Firefly Aerospace's Alpha Rocket Launches into Space

Following any news connected with the Alpha Rocket designed by the tandem of Firefly Aerospace and Spaceflight? We have the latest details (several shocking!) to share.

Finally, Alpha Rocket has launched into Space this fall! But let’s start from the very beginning of this breathtaking and, at the same time, controversial success story.

In 2020, Spaceflight (a well-known launch services provider) received the collaboration offer from Firefly Aerospace . The last wanted Spaceflight to become a partner for a rideshare mission 2021, implemented on a compact launch vehicle called Alpha. The launch services contract was signed in the spring of the same year. Briefly, Spaceflight was to deliver payloads as a part of the entire payload potential in terms of the Alpha mission in 2021.

Firefly Aerospace was designing the flight vehicle with the goal to conduct static-fire trial works during the period of May-June 2021. In several official interviews with the press, the manufacturer commented that as soon as all those works were finished, the Alpha vehicle will be delivered to Vandenberg. This is the location where testing is continuing to transform Space Launch Complex 2 West.

That first launch in fall 2021 was intended to serve as a demo mission, although the vehicle will carry several secret payloads for clients. In parallel to this rocket, the second Alpha was also being manufactured.

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Several Weeks before the Alpha Launch

In August 2021, Firefly Aerospace claimed that they planned to launch the Alpha rocket on September, 2 from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California. Before the official launch, the rocket executed static fire testing that lasted for 13 seconds.

On August 24, at the 36th Space Symposium, Tom Markusic, CEO of Firefly Aerospace announced that the only work that should be done before the official launch was completing documentation. Additionally, he assured that the static fire testing was ideal. The rocket will perform a successful flight because all the testing aspects look wonderful.

The manufacturer has powerfully tested Alpha, involving more than 10 hot-fire trial works.

The engineering team could finalize designing the rocket sooner. However, a design element required for the flight termination platform was delivered with a delay. Markusic refused to reveal this specific constituent and its vendor but commented that it was the component that Firefly Aerospace did not build internally.

During the launch, the vehicle will hold the DREAM payload (Dedicated Research and Education Accelerator Mission). This is the manufacturer's effort to deliver a cost-free launch for educational and several private payloads. Another goal of this launch consists in testing constituents of an orbital vehicle titled the Space Utility Vehicle that Firefly Aerospace is currently designing.

The flight was planned to carry approximately 60 kilograms to orbit though the vehicle is developed to carry nearly 1 metric ton of disposable load. DREAM consists of a few cubesats together with non-tech cargo. During this mission, the engineering team plans to investigate a plasma engine the manufacturer wants to integrate into its space vehicle tug as well as a deployable drag sail to support taking the upper stage out of orbit.

In case this launch fulfills the manufacturer's expectations, Firefly Aerospace could schedule to execute its second Alpha launch this winter. The CEO of Firefly Aerospace announced that the manufacturer possesses a set of quite ambitious payloads ready for the launch. Their further steps fully depend on whether the launch is successful or not as well as the kind of risk clients agree to take. These conditions will specify which clients will participate in the second Alpha launch.

The Day of the Alpha Launch

On September 2, on their official website, Firefly Aerospace set up a video in “live” of the Alpha launch. From the very beginning, the flight ran like clockwork but suddenly, something went wrong! It finished when the Alpha rocket got out of control nearly several minutes after takeoff. The engineering team that operates directly at Vandenberg momentarily reacted and destroyed Alpha with the help of specific flight termination equipment within the termination system.

Later, the manufacturer released a description coming with the video. Firefly Aerospace explained that a Reaver engine 2 (the vehicle has 4 of them) in the Alpha’s first stage switched off 14 seconds following the takeoff. Luckily, this shutdown occurred without other incidents and the engine didn’t entirely fail. On Reaver engine 2, the propellant valves merely closed. As a result, thrust stopped from the engine.

Alpha went on ascending with the support of the other 3 engines, however with less thrust. This condition could serve as a good explanation regarding the obvious underperformance of the rocket during the flight. The manufacturer stated that Alpha was expected to gain Mach 1 during half a minute of the flight. The point is that launch supervisors did not inform that the rocket was supersonic for several minutes after takeoff.

The engineering team added that as far as only 3 engines functioned well the climb speed was slow. It was a complex task for the rocket to keep up manoeuvrability without the thrust from engine 2. Alpha was able to keep stable on condition of subsonic speeds. However, as far as the rocket became transonic, the thrust from 3 engines was not enough and the system went out of control.

Before the flight termination system destroyed the rocket, it spun for approximately 6 seconds (as the video demonstrated). The payload platform of the rocket broke off when Alpha started spinning. In terms of other aspects, the vehicle stayed undamaged. The 3 engines continued working before the flight termination system played out.

The manufacturer accentuated before the launch that this very experience was initially a test flight accompanied by exclusively a small pack of payloads. According to Markusic, the main target of this launch was to get data. The more info they can receive, the better the next launch will be.