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.
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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.
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.
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.