Mission Summary

Firefly’s Alpha FLTA004 mission launched Lockheed Martin’s wideband Electronically Steerable Antenna technology integrated on a Terran Orbital Nebula satellite bus. Following liftoff, the rocket performed nominally through second stage engine cutoff (SECO 1). However, during the coast phase, Alpha’s second stage did not achieve the planned orbit for payload deployment due to an error in the Guidance, Navigation & Control (GNC) software algorithm that prevented the system from sending the necessary pulse commands to the reaction control system (RCS) thrusters ahead of the stage two engine relight.

Despite these challenges, Alpha deployed the payload in an orbit that allowed the customer to successfully complete their primary mission objectives, including rapid commissioning of the satellite following insertion. Firefly has since implemented corrective actions and verified the fix on Alpha FLTA005 after successfully completing a stage two relight and payload deployment in the planned orbit.

Payload

Lockheed Martin’s Electronically Steerable Antenna (ESA) integrated on a Terran Orbital Nebula satellite bus was built to demonstrate faster on-orbit sensor calibration to deliver rapid capabilities to U.S. warfighters. Following payload deployment, Lockheed Martin completed all primary mission objectives and successfully demonstrated the ESA capability. The payload team also advanced the technology readiness level for a range of mission applications after completing more than 100 on-orbit tests.