Category: Spacecraft

  • Will Firefly’s 5th Alpha Carry MESAT1?

    Will Firefly’s 5th Alpha Carry MESAT1?

    Firefly indicates Alpha FLTA005 will be a NASA mission, which suggests MESAT1 may be in line for launch.

  • Traveling Companions

    Traveling Companions

    These eight CubeSats are spacebound with MESAT1 on Firefly’s launch for ELaNa mission 43.

  • MESAT1 scheduled to launch in first half of 2022

    At the CubeSat Launch Initiative NASA Town Hall, Scott Higginbotham showed ELaNa 43, MESAT1’s ride to space, scheduled for launch late in the second quarter of 2022. Maine’s first was among 11 CubeSats manifested for the flight. The primary payload on the launch is VCLS Demo-2FB.

  • MESAT1 Still Stalled

    Firefly’s second Alpha rocket is on pad 2W at the Space Launch Center, Vandenberg Space Force Base, projected to launch in the next several weeks. The third Alpha rocket, a ride to space for MESAT1, would likely be at least two months after #2.

  • Launch Delay for MESAT1?

    NASA’s launch partner for the MESAT1 mission is start-up Firefly Aerospace. Firefly’s Alpha rocket is the ride to space for MESAT1, but on Alpha’s inaugural launch last September, one of four engines failed mid-flight. Firefly CEO Tom Markusic told CNBC’s Michael Sheets that May was the target for a second launch, and the third would…