Software problem blamed for Firefly Alpha mishap

WASHINGTON– A software application problem avoided the upper phase of Firefly Aerospace’s Alpha rocket from finishing a 2nd burn throughout a December launch, stranding its payload in a low orbit.

In a Feb. 20 declaration, Firefly stated a mistake with the assistance, navigation and control (GNC) software application for the upper phase of the Alpha on the business’s “Fly the Lightning” objective Dec. 22 kept the upper phase from shooting as prepared to circularize its orbit. That left the upper phase and its payload, a Lockheed Martin innovation presentation satellite, in an orbit with a low perigee.

The examination, that included the business’s own accident group along with an independent evaluation, discovered that the mistake in the GNC software application algorithm “avoided the system from sending out the required pulse commands to the Reaction Control System (RCS) thrusters ahead of the phase 2 engine relight.” Firefly didn’t elaborate on the concern, however the RCS thrusters likely would have been utilized to make sure the phase remained in the correct orientation and to settle its tanks so propellant would stream from them into the engine.

“We’re happy of the combined group’s capability to collaborate to attain this favorable result,” Bill Weber, president of Firefly, stated in a declaration about the examination. “Looking ahead, the crucial long-lasting result is the fast, comprehensive maturation of Alpha as the reputable one-metric-ton-class rocket the marketplace is requiring.”

Firefly stated that it is both fixing the GNC software application mistake and executing other “procedure modifications” to much better discover comparable issues in the future. The business stated Alpha will be all set for its next launch in the “coming months” however was not more particular.

The incident stranded the Lockheed Martin satellite in an orbit with a preliminary perigee of just about 215 kilometers. Lockheed sped up the tests of the satellite’s antenna innovation in what a business executive called a “significantly compressed objective timeline,” accomplishing much of the objective goals within weeks. The satellite reentered Feb. 10according to a database preserved by The Aerospace Corporation.

While Firefly has actually not revealed a particular return-to-flight date for Alpha, a business executive stated previously this month that Firefly still anticipated to carry out 4 Alpha launches this year, the exact same number it predicted before the accident. “We do not believe that’s going to slow us down,” Brett Alexander, primary profits officer of Firefly, stated at the SpaceCom conference Feb. 1