New Medium Launch Vehicle Taking Flight in 2025
Firefly Aerospace and Northrop Grumman are co-developing a new medium launch vehicle (MLV) that combines the best flight-proven technologies, systems, and mission experience from both companies to fill a void in the underserved medium-lift market. Carrying more than 16,000 kg to low Earth orbit, MLV serves commercial, civil, national security, and international launch markets with competitive pricing to customers’ preferred orbits. MLV will first launch from Virginia’s Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport (MARS) on Wallops Island and is designed to be compatible with additional launch ranges on the east and west coast.
Overview
-
Architecture
2 stages
-
Overall Length
55.7 m
183.7 ft
-
Payload Fairing
5.2 m
Propulsion
-
Propellant
LOX / RP–1
-
PROPELLANT FEED
Turbopump
-
COMBUSTION
Tap-off cycle
Stage 1
-
ENGINE
7x Miranda
-
THRUST (VAC)
7,161 kN
1,610,000 lbf
-
ISP (VAC)
305 sec
Stage 2
-
ENGINE
1x Miranda Vacuum
-
THRUST (VAC)
890 kN
200,000 lbf
-
ISP (VAC)
328 sec
Built on the Success of Antares and Alpha
MLV is an evolutionary successor to the Antares launch vehicle, offering a significant leap in power, performance, and payload capacity. The vehicle retains many flight-proven systems from the Antares program with additional upgrades, including a more powerful vacuum-based liquid second stage and an industry-standard 5 m-class fairing that’s customizable to support multiple customer requirements. MLV also utilizes technologies from Firefly’s flight-proven Alpha vehicle, including patented tap-off cycle propulsion technology and carbon composite sandwich structures to reduce mass and costs and improve strength and reliability.
Built on the Success of Antares and Alpha
MLV is an evolutionary successor to the Antares launch vehicle, offering a significant leap in power, performance, and payload capacity. The vehicle retains many flight-proven systems from the Antares program with additional upgrades, including a more powerful vacuum-based liquid second stage and an industry-standard 5 m-class fairing that’s customizable to support multiple customer requirements. MLV also utilizes technologies from Firefly’s flight-proven Alpha vehicle, including patented tap-off cycle propulsion technology and carbon composite sandwich structures to reduce mass and costs and improve strength and reliability.
Launch on MLV
Manufacturing and testing for our medium launch vehicle is well underway with the first flight on track for 2025. Get in touch to learn more about our MLV launch services.
Careers
Dream Big at Firefly
From rocket propulsion and test operations to spacecraft, we have open roles across the company. Each team member’s passion, dedication, and innovative ideas have a direct impact on fueling our successful trajectory into space.