We now know why the fourth-ever launch of Firefly Aerospace's Alpha rocket didn't go as planned.
The mission, called Fly the Lightning, lifted off on December 22 last year, carrying an electronically steerable antenna payload developed by aerospace giant Lockheed Martin into low Earth orbit (LEO).
The 95-foot (29 m) Alpha rocket delivered the payload to low Earth orbit but failed to reach the target orbit. Firefly announced on Tuesday (February 20) that it had soon begun an unfortunate investigation, which has now concluded.
“The investigation concluded that the accident was due to an error in the Guidance, Navigation and Control (GNC) software algorithm that prevented the system from sending the necessary pulse commands to the Reaction Control System (RCS) thrusters before the engine was restarted in the second stage,” Firefly wrote in Updated Tuesday.
“Firefly is now implementing corrective actions to ensure the GNC software issue is resolved, including process changes to detect and prevent similar issues in the future,” the company added. “Alpha will be ready to fly again in the coming months.”
Related: New record! Firefly Aerospace launches the Space Force mission 27 hours after receiving the order
Firefly confirmed that the software issue hampered Fly the Lightning but did not abort the mission.
“Despite these challenges, Alpha deployed the payload into an orbit that allowed our mission partner to successfully complete its primary mission objectives, including rapid commissioning of the satellite after insertion,” the company wrote in an update on Tuesday.
The payload is designed to “demonstrate faster on-orbit sensor calibration to provide rapid capabilities to U.S. warfighters,” Firefly representatives wrote in a letter. Task description Before launch.
Fly the Lightning was the fourth orbital mission for Firefly and Alpha.
The first flight, in September 2021, was a test mission that failed shortly after launch. Alpha returned with partial success in October 2022, sending seven satellites into orbit but apparently not Its spread is very low.
The two-stage rocket was launched for the third time in September 2023, on a US Space Force mission called Victus Nox. That trip was an absolute success. Alpha was launched just 27 hours after the Space Force issued the order — a new record for a national security mission — and deployed its primary satellite into the target orbit.
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