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Firefly Aerospace completes new cleanroom
Firefly Aerospace is ramping up its spacecraft production. They now have a controlled environment to work on spacecraft elements.
AUSTIN, Texas - Firefly Aerospace is ramping up its spacecraft production. They now have a controlled environment to work on spacecraft elements.
New cleanroom at Firefly Aerospace
What they're saying:
The new cleanroom is four times the size of their old cleanroom. Combined, they create enough space to have an assembly line for 12 lunar landers and orbital vehicles.
"It's an environmentally controlled room up to certain specifications, so you have very tight temperature bounds that you operate in, you also have very tight humidity bounds, so humidity really matters, especially for electronics," Ray Allensworth, vice president of spacecraft with Firefly Aerospace, said.
After their Blue Ghost Mission 1 lunar landing, Firefly has five additional lunar missions under contract for its Blue Ghost landers and Elytra orbiters. Four of those are with the Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) program.
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"We funded the Blue Ghost Mission 1 and had 10 payloads on that one and have got several other task orders in play with them right now. Really excited to have them as a partner, and they're doing a great job supporting the CLPS and NASA," Adam Schlesinger, CLPS manager at NASA Johnson Space Center said.
"Our old cleanroom right now, we are currently working on our Blue Ghost Mission 2, so we have two spacecraft that are in there, but you start topping out on how many spacecraft you can build in that single cleanroom. We're maintaining that cleanroom and that one will actually feed into this larger space," Allensworth said.
Who funded the new Firefly Aerospace cleanroom?
Dig deeper:
The new cleanroom was made possible by a $8.5 million grant from the Texas Space Commission. The state legislature approves funding for the commission, which allocates it to different companies. Over two legislative sessions, $450 million has been appropriated to this fund.
"The Texas Space Commission is very proud of these kinds of grants that are going to Texas companies in these different communities," Norman Garza, executive director of the Texas Space Commission, said. "This is one of those projects, and it's come to fruition, and we're very happy for the Firefly folks."
"This extra space is incredibly exciting for the team, you're able to really set up production so that you're not cramped, you have plenty of space, you can also grow so we can keep working on additional NASA missions," Allensworth said.
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What's next:
Blue Ghost Mission 2 is expected to launch in 2027.
The Source: Information from Ray Allensworth, vice president of spacecraft with Firefly Aerospace, Adam Schlesinger, CLPS manager at NASA Johnson Space Center, Norman Garza, executive director of the Texas Space Commission and reporting by FOX 7 Austin's Angela Shen