Aerospace firefly Alpha sent its rocket into orbit this morning, with the company carrying a Lockheed Martin payload into space. However, the company has not yet informed the public whether it has successfully deployed the satellite to its intended orbit – which could indicate a problem with the rocket’s second stage.
Today’s launch marks the fourth flight ever of Firefly’s Alpha rocket. The spacecraft lifted off from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California at 9:32 a.m. local time. The mission, called Fly the Lightning, was a commercial launch for customer Lockheed Martin. The rocket was carrying Lockheed’s experimental payload, called an Electronically Steerable Antenna (ESA), into low Earth orbit.
At approximately 9:40 a.m. local time, Firefly chirp It will restart Alpha’s second stage engine for its orbit in about 40 minutes. From there, the Lockheed Martin payload was supposed to be deployed. But the company is yet to provide an update after four hours.
The European Space Agency (ESA) is a type of antenna array that can be steered electronically. Lockheed says its proprietary design will enable the company to calibrate the new ESA sensor in a fraction of the time compared to traditional on-orbit sensors, which can take months to get up and running. The European Space Agency (ESA) demonstration payload was integrated into a satellite bus built by Terran Orbital (Lockheed owns approximately 7% of Terran’s outstanding shares).
While the mission’s primary goal is payload deployment, Firefly said its mission team also tracks total man-hours from the time payload is received to launch preparation, to further demonstrate its ability to provide rapid launch capabilities to the Space Force. .
Rapid launch is a top priority for the Space Force; Firefly has already proven this once during the recent Alpha mission that set a new record for launch readiness. For this mission, Firefly had just 24 hours to complete final launch preparations, wrap the payload and attach it to the rocket.