Firefly Space : Company and Development General Thread

[playadelmars]

https://chicagomorningstar.com/space-scandal-the-contract-with-the-american-company-firefly-led-to-the-dismissal-of-the-head-of-the-ukrainian-space-agency

[ringsider]

Found via Google:

http://archives.etypeservices.com/TribuneG1/Magazine235358/Publication/Magazine235358.pdf

Spaceport is ripe for a plunderer

Dear Editor,

On Aug. 6, Space News announced that Firefly Aerospace is considering launches   from Spaceport Camden. That demands our immediate attention. Firefly  Aerospace  is  a  startup  space  launch  company controlled by an enigmatic and resourceful Ukrainian,  40-year-old  Maxym  Polyakov,  Ph.D.,  who also holds U.K. citizenship.

Dr. Polyakov has a sharp, to the point of ruthless, business  style  that  he  may  have  developed growing up in the tough  global  neighborhood of Eastern Europe. His business venture with Ukrainians Rustam Gilfanov and  Sergey Tokarev ended  badly for Gilfanov  and  Tokarev, but well for Polyakov.

A  public  company  in  the  U.K. Cupid Plc ended badly for his partner, Bill Dobbie, and shareholders but, again, well for Polyakov.

In  2012,  he  moved  to  California   and   founded   Noosphere  Ventures,  the  umbrella,  venture  capital  company  under  which  his  various  companies  now  operate.

In 2016, he founded EOS Launcher, designed to  offer  space-related  services.  Later in 2016, EOS made a loan  to  faltering  American  space  launch  startup,  Firefly  Space  Systems,  then  in  2017  bought  the  company  outright at bankruptcy auction  —  patents,  intellectual  property and material assets —  when  Firefly  Space  de-faulted on the loan.

Noosphere  Ventures  is  now  providing  capital  for  Firefly  Aerospace  to  restart  work on the Firefly “Alpha” launch  vehicle,  to  bring  it  into  operation.  Noosphere  hired Tom Markusic, one of three  original  Firefly  Space  founders,  as  CEO  of  Firefly  Aerospace.

Dr.  George  Neild,  who  signed  off  on  Camden’s   troubled   draft  EIS  just  before  retiring  as  head  of  the  FAA  Depart-ment of Commercial Space, has joined Firefly’s board of directors.

Hiring  Markusic and putting  Dr.  Neild  on  its  board  creates  a  comforting  appearance  of  continuing  “American-ness”  for  Fire-fly  Aerospace.  Markusic’s  quotes in recent Firefly press releases  sound  confusingly  as if he is still the company’s owner  rather  than  its  hired  CEO. 

Skyrora  Limited, a launch startup based in Scotland, has a Scottish veneer,  but it also  is  controlled by Noosphere Ventures.

Space projects  are  a  new  avenue for Polyakov, whose other  activities  involve  on-line  dating, gaming, gambling and social media sites. In Kiev, Ukraine, he  has  business  connections  with  online  gambling  entrepreneur, Maxim Krippa.

In Russia  in  2010,  he  and  Krippa  had interests in online gambling  with  Russian  oligarch  Konstantin Malofeev. But  to  advance  his  space  projects   in   Ukraine   and   globally,  he  joined  forces  with  Ukrainian  ex-military  Lieutenant Colonel Mikhail Ryabokon  who  is  currently  head of innovation at Noosphere, COO at Noosphere Ventures and in 2014 was the co-founder,  with  Polyakov,  of  Noosphere’s  Ukrainian  Engineering School, a joint project between Noosphere and leading Ukrainian Uni-versities. In  May,  Firefly  opened  an  R&D  center  in  Dnipro, Ukraine.

What are the exact sources of  Polyakov’s  investment  capital?  What  protects  American   interests and   American  intellectual  property when space companies, indemnified  by  taxpayers  and  subsidized  by  taxpay-er-backed  government     grants, contracts and incen-tives, are bought by foreign interests?

A  chronic,  desperate  shortage  of  funding  and  spaceport  partners  creates  the   ripe   opportunity  for skillful  plunder. Carefully  reckon  Maxym  Polyakov’s  abilities.

Jackie Eichhorn
Harrietts Bluff

[FutureSpaceTourist]

https://twitter.com/firefly_space/status/1196794500288405504

Firefly is happy to announce the payloads selected to fly on Alpha's maiden flight to support and stimulate STEM on a global basis.  There are 26 Dedicated Research and Education Accelerator Mission (DREAM) payloads representing 7 different countries! zcu.io/OgVI

https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/firefly-aerospace-announces-dream-payload-participants-300960433.html

[TrevorMonty]

Jeff Foust (@jeff_foust) tweeted at 11:43 AM on Thu, Nov 21, 2019:
Les Kovacs of Firefly says because there’s a lot of DOD interest in mobile, responsive launch, the company is considering that ability for their Alpha vehicle; “one of the things in the trade space.” #SpaceCom2019


All going well there should be 3 small LVs (Electron, LauncherOne, Alpha) operational by middle of 2020, covering 3 classes 225kg, 500kg and 1000kg.
 

[Blackjax]

Jeff Foust (@jeff_foust) tweeted at 11:43 AM on Thu, Nov 21, 2019:
Les Kovacs of Firefly says because there’s a lot of DOD interest in mobile, responsive launch, the company is considering that ability for their Alpha vehicle; “one of the things in the trade space.” #SpaceCom2019


All going well there should be 3 small LVs (Electron, LauncherOne, Alpha) operational by middle of 2020, covering 3 classes 225kg, 500kg and 1000kg.

Also there is the ABL RS1

[jstrotha0975]

Jeff Foust (@jeff_foust) tweeted at 11:43 AM on Thu, Nov 21, 2019:
Les Kovacs of Firefly says because there’s a lot of DOD interest in mobile, responsive launch, the company is considering that ability for their Alpha vehicle; “one of the things in the trade space.” #SpaceCom2019


All going well there should be 3 small LVs (Electron, LauncherOne, Alpha) operational by middle of 2020, covering 3 classes 225kg, 500kg and 1000kg.

Alpha is on the larger side for a small launch vehicle, will be interesting to see how mobile they can make it.

[FutureSpaceTourist]

Great work by the entire Firefly team to complete qualification of the Alpha second stage. This build of the stage ran for a total of 949 seconds during the qualification campaign, including two Mission Duty Cycles and a successful relight after a simulated coast. On to Stage 1 Qualification!

[edkyle99]

1.  A story about a new lawsuit involving Firefly
2.  Buried in the story, news that Stratolaunch briefly invested in the first Firefly, aiming to develop an air-launch rocket.  Old news, I guess, but something either new to me or that I had forgotten.

http://www.parabolicarc.com/2019/12/17/original-firefly-shareholders-sue-fireflys-markusic-polyakov-alleging-fraud/

 - Ed Kyle

[ringsider]

1.  A story about a new lawsuit involving Firefly
2.  Buried in the story, news that Stratolaunch briefly invested in the first Firefly, aiming to develop an air-launch rocket.  Old news, I guess, but something either new to me or that I had forgotten.

http://www.parabolicarc.com/2019/12/17/original-firefly-shareholders-sue-fireflys-markusic-polyakov-alleging-fraud/

 - Ed Kyle

Nothing surprises me about these guys:-

"The shareholders claimed that while Markusic reassured them, he secretly schemed with Polyakov to identify Firefly’s debt so the Ukrainian billionaire could acquire it, foreclose on the company, and cut the original investors loose. The investors alleged the plan was finalized during a “first class” trip Markusic took to Ukraine in late January 2017. The visit, which included “extravagant meals, alcohol, and spa visits,” was made under false pretenses."

"Spa visits"...

Cue SFX sound of hard drives being shredded (again).

[su27k]

1.  A story about a new lawsuit involving Firefly
2.  Buried in the story, news that Stratolaunch briefly invested in the first Firefly, aiming to develop an air-launch rocket.  Old news, I guess, but something either new to me or that I had forgotten.

http://www.parabolicarc.com/2019/12/17/original-firefly-shareholders-sue-fireflys-markusic-polyakov-alleging-fraud/

 - Ed Kyle

Also interesting that Amos-6 seems to be the final straw that convinced Stratolaunch to avoid airlaunch of liquid fuel rocket and finally doomed the old Firefly.

[TrevorMonty]

1.  A story about a new lawsuit involving Firefly
2.  Buried in the story, news that Stratolaunch briefly invested in the first Firefly, aiming to develop an air-launch rocket.  Old news, I guess, but something either new to me or that I had forgotten.

http://www.parabolicarc.com/2019/12/17/original-firefly-shareholders-sue-fireflys-markusic-polyakov-alleging-fraud/

 - Ed Kyle

Also interesting that Amos-6 seems to be the final straw that convinced Stratolaunch to avoid airlaunch of liquid fuel rocket and finally doomed the old Firefly.

Hasn't stopped Virgin from pursuing airlaunch of LauncherOne.

[ParabolicSnark]

Hasn't stopped Virgin from pursuing airlaunch of LauncherOne.

It did put a lot of people on edge there and prompted multiple reviews of the systems to make sure that it wasn't plausible on their system. I'm not convinced that it isn't, and Virgin Orbit has crewed ground support (and of course flight) operations so if it doesn't happen, it's also a loss-of-life situation (Cosmic Girl is also destroyed, setting them back years.).

[TrevorMonty]

Hasn't stopped Virgin from pursuing airlaunch of LauncherOne.

It did put a lot of people on edge there and prompted multiple reviews of the systems to make sure that it wasn't plausible on their system. I'm not convinced that it isn't, and Virgin Orbit has crewed ground support (and of course flight) operations so if it doesn't happen, it's also a loss-of-life situation (Cosmic Girl is also destroyed, setting them back years.).

From my quick read of LV failures only SpaceX suffers from over pressurisation failures and one other LV back in 70s. SpaceX has had 3 that I know of, one early F9 1.1 stage was damaged on pad, CRS ? and AMOS 6.

[catdlr]

Launch Alert
4:58 PM Dec 22, 2019


                             LAUNCH ALERT

                              Brian Webb
                  [email protected]
                        www.spacearchive.info


                               2019 December 22 (Sunday) 16:41 PST
----------------------------------------------------------------------

                   VANDENBERG AFB LAUNCH SCHEDULE

         All launch dates and times are subject to change.

                     Launch
                   Time/Window
  Date              (PST/PDT)               Vehicle          Pad/Silo
--------        -----------------        -------------       --------

FEB 18          Unknown                  Firefly Alpha       SLC-2W
Firefly Alpha first flight


The above schedule is a composite of unclassified information
approved for public release from government, industry, and other
sources. It represents the Editor's best effort to produce a schedule,
but may disagree with other sources. Details on military launches are
withheld until they are approved for public release. For official
information regarding Vandenberg AFB activities, go to
http://www.vandenberg.af.mil
.

All launch dates and times are given in Pacific Time using a 24-hour
format similar to military time (midnight = 00:00, 1:00 p.m. = 13:00,
11:00 p.m. = 23:00, etc.).

The dates and times in this schedule may not agree with those on other
online launch schedules, including the official Vandenberg AFB
schedule because different sources were used, the information was
interpreted differently, and the schedules were updated at different
times.

NET: No earlier than

TBD: To be determined

PDT: Pacific Daylight Time

PST: Pacific Standard Time

SLC: Space Launch Complex

----------------------------------------------------------------------


Copyright 2019, Brian Webb. All rights reserved. No portion of this
newsletter may be used without identifying Launch Alert as the
source and providing a functioning hyperlink or text that point to

[FutureSpaceTourist]

I know many of us like hardware pictures ...

https://twitter.com/firefly_space/status/1209144174165004289

Firefly Team: Hmmm…we have a 5-meter payload fairing half in the office and the holidays are upon us…what to do?? Merry Christmas!

[gongora]

I know many of us like hardware pictures ...

https://twitter.com/firefly_space/status/1209144174165004289

Firefly Team: Hmmm…we have a 5-meter payload fairing half in the office and the holidays are upon us…what to do?? Merry Christmas!

Normally when people say 5m payload fairing they're talking about the diameter.

[FutureSpaceTourist]

https://twitter.com/firefly_space/status/1211669188688990213

Firefly has begun Alpha Stage 1 Qualification testing, the last major milestone of Alpha development. We've installed the stage, which includes four Reaver engines, on Firefly’s TS2.  We'll begin hotfire testing soon, culminating in multiple 165 sec full mission duty cycle tests.

[jamesh9000]

Not sure how applicable a comparison to Rocket Lab is in this case, but they qualified the first stage of their Electron on December 13, 2016, and had their first launch 5 and a half months later on May 25 2017.

[russianhalo117]

First launch attempt or Launch Vehicle on Stand (LVOS) Target Date of 18 February 2020 on SLC-2W (SLC-2E tentatively assigned to Firefly Beta):

Launch Alert
7:19 PM 1/2/20



                             LAUNCH ALERT

                              Brian Webb
                  [email protected]
                        www.spacearchive.info


                               2020 January 2 (Thursday) 18:56 PST
----------------------------------------------------------------------

                   VANDENBERG AFB LAUNCH SCHEDULE

         All launch dates and times are subject to change.

                     Launch
                   Time/Window
  Date              (PST/PDT)               Vehicle          Pad/Silo
--------        -----------------        -------------       --------

FEB 18?         Unknown                  Firefly Alpha       SLC-2W
Firefly Alpha first flight

MAR             Unknown                  Falcon 9            SLC-4E
Vehicle will launch the SmallSat Rideshare Mission 1

SEP             Unknown                  Delta IV Heavy      SLC-6
The vehicle will carry the classified NROL-82 payload into orbit for
the U.S. National Reconnaissance Office

OCT             Unknown                  Falcon 9            SLC-4E
Vehicle will launch the SmallSat Rideshare Mission 9

NOV             Unknown                  Falcon 9            SLC-4E
Vehicle will launch the Sentinel 6A (Jason-CS) satellite

DEC             Unknown                  Falcon 9            SLC-4E
Vehicle will launch the SmallSat Rideshare Mission 11

DEC             Unknown                  Atlas V             SLC-3
Vehicle will launch the Landsat 9 earth observation satellite

The above schedule is a composite of unclassified information
approved for public release from government, industry, and other
sources. It represents the Editor's best effort to produce a schedule,
but may disagree with other sources. Details on military launches are
withheld until they are approved for public release. For official
information regarding Vandenberg AFB activities, go to
http://www.vandenberg.af.mil
.

All launch dates and times are given in Pacific Time using a 24-hour
format similar to military time (midnight = 00:00, 1:00 p.m. = 13:00,
11:00 p.m. = 23:00, etc.).

The dates and times in this schedule may not agree with those on other
online launch schedules, including the official Vandenberg AFB
schedule because different sources were used, the information was
interpreted differently, and the schedules were updated at different
times.

PDT: Pacific Daylight Time

PST: Pacific Standard Time

SLC: Space Launch Complex

----------------------------------------------------------------------

Copyright 2020, Brian Webb. All rights reserved. No portion of this
newsletter may be used without identifying Launch Alert as the
source and providing a functioning hyperlink or text that point to
http://www.spacearchive.info/newsletter.htm
.
____________________________________________________________

[FutureSpaceTourist]

https://twitter.com/firefly_space/status/1213129909406580736

Check out the Firefly Alpha engine bay! There are 4 Reaver engines on the first stage which generate 165,500 lbf of thrust, allowing Alpha to deliver 1,000 kg of payload to low LEO and 630 kg to 500 km SSO. #Firefly #MakingSpaceForEveryone #FullAttack!