amp;wmode=opaque\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"\" class=\"fr-draggable\"><\/iframe><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Firefly Aerospace, an end-to-end space transportation company, announced it was selected by the National Reconnaissance Office to serve as a launch provider with Firefly\u2019s Alpha rocket. As part of the NRO\u2019s Streamlined Launch Indefinite Delivery\/Indefinite Quantity Contract (SLIC), the agreement has a 10-year ordering period with a ceiling value of $700 million across all firm [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[25,54,20],"class_list":["post-7737","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news","tag-launch","tag-launch-vehicle-platforms","tag-satellite"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7737"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7737"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7737\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7737"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7737"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7737"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}