The Department of War’s Defense Innovation Unit and the Space Development Agency have awarded a contract for a preliminary design review of a spacecraft mission intended to deorbit satellites nearing the end of their working life.
“(O)ur team designed a highly efficient, cost-effective solution for our Elytra vehicles to deorbit satellites nearing end of life.”
Jason Kim, Firefly Aerospace
The mission would use the Firefly Aerospace Elytra spacecraft, according to a news release from the Cedar Park-based company. Firefly is a publicly traded space and defense company listed on the Nasdaq under the ticker FLY.
Completing the design review does not guarantee Firefly the full mission. The company said it will be eligible to compete for the next phase, which includes launch and spacecraft operations, only after the review is finished.
“Firefly is known for performing some of the hardest missions in space, and this mission is no exception,” said Jason Kim, CEO of Firefly Aerospace. “In alignment with the White House order to prioritize orbital debris mitigation, our team designed a highly efficient, cost-effective solution for our Elytra vehicles to deorbit satellites nearing end of life. This dialable system can deorbit satellites of vastly different sizes and configurations to help mitigate the growing space debris challenge our industry is up against.”
Under the mission design, Elytra would launch into low Earth orbit, maneuver to the target satellite, perform rendezvous and proximity operations, survey the object and then carry out the deorbit service. Firefly said its deorbit system, integrated onto Elytra, is designed to work in low Earth orbit, medium Earth orbit and geostationary Earth orbit.
The award is separate from an existing Defense Innovation Unit contract under which Firefly is building an Elytra spacecraft for a space domain awareness mission, targeted for no earlier than 2027. Firefly said the core flight structures for that spacecraft are complete and the vehicle has entered integration and testing.
The company describes Elytra as built from components shared with its Alpha rocket and Blue Ghost lunar lander, including avionics, composite structures and propulsion hardware. Firefly has pitched the vehicle for uses beyond deorbiting, including payload delivery, communications relay, surveillance and lunar imaging.
Firefly has not disclosed the value of the design review contract.