https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/firefly-aerospace-welcomes-brad-schneider-as-chief-revenue-officer-300889676.html?tc=eml_cleartime
Ain’t it shiny? The Firefly structures team is gearing up for an Alpha fairing separation test. The Alpha fairing has the largest volume capacity of any small launch vehicle in an advanced stage of development. The perfect size for large microsats or a rideshare mission!
In the last few weeks our test teams have been: upgrading the 100ft vertical test stand to support Stage 1 integrated testing, getting the horizontal test stand ready for multi-engine Reaver testing, and building a new R&D production facility – all while running near daily tests!
The Firefly structures team rocks! Our payload deck, payload fairing, and fairing separation system are all built in-house. Here’s a sneak peak of the first fairing separation test. Some very cool sep test video coming soon! Photo courtesy Edwards Media.
Brad Schneider (Formerly Rocket Lab Executive VP) is now at Firefly as Chief Revenue Officer.4https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/firefly-aerospace-welcomes-brad-schneider-as-chief-revenue-officer-300889676.html?tc=eml_cleartime
The newest addition to the Firefly test site: a high-speed video camera. High speed video reveals new details about critical processes, such as startup and shutdown dynamics. Check out this Reaver engine test we captured on the new cam yesterday! #Firefly #MakingSpaceForEveryone
The Alpha 1st stage RP tank is proofed and ready for action! At 24 ft tall, it holds 4,500 gallons of RP-1 (rocket fuel). Now back to assembly to be integrated into the Alpha 1st stage qual unit. Looking forward to launching the largest all carbon composite vehicle in the world!
Vestigo Aerospace, @LifeAtPurdue, and @PolySat are developing a dragsail to provide deorbit capability for the @Firefly_Space Alpha upper stage. Looking forward to launch in Q1 2020.
Beautiful day at the Firefly test site. What’s at the end of the rainbow? Test Stand 1 and Alpha 1st stage Reaver engines being prepped for multi-engine testing – way better than gold! #Firefly #Reavers
Our spacecraft division is making rapid progress on the Genesis lunar lander. Come see our lander model and more at our booth at IAC next month! #FireflyGenesis https://t.co/NGXzpOpdYB
https://twitter.com/Firefly_Space/status/1172608425621999616QuoteOur spacecraft division is making rapid progress on the Genesis lunar lander. Come see our lander model and more at our booth at IAC next month! #FireflyGenesis https://t.co/NGXzpOpdYB This really goes against what I thought they were offering for CLPS which was a dedicated launch partnership with Intuitive Machines.
Quote from: GWH on 09/13/2019 09:35 pmQuoteOur spacecraft division is making rapid progress on the Genesis lunar lander. Come see our lander model and more at our booth at IAC next month! #FireflyGenesis https://t.co/NGXzpOpdYB This really goes against what I thought they were offering for CLPS which was a dedicated launch partnership with Intuitive Machines. The way CLPS works is that NASA comes up with specific "task orders-" basically missions that they will pay you to do, and you write a specific proposal for that task order. Firefly announced this partnership a couple months back, just because they were accepted in CLPS for proposing to do some other partnership doesn't really change the fact that they have to win task orders, which they can do with any proposed configuration.
QuoteOur spacecraft division is making rapid progress on the Genesis lunar lander. Come see our lander model and more at our booth at IAC next month! #FireflyGenesis https://t.co/NGXzpOpdYB This really goes against what I thought they were offering for CLPS which was a dedicated launch partnership with Intuitive Machines.
Yeah, it's unclear now whether any of the Intuitive Machines partnership remains. I assume this is still using the Beresheet technology, as that was the partnership that was announced most recently. Plus the Genesis name kind of calls out for a connection.Edit: Definitely Beresheet-based. Attaching a side-by-side.
In homage to the first mission undertaken by Israel, we have named our lander “Genesis” – the English translation of Beresheet.
Genesis first flight will be in Q4 2021
The calm before the storm. We are stepping into the first multi-engine Reaver tests this week. Each Reaver engine generates over 41,000 lbf of thrust. We’re starting with two engines and the integration team already has the next two ready to fill out the Reaver Quad!
The initial version, the Merlin 1A, used an inexpensive, expendable, ablatively cooled carbon-fiber-reinforced polymer composite nozzle, and produced 340 kN (76,000 lbf) of thrust.
That looks like a very green exhaust plume. But the huge purple blowout from the lack (or insufficient) nIR filter may be skewing the colour balance so it could be a video artefact rather than vaporised copper.
