Firefly Space Systems

Firefly Space Systems
Industry Aerospace
Fate Bankrupted
Founded January 2014 (2014-01)
Hawthorne, California[1]
Founders Tom Markusic
P.J. King
Michael Blum[2]
Defunct April 13, 2017 (2017-04-13)
Headquarters Cedar Park, Texas, United States
Key people
 Tom Markusic (CEO)
P.J. King (COO)
Michael Blum (CFO)
Shey Sabripour (CTO)
Number of employees
 >140 (May 2016)[3]
Website www.fireflyspace.com

Firefly Space Systems[4][5] was a private aerospace firm based in Austin, Texas, that was developing small and medium-sized launch vehicles for launches to orbit. They were proponents of NewSpace: a movement in the aerospace industry whose objective is to increase access to space through innovative technical advances resulting in a reduction of launch cost, and the lessening of regulations and logistical restrictions associated with dependence on national space institutions.[6]

Firefly furloughed their staff in October 2016 and the firm's assets were due to be auctioned on March 16, 2017.[7] The company subsequently declared bankruptcy in April 2017.[8]

History

Firefly was formed in January 2014[4] by Dr. Tom Markusic, P.J. King and Michael Blum[2] and a small group of entrepreneurs who self-funded the company. In September 2014, Firefly announced it would move its headquarters from Hawthorne, California to Austin-suburb Cedar Park, Texas.[1] By November it relocated to Texas.[6] It grew to 30 employees by August 2014 and 43 employees by November 2014.[6] Firefly has office and engineering facilities in Austin, Texas and Hawthorne, California and purchased 215 acres (87 ha) of land for an engine test and manufacturing[9] facility in Briggs, Texas, 50 miles (80 km) north of Austin.[10]

Tom Markusic has a background in propulsion engineering, and has worked at other NewSpace companies including SpaceX — where he was manager of the SpaceX Texas Rocket Test Facility — and also held senior posts at Virgin Galactic and Blue Origin.[10] The company name came to Markusic while sitting on his back porch watching fireflies and realizing that in the future the sky above Earth might look like that as spacecraft ferried people to Mars.[6]

FireFly FRE-R1 engine test, September 2015

In 2014, Firefly purchased fiber-winding equipment for manufacturing composite cryotanks that will be built using an out-of-autoclave process. Prototype tanks were tested at Marshall Space Flight Center in mid-2014.[10]

The Firefly Alpha design was revealed in July 2014.[4] As of November 2014 Firefly's objective was to be cash-flow positive by 2018, based on anticipated small-satellite business.[6]

In June 2015, Firefly projected initial engine tests on their Texas test stand by September 2015 and the first full-pressure test of the full-size first-stage test article before year-end 2015. As of June 2015, a suborbital launch of Firefly Alpha was projected to occur no earlier than 2017.[9]

In the event, the first hot fire engine test of the "Firefly Rocket Engine Research 1" (FRE-R1) occurred on 10 September 2015.[11][12]

Firefly has signed an agreement with Space Florida to launch from the Florida "Space Coast". The initial demonstration launch of the Firefly Alpha could be as early as 2016.[13]

Firefly furloughed their entire staff in October 2016 after losing the backing of a major investor.[14]

In March 2017, it was announced that "virtually all" of the assets of Firefly would be sold at auction, organized by a Ukrainian company, EOS Launcher, Inc.[15]

Aerospike engine

Firefly proposes to utilize a lightweight annular aerospike rocket engine and self-pressurizing propellant in order to improve the payload fraction delivered to orbit.

The engine was a 'plug cluster aerospike', a type of annular aerospike engine with an array of ten small conventional methane-fueled rockets arranged in a ring, thrusting against a plug-shaped structure. The thrusters’ force against the carefully shaped plug provides an optimal propulsive effect on the launch vehicle, while the open exhaust lets the aerospike engine’s exhaust 'self-tune' against the different ambient pressures that the rocket will experience at increasingly higher altitudes during a terrestrial launch.[6]

FireFly Aerospike Engine

Conventionally, rockets use pressurized reserves of an inert gas to 'backfill' propellant tanks, in order to maintain tank pressure as the tank voids. However, the proposed aerospike throttled thrust architecture uses autogenous pressure-fed methane/liquid oxygen propellant. Pressure is maintained by the propellant alone, thus removing the weight requirement, complexity and additional failure modes of inert gas reserves.[6][10]

Firefly cools the truncated spike structure — which impinges the rocket exhaust of the ten surrounding conventional rocket engines — by pumping the liquid methane fuel through the spike, turning the heated fuel into a hot gas, some of which is then used to generate the gas necessary to pressurize the fuel tank. This avoids the traditional means of using helium inert gas for tank pressurization and leaves slightly more burnable fuel in the fuel tank. The plug cluster spike itself is static.[6]

Additionally, methane/liquid oxygen is clean burning with no significant coking, thereby reducing the need for engine refurbishment between firings. This allows each stage to be reused, if recovered in a serviceable condition, resulting in further cost savings on subsequent flights. Methane produces slightly higher Isp and is also relatively inexpensive compared to more conventional RP-1 (kerosene) .[16]

Launch vehicles

Firefly was working on a number of design concepts within their overall vehicle architecture. As of June 2015, FireFly continues to do a large number of design trades.[9] The approximate characteristics of the conceptual launch vehicles are:

Firefly Alpha

The FireFly Alpha (Firefly α[6]) was an expendable[9] launch vehicle designed to carry light — approximately 400 kilograms (880 lb) — satellites to orbit. Projected launch cost was $9 million for orbital payloads.[10]

It utilized the FRE-1/FRE-2 aerospike engines and a lightweight carbon composite structure to reduce launch weight, resulting in improved payload fraction.[6]

Technical description and specifications

FireFly Alpha
Performance
Propulsion
Stage 1
Stage 2
Structures

Firefly Beta

Firefly β (Beta) was planned to be a multicore design, grouping α (Alpha) rockets together as a group.[6] As with Alpha, it was expected to be an expendable launch vehicle.[9]

Technical description and specifications

Performance

Production

Firefly was building and testing its engines at a single location in Texas, approximately 20-minutes from company headquarters, in Cedar Park, Texas. Company design and procurement strategy intended to avoid the "large outsourced supplier structure" common in traditional aerospace companies, although a subcontractor would have built the carbon-fiber rocket bodies and tanks.[6]

References

  1. 1 2 "Hawthorne-based rocket company to move to Texas". Daily Breeze. 2014-09-14. Retrieved 2014-12-03.
  2. 1 2 Spacevidcast (now TMRO -- see new channel) (24 August 2014). "Firefly Space - 7.26" – via YouTube.
  3. ↑ Twitter, Tweet with number of employees.
  4. 1 2 3 Aron, Jacob (8 July 2014). "Next generation of space cowboys get ready to fly". Newscientist.com. Retrieved 5 October 2014.
  5. ↑ "Firefly Space Systems unveils Alpha launch vehicle design with aerospike engine". Gizmag.com. Retrieved 5 October 2014.
  6. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 Hutchinson, Lee (2014-11-30). "Firefly Space Systems charges full-speed toward low Earth orbit". ars Technica. Archived from the original on 2014-12-03. Retrieved 2014-12-01.
  7. ↑ "Firefly Space Systems assets to be sold - SpaceNews.com". 15 March 2017.
  8. ↑ Cornin, Mike (13 April 2017). "Grounded: Austin-area space launch company finally files for bankruptcy". Austin Business Journal. Retrieved 9 May 2017.
  9. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Episode 15: DOWNLINK--Firefly Space Systems — Interview. The Orbital Mechanics. 2015-06-23. Retrieved 24 June 2015.
  10. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 Morring, Frank, Jr. (2014-08-25). "SpaceX Alum Goes After Falcon 1 Market With Firefly". Aviation Week. Archived from the original on 2014-12-03. Retrieved 2014-10-17.
  11. ↑ First Rocket Engine Test a Success for Firefly Space Systems, press release, 10 September 2015, accessed 17 December 2015.
  12. ↑ Wall, Mike (2015-09-10). "New Firefly Rocket Engine Passes Big Test, Will Launch Small Satellites". Space.com. Retrieved 2016-01-08.
  13. ↑ New Alpha rocket will launch test flights from KSC, Florida Today, 15 October 2015, accessed 17 December 2015.
  14. ↑ Foust, Jeff (2016-10-03). "Firefly Space Systems furloughs staff after investor backs out". SpaceNews. Retrieved 2016-10-03.
  15. ↑ "Firefly Space Systems assets to be sold - SpaceNews.com". SpaceNews.com. 2017-03-15. Retrieved 2017-03-15.
  16. ↑ Todd, David (2012-11-20). "Musk goes for methane-burning reusable rockets as step to colonise Mars". FlightGlobal Hyperbola. Retrieved 2012-11-22. "The energy cost of methane is the lowest and it has a slight Isp (Specific Impulse) advantage over Kerosene," said Elon Musk.
  17. ↑ "Firefly α - Firefly Space Systems". Fireflyspace.com. Retrieved 5 October 2014.
  18. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 "Firefly α | Firefly Space Systems". Fireflyspace.com. Retrieved 5 October 2014.
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