Firefly plans late summer launch of first Alpha Block 2 rocket
Firefly Aerospace plans to launch its upgraded Alpha Block 2 rocket late this summer, with a successful return to flight of the original Alpha rocket in March. The company sees strong demand for Alpha, particularly for national security applications.
Firefly Aerospace is set to debut its Alpha Block 2 rocket late this summer. The company confirmed this during a May 4 earnings call, following a successful return to flight of the original Alpha rocket on March 11, which placed a Lockheed Martin technology demonstration satellite into low Earth orbit. The Alpha Block 2 upgrade includes stretched first and second stages and improvements to avionics, batteries, and thermal protection. Firefly is planning two more Alpha launches this year, with hardware for these missions in production. The company is seeing strong demand for Alpha, particularly for national security applications, including responsive launches of satellites up to one ton and suborbital missions for hypersonics testing. Firefly is also exploring launching Alpha from multiple sites, including the Esrange Space Center and offshore launch platforms.
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