aerospace founded january 2014 2014 01 hawthorne california 1 founders tom markusic p.j. king michael blum 2 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 is a private aerospace firm based in austin texas that is developing small and medium sized launch vehicles for launches to orbit . they are 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 ceased operations and furloughed their staff in october 2016 . 7 contents 1 history 2 aerospike engine 3 launch vehicles 3.1 firefly alpha 3.1.1 technical description and specifications 3.1.1.1 performance 3.1.1.2 propulsion 3.1.1.2.1 stage 1 3.1.1.2.2 stage 2 3.1.1.3 structures 3.2 firefly beta 3.2.1 technical description and specifications 3.2.1.1 performance 4 production 5 references 6 external links history edit 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 8 facility in briggs texas 50 miles 80 km north of austin . 9 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 . 9 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 . 9 the firefly alpha design was revealed in july 2014 . 4 as of november 2014 update 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 update a suborbital launch of firefly alpha was projected to occur no earlier than 2017 . 8 in the event the first hot fire engine test of the firefly rocket engine research 1 fre r1 occurred on 10 september 2015 . 10 11 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 . 12 firefly laid off their entire staff in october 2016 after losing the backing of a major investor . 7 aerospike engine edit 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 is 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 9 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 clarification needed 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 . 13 launch vehicles edit firefly is working on a number of design concepts within their overall vehicle architecture . as of june 2015 update firefly continues to do a large number of design trades . 8 the approximate characteristics of the conceptual launch vehicles are firefly alpha edit the firefly alpha firefly 6 is an expendable 8 launch vehicle designed to carry light approximately 400 kilograms 880 lb satellites to orbit . projected launch cost is 9 million for orbital payloads . 9 it utilizes 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 edit firefly alpha performance edit payload 400 kilograms 880 lb leo un margined 9 14 propulsion edit stage 1 edit engine fre 2 propellant lox methane 9 type pressure fed autogenous with pintle injector 9 configuration plug cluster aerospike with 10 combustion chambers surround ing a truncated spike 6 9 thrust sl 400 kilonewtons 90 000 lbf 15 specific impulse isp vac 305 sec 15 stage 2 edit engine fre 1 propellant lox methane 9 type pressure fed autogenous with pintle injector 9 configuration conventional bell citation needed thrust vac 44 kilonewtons 10 000 lbf 15 isp vac 335 sec 15 thrust chambers on fre 1 and fre 2 are identical . 8 structures edit stage 1 diameter 6 feet 1.8 m 15 stage 2 diameter 5 feet 1.5 m 15 materials carbon composite 15 firefly beta edit firefly beta is planned to be a multicore design grouping alpha rockets together as a group . 6 as with alpha it is expected to be an expendable launch vehicle . 8 technical description and specifications edit performance edit payload 1 100 kilograms 2 400 lb 6 production edit firefly is 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 intends to avoid the large outsourced supplier structure common in traditional aerospace companies although a subcontractor will build the carbon fiber rocket bodies and tanks . 6 references edit a b hawthorne based rocket company to move to texas . daily breeze . 2014 09 14 . retrieved 2014 12 03 . a b https www.youtube.com watch v fbntjeyqvqg twitter tweet with number of employees . a b c aron jacob 8 july 2014 . next generation of space cowboys get ready to fly . newscientist.com . retrieved 5 october 2014 . firefly space systems unveils alpha launch vehicle design with aerospike engine . gizmag.com . retrieved 5 october 2014 . a b c d e f g h i j k l m n 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 . a b foust jeff 2016 10 03 . firefly space systems furloughs staff after investor backs out . spacenews . retrieved 2016 10 03 . a b c d e f episode 15 downlink firefly space systems interview . the orbital mechanics . 2015 06 23 . retrieved 24 june 2015 . a b c d e f g h i j k 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 . first rocket engine test a success for firefly space systems press release 10 september 2015 accessed 17 december 2015 . wall mike 2015 09 10 . new firefly rocket engine passes big test will launch small satellites . space.com . retrieved 2016 01 08 . new alpha rocket will launch test flights from ksc florida today 15 october 2015 accessed 17 december 2015 . 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 . firefly firefly space systems . fireflyspace.com . retrieved 5 october 2014 . a b c d e f g firefly firefly space systems . fireflyspace.com . retrieved 5 october 2014 . external links edit official website firefly space systems overview video october 2015 . firefly alpha payload user guide version 1 july 2015 . profile thomas markusic founder and chief executive firefly space systems by dan leone ; oct. 13 2014 ; spacenews.com retrieved from https en.wikipedia.org w index.php title firefly space systems & oldid 742624639 categories aerospace companies of the united statescompanies based in texasprivate spaceflight 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