Firefly Space Systems Inks Space Act Deal With NASA

Concept art for Firefly's first launch system. (Credit: Firefly Space Systems)

Texas-based Space startup Firefly Space Systems announced today that the company has signed a Space Act agreement with NASA.

Founded in January 2013, Firefly is focused on building a reusable launch system that is geared towards the small satellite market. Its first rocket, Firefly Alpha, is planned to be able to lift 453 kg into low Earth orbit and is slated to launch in 2017. It will be followed by its second system, Firefly Beta, which will be able to deliver 1114 kg to low Earth orbit.

The reason why Firefly exists is that if you look at emergence of space companies, you can see that a large number of them are smallsat companies, Fireflys VP of Business Development Maureen Gannon told me. That growth in the smallsat market is really what were seeing as opportunity for our company.

One big area where Firefly aims to be competitive is cost. According to Gannon, the company is targeting a launch cost of $8-9 million. By contrast, a SpaceX Falcon 9 launch costs $61.2 million.

Four years from start to launch is an aggressive schedule for any space company. Thats one area where the agreement with NASA comes in. Under this agreement, NASA and Firefly have agreed to collaborate on the engineering and design of the Firefly Alpha system. This includes areas of technical consultation, engineering services, and concept/design reviews, according to a press release. (However, theres no financial aspect to the agreement.)

The other way that Firefly is trying to reach its goal is by shifting the normal process through which rockets are developed. To that end, the company has partnered with ANSYS, which makes physics-based simulation software for engineering firms.

Our simulation software allows companies to develop in a different way, Rob Smith, ANSYSs Aerospace and Defense Industry director told me. The old way was to come up with an idea, sketch it, prototype it and test until it breaks. Its expensive and time consuming.

Firefly has been able to use the simulation software, which runs on the Texas Advanced Computing Centers Stampede supercomputer, to speed up their development process.

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Firefly Space Systems Inks Space Act Deal With NASA