Subsidiary Of Cedar Park-Based Firefly Aerospace Inks NASA Pact

CEDAR PARK, TX — A subsidiary of a Cedar Park-based rocket firm, Firefly Black LLC, has inked a deal with NASA for a new space mission, company officials announced Friday.

The national security and civil space subsidiary of Firefly Aerospace, Firefly Black is poised to work with the space agency in launching Mission Two of the Venture Class Launch Service Demonstration Contract centered on the launch of two CubeSat constellations at a 550 km Sun-Synchronous Orbit, according to an advisory. The orbit, officials added, is separated by a minimum of 10 degrees in plane change.

“Firefly Black is pleased to have been selected by NASA for this operationally challenging mission. We applaud NASA’s commitment to the nation’s emerging small launch industrial base and look forward to supporting America’s civil space launch needs for many years,” Firefly President Leslie Kovacs said in a prepared statement. “The all-private development of our Alpha launch vehicle, and the impending completion of our Space Launch Complex 2 conversion at Vandenberg AFB, are on schedule to support the maiden Firefly Alpha launch in the first quarter of 2021. The men and women of Firefly, and our supply chain partners, are excited by this partnership with NASA.”

Firefly Black will bridge demand between pure small launch capability and that provided by the National Security Space Launch program by providing a family of small-to-medium launchers and in-space transportation services, officials said.

A subsidiary of Cedar Park-based Firefly Aerospace, Firefly Black provides launch services to Department of Defense, intelligence community and civil space customers seeking small-to-medium launch solutions for up to ten metric tons of payload to low earth orbit (LEO)., according to a company advisory.

Utilizing Firefly Aerospace’s Alpha and Beta launch vehicles and Space Utility Vehicle, Firefly Black provides the U.S. with industry leading capability at the lowest cost/kg in the emerging small launch vehicle class. Headquartered in Washington, DC, Firefly Black also performs Legislative and Executive Branch outreach and advocacy supporting the small satellite and small launch industries, officials said.