Firefly successfully completes first orbital launch of its Alpha rocket
Capitalism in space: Firefly, a company that just two years ago had gone into bankruptcy, tonight successfully launched their new Alpha rocket into orbit on its second test launch. The screen capture to the right shows the rocket 1:48 minutes into flight, its first stage still firing.
A final 2nd stage engine burn has completed, and we now have confirmation of deployment of the payload satellites. My sources tell me that the second stage under-performed, putting the satellites into a 223x283km orbit, rather than the planned 300km orbit, which will shorten the lifespan of the smallsats. As this was a test launch, not an operational one, this issue does not to my mind make the launch a failure.They reached orbit and the satellites were successfully deployed.
Thus, Firefly now joins SpaceX, Rocket Lab, ULA, Virgin Orbit, and Northrop Grumman as an operational American commercial rocket companies. Astra had been operational, but it has stepped down as it builds a new rocket.
The leaders in the 2022 launch race:
43 SpaceX
41 China
12 Russia
7 Rocket Lab
6 ULA
American private enterprise now leads China 61 to 41 in the national rankings, and is tied with the entire world combined, 61 to 61.
Readers!
Please consider supporting my work here at Behind the Black. Your support allows me the freedom and ability to analyze objectively the ongoing renaissance in space, as well as the cultural changes -- for good or ill -- that are happening across America. Fourteen years ago I wrote that SLS and Orion were a bad ideas, a waste of money, would be years behind schedule, and better replaced by commercial private enterprise. Only now does it appear that Washington might finally recognize this reality.
In 2020 when the world panicked over COVID I wrote that the panic was unnecessary, that the virus was apparently simply a variation of the flu, that masks were not simply pointless but if worn incorrectly were a health threat, that the lockdowns were a disaster and did nothing to stop the spread of COVID. Only in the past year have some of our so-called experts in the health field have begun to recognize these facts.
Your help allows me to do this kind of intelligent analysis. I take no advertising or sponsors, so my reporting isn't influenced by donations by established space or drug companies. Instead, I rely entirely on donations and subscriptions from my readers, which gives me the freedom to write what I think, unencumbered by outside influences.
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Capitalism in space: Firefly, a company that just two years ago had gone into bankruptcy, tonight successfully launched their new Alpha rocket into orbit on its second test launch. The screen capture to the right shows the rocket 1:48 minutes into flight, its first stage still firing.
A final 2nd stage engine burn has completed, and we now have confirmation of deployment of the payload satellites. My sources tell me that the second stage under-performed, putting the satellites into a 223x283km orbit, rather than the planned 300km orbit, which will shorten the lifespan of the smallsats. As this was a test launch, not an operational one, this issue does not to my mind make the launch a failure.They reached orbit and the satellites were successfully deployed.
Thus, Firefly now joins SpaceX, Rocket Lab, ULA, Virgin Orbit, and Northrop Grumman as an operational American commercial rocket companies. Astra had been operational, but it has stepped down as it builds a new rocket.
The leaders in the 2022 launch race:
43 SpaceX
41 China
12 Russia
7 Rocket Lab
6 ULA
American private enterprise now leads China 61 to 41 in the national rankings, and is tied with the entire world combined, 61 to 61.
Readers!
Please consider supporting my work here at Behind the Black. Your support allows me the freedom and ability to analyze objectively the ongoing renaissance in space, as well as the cultural changes -- for good or ill -- that are happening across America. Fourteen years ago I wrote that SLS and Orion were a bad ideas, a waste of money, would be years behind schedule, and better replaced by commercial private enterprise. Only now does it appear that Washington might finally recognize this reality.
In 2020 when the world panicked over COVID I wrote that the panic was unnecessary, that the virus was apparently simply a variation of the flu, that masks were not simply pointless but if worn incorrectly were a health threat, that the lockdowns were a disaster and did nothing to stop the spread of COVID. Only in the past year have some of our so-called experts in the health field have begun to recognize these facts.
Your help allows me to do this kind of intelligent analysis. I take no advertising or sponsors, so my reporting isn't influenced by donations by established space or drug companies. Instead, I rely entirely on donations and subscriptions from my readers, which gives me the freedom to write what I think, unencumbered by outside influences.
You can support me either by giving a one-time contribution or a regular subscription. There are four ways of doing so:
1. Zelle: This is the only internet method that charges no fees. All you have to do is use the Zelle link at your internet bank and give my name and email address (zimmerman at nasw dot org). What you donate is what I get.
2. Patreon: Go to my website there and pick one of five monthly subscription amounts, or by making a one-time donation.
3. A Paypal Donation or subscription:
4. Donate by check, payable to Robert Zimmerman and mailed to
Behind The Black
c/o Robert Zimmerman
P.O.Box 1262
Cortaro, AZ 85652
You can also support me by buying one of my books, as noted in the boxes interspersed throughout the webpage or shown in the menu above.
I still don’t see what innovation an/or cost savings Firefly brings to the table that will allow it to win customers. Unless they’re embracing full reusability (that only makes fiscal sense with chemical propulsion if you scale up the size) or somehow can manufacture and operate these things significantly cheaper, I can’t see how they will compete.
Firefly’s Alpha is built for rapid manufacture. Of course they need to get out of the R&D phase first. Once you have an assembly line, things get better from a financial perspective. The issue will be if they can lure enough business to them. I am hoping they can do that.
“Take me out
To the Black
Tell’em I ain’t comin’ back.”
Concerned,
Several factors are involved in addition to the price to the customer. The launch capacity can be important to customers that have heavier payloads. Rocket Lab’s electron can take 300 kg to low Earth orbit (LEO) but Alpha can take 1,170 kg.
Availability is important. A launcher that can only fly every other year (e.g. SLS) may be less desirable than one that launches every week (as is the goal of several launch companies). Customers who have to wait a long time for a launch may turn to another launch provider.
Fairing size can be just as important as the mass capacity. If the payload does not fit within the fairing, that is not the right rocket for the customer.
Joe,
I hope you can give us a white paper report on how your satellite performs.
Blair,
F yeah.
Jeff Bezos is doing the math on his orbital launch services….
“Ten Percent Of Nothin’ Is… Let Me Do The Math Here… Nothin’, And Then Nothin’, Carry The Nothing…”