Firefly’s Alpha rocket launches eight smallsats into orbit
Firefly tonight successfully launched eight smallsats for NASA and others, its Alpha rocket lifting off from Vandenberg in California.
The payloads on this launch were not all built by NASA, but I think NASA paid the launch costs as part of a program to help startups. One payload, Catsat, is a test of a spherical inflatable antenna created by the startup Freefall. If successful, it will be make it possible for cubesats to transmit much more data than they can now. As of posting seven of the eight satellites had been deployed. Catsat’s deployment however had not been confirmed.
As this was Firefly’s first launch in 2024, the leader board of the launch race does not change:
70 SpaceX
29 China
8 Russia
8 Rocket Lab
American private enterprise however now leads the world combined in successful launches, 82 to 44, while SpaceX by itself still leads the entire world, including other American companies, 70 to 56.
On Christmas Eve 1968 three Americans became the first humans to visit another world. What they did to celebrate was unexpected and profound, and will be remembered throughout all human history. Genesis: the Story of Apollo 8, Robert Zimmerman's classic history of humanity's first journey to another world, tells that story, and it is now available as both an ebook and an audiobook, both with a foreword by Valerie Anders and a new introduction by Robert Zimmerman.
The ebook is available everywhere for $5.99 (before discount) at amazon, or direct from my ebook publisher, ebookit. If you buy it from ebookit you don't support the big tech companies and the author gets a bigger cut much sooner.
The audiobook is also available at all these vendors, and is also free with a 30-day trial membership to Audible.
"Not simply about one mission, [Genesis] is also the history of America's quest for the moon... Zimmerman has done a masterful job of tying disparate events together into a solid account of one of America's greatest human triumphs."--San Antonio Express-News
Firefly tonight successfully launched eight smallsats for NASA and others, its Alpha rocket lifting off from Vandenberg in California.
The payloads on this launch were not all built by NASA, but I think NASA paid the launch costs as part of a program to help startups. One payload, Catsat, is a test of a spherical inflatable antenna created by the startup Freefall. If successful, it will be make it possible for cubesats to transmit much more data than they can now. As of posting seven of the eight satellites had been deployed. Catsat’s deployment however had not been confirmed.
As this was Firefly’s first launch in 2024, the leader board of the launch race does not change:
70 SpaceX
29 China
8 Russia
8 Rocket Lab
American private enterprise however now leads the world combined in successful launches, 82 to 44, while SpaceX by itself still leads the entire world, including other American companies, 70 to 56.
On Christmas Eve 1968 three Americans became the first humans to visit another world. What they did to celebrate was unexpected and profound, and will be remembered throughout all human history. Genesis: the Story of Apollo 8, Robert Zimmerman's classic history of humanity's first journey to another world, tells that story, and it is now available as both an ebook and an audiobook, both with a foreword by Valerie Anders and a new introduction by Robert Zimmerman.
The ebook is available everywhere for $5.99 (before discount) at amazon, or direct from my ebook publisher, ebookit. If you buy it from ebookit you don't support the big tech companies and the author gets a bigger cut much sooner.
The audiobook is also available at all these vendors, and is also free with a 30-day trial membership to Audible.
"Not simply about one mission, [Genesis] is also the history of America's quest for the moon... Zimmerman has done a masterful job of tying disparate events together into a solid account of one of America's greatest human triumphs."--San Antonio Express-News
The Luddites are at the gates
Particles From Satellite Mega Constellations May Destroy the Ozone Layer
https://youtu.be/TJE0z9L79TA
Just wanted to add that the Serenity satellite launched on the Firefly Alpha is healthy and sending beacon. The team at Quub built the satellite and since for some this is the first time they have sent something to space, they are in shock. It was a great way to start the Fourth of July.
Joe: Do you know if Catsat was deployed? It was very unclear whether it had been released during the live stream.
All satellites were deployed. CATSat was off camera for the broadcast. I am hoping the download all the deployment video.
”All satellites were deployed.”
I don’t think so. Only eight objects in orbit were cataloged for the launch. Presumably those were the upper stage and seven payloads.
The good news is that in addition to the successful launch, Firefly successfully restarted its upper stage after satellite deployment and performed a plane change maneuver. That should clear the way for using flight 6 as a dedicated launch for Lockheed Martin.
mkent: If you are right, then Catsat was not deployed and Firefly failed to deliver one of its payloads.
I have contacted people I know at the company that built Catsat to get clarity, but have not gotten an answer.
Failure to deploy is not a good thing for any rocket company, especially because it appears to be the one action that works all the time these days.
”Failure to deploy is not a good thing for any rocket company, especially because it appears to be the one action that works all the time these days.”
This is most likely a failure of the cubesat deployer, not the launch vehicle. It happens fairly often. It’s not that unusual for even SpaceX’s Transporter missions to have a cubesat or two fail to deploy.
I’ll wager that potential customers are far more interested in that second upper stage burn than they are in the cubesat deployer.
Joe,
Congratulations!
Thank you for the report. If you can, please keep us updated.
As someone said to me on my first: Something you have touched is now in space.