Firefly Aerospace is gearing up for the seventh-ever liftoff of its Alpha rocket.
Firefly Aerospace is getting ready to launch its Alpha rocket after a 10-month hiatus.
The Texas-based company is targeting no earlier than Feb. 27 for the launch of its "Stairway to Seven" mission, which it hopes will restore confidence in its Alpha rocket after two explosive events grounded the vehicle last year.
"Stairway to Seven" will be the seventh launch for Alpha overall and its first since the "Message in a Booster" mission last April, which aimed to loft a prototype satellite for Lockheed Martin. But things didn't go well on that flight: The rocket's first stage broke apart moments after stage separation, resulting in the loss of the payload . That was followed by another mishap in September, when the booster originally intended for Alpha's seventh flight exploded during prelaunch testing .
Alpha's test stand and other other nearby facilities were spared any damage from September's "combustion event," Firefly wrote in an update , but the incident nonetheless added months to the company's development plans as a cause was investigated.
Firefly concluded that investigation in November, pinning the cause on "a process error during stage one integration that resulted in a minute hydrocarbon contamination." That finding ruled out a design flaw in the launch vehicle itself.
Now, Firefly says that Alpha's seventh mission is finally ready to fly. The mission was originally supposed to launch another Lockheed Martin payload, but Firefly has repurposed it as a test flight to reverify Alpha's systems using a demo payload.
The "Stairway to Seven" first stage completed a 20-second static test fire of its four Reaver engines on the launch pad at California's Vandenberg Space Force Base on Feb. 6 and is currently progressing toward a Feb. 27 launch opportunity.
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The "Stairway to Seven" mission patch. (Image credit: Firefly Aerospace)
"Stairway to Seven" will be the final flight of Alpha's Block I configuration, as Firefly continues upgrades to the launch vehicle to expand its capabilities.
"Flight 7 will test and validate key systems ahead of Firefly’s Block II configuration upgrade on Flight 8 that’s designed to enhance reliability and manufacturability across the vehicle," the company wrote on the mission's website .
Firefly has designed the Alpha Block II to be 7 feet (2.13 meters) taller than its 96.7-foot-tall (29.6-m) predecessor. It's manufactured with carbon composite components and features upgraded thermal protections and improved avionics and power systems, according to the company.
— Source: Space.com (https://www.space.com/space-exploration/launches-spacecraft/firefly-aerospace-prepares-alpha-rocket-for-1st-launch-since-explosive-mishaps-last-year)
