Firefly Aerospace’s Blue Ghost lunar lander is scheduled to touch down in the Mare Crisium lunar basin in September 2023, carrying ten NASA payloads. This mission will be the first of Firefly’s annual lunar surface missions, and passing the critical stage is another step toward fulfilling the company’s plans.

“This milestone marks another step in an aggressive schedule and meeting it continues to showcase our spacecraft team’s ability to consistently deliver incredible work,” stated Dr. Tom Markusic, Firefly’s CEO. “This mission is a forerunner of what we see as a growing cadence of recurring data and payload service missions in cis-lunar space that will kickstart a lunar economy, and we’re honored to be demonstrating our ability to deliver these services for NASA and for our commercial customers.”

As reported by AIN.UA in November 2018, the space agency published a list of nine US companies eligible to bid on NASA delivery services to the lunar surface. Firefly Aerospace was among the selected companies.

In early 2021, NASA announced a partnership with Firefly Aerospace and awarded the company with a $93 million contract for the delivery of science and technology payloads to the Moon in 2023. The delivery, planned for Mare Crisium, will investigate a variety of lunar surface conditions and resources.

The payloads, weighing a total of 94 kg, will include test equipment, including a set of lunar retroreflectors for precise measurements of the distance between Earth and the Moon, radiation-tolerant electronics, devices to analyze the regolith and structure of the lunar mantle, etc.

This interactive map shows the landing site for NASA’s Perseverance rover within Jezero Crater. It is available online.

The map is created using the popular open-source JavaScript library Leaflet. It is used by many popular projects, including Foursquare, Pinterest, Flickr, Craigslist, GitHub, VKontakte, 500px, The Washington Post, USA Today, Financial Times.

Previously AIN.UA published an interview with Vladimir on how he learned JavaScript, wrote the library Leaflet, and founded a rock band.

To recap, on February 18, 2021, the new rover Perseverance successfully landed on the surface of Mars. The Perseverance’s mission is to seek signs of ancient life, study the geology of the Red Planet, collect and cache Martian rock and regolith and return them to Earth.

• The company will participate in the delivery of these payloads to Mare Crisium. They will be used to investigate conditions on the lunar surface as well as available resources. Such investigations will help prepare for human missions to the lunar surface.
• The payloads, weighing a total of 94 kg, will include test equipment, including a set of lunar retroreflectors for precise measurements of the distance between Earth and the Moon, radiation-tolerant electronics, devices to analyze the regolith and structure of the lunar mantle, etc.
• The award is part of the Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) program, in which NASA secures the support of commercial companies to quickly deliver the science and technology payloads on the lunar surface. This initiative is a key part of the Artemis program, which has the goal of landing people on the Moon and building a habitable settlement there.

Previously, a subsidiary of Firefly Aerospace was awarded a $9.8 million contract by NASA to launch small satellites to space.

As stated on the NASA website, the Ukrainians have designed a universal space connector, which allows refueling satellites directly in orbit, extending their lifetime.

The average communications satellite costs about $300 million to build, about $100 million to launch, and works for about 15 years. When the fuel is completely used up, the satellite cannot keep the orbit and begins to drift, losing communications and becoming useless.

Refueling would extend a satellite’s life cycle, saving companies and governments money on the development and launch of replacements.

“We have searched for existed refueling missions – now they are too complex and expensive. We have discovered that some research and communication satellites can cost more than $500 million and most of them have to be retired due to run out of fuel. In opposite, rocket launches are getting cheaper and can carry extra fuel to existent missions,” says the team.

The FireWay solution allows refueling with both liquid and gas fuels.

“For two-component fuel – the transportation will be implemented through two different channels. But the number of different channels for liquids or gasses can be extended, to match any needs,” the project description says.

The FireWay team includes engineers, astrophysicists, and developers – Roman Malkevych, Olena Kompaniiets, Ivan Hryshko, Maksym Kopystko, Dmytro Ivannyk, and Kirill Andriets.

NASA Space Apps Challenge

The NASA Space Apps Challenge is a 48-hour competition for engineers, programmers, designers, and space technology enthusiasts. During the hackathons, participants from all over the world work to create projects that use space data.

As gorod.dp.ua reports, NASA Space Apps Challenge has been held in Ukraine since 2016. Since 2017, the local organizer of NASA hackathons in Dnipro is the Noosphere Association founded by entrepreneur Max Polyakov.

The international jury of NASA Space Apps Challenge includes experts from NASA, ESA (European Space Agency), JAXA (Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency), and other partner agencies, picking the winners in 6 categories:

• Best Use of Data
• Best Use of Technology
• Galactic Impact
• Most Inspirational
• Best Mission Concept
• Best Use of Science

According to the NASA press service, the value of the contract is $9.8 million.

 Microsats launch

The contracts were signed under NASA’s Launch Services Program (LSP), which involves the launch of small satellites, including CubeSats, miniature cubic satellites made up of multiples of 10 cm cubic units.

NASA notes that the launch of small satellites will be in demand for future science missions of the aerospace agency, and now these missions will demonstrate the ability to launch small payloads by private companies.

Three companies signed contracts under the program, but Firefly Black LLC got the biggest one:

• Astra Space Inc.: $3.9M
• Relativity Space Inc.: $3M
• Firefly Black LLC: $9.8M

About Firefly Aerospace

Firefly Aerospace is a U.S. company that provides convenient access to space for small payloads through the manufacture of reliable launch vehicles. The company is headquartered in Austin, TX, and has an R&D center in Dnipro, Ukraine.

In 2017, Firefly Aerospace was relaunched by serial entrepreneur Max Polyakov. According to various estimates, between $75 million and $100 million was invested in the company.

“Ukraine has all the scientific and technical capabilities and experience allowing the country to become one of the weighty partners of NASA during the implementation of the Artemis program,” the report says.

Previously, on October 15, the agreement was signed by the following eight countries: the USA, Great Britain, Italy, Canada, Australia, Japan, United Arab Emirates, and Luxembourg.

“This is important for Ukraine because we will be able to implement our own projects in partnership with the world’s leading space agencies… Also, I am convinced that the agreements will give a new impetus to unite countries in establishing multilateral consultations in the context of the development of international space law,” said Volodymyr Usov, the Head of the State Space Agency of Ukraine.

The signing of the agreement contributes to the growing cooperation between Ukraine and the US in other areas of space activities as well, the release says. In particular, to the resumption of the dialog between the two countries within the scope of the Ukrainian-American working group for the exploration and use of outer space for peaceful purposes, established back in 2016.

The countries undertake to observe the following principles of the Artemis Accords:

• Peaceful Exploration: All activities conducted under the Artemis program must be for peaceful purposes
• Transparency: Artemis Accords signatories will conduct their activities in a transparent fashion to avoid confusion and conflicts
• Interoperability: Nations participating in the Artemis program will strive to support interoperable systems to enhance safety and sustainability
• Emergency Assistance: Artemis Accords signatories commit to rendering assistance to personnel in distress
• Registration of Space Objects: Any nation participating in Artemis must be a signatory to the Registration Convention or become a signatory with alacrity
• Release of Scientific Data: Artemis Accords signatories commit to the public release of scientific information, allowing the whole world to join us on the Artemis journey
• Preserving Heritage: Artemis Accords signatories commit to preserving outer space heritage
• Space Resources: Extracting and utilizing space resources is key to safe and sustainable exploration and the Artemis Accords signatories affirm that such activities should be conducted in compliance with the Outer Space Treaty
• Deconfliction of Activities: The Artemis Accords nations commit to preventing harmful interference and supporting the principle of due regard, as required by the Outer Space Treaty
• Orbital Debris: Artemis Accords countries commit to planning for the safe disposal of debris.

The company has an engineering research center in Ukraine. In 2017, the company was restarted by the American-Ukrainian entrepreneur Max Polyakov.

What the lunar lander will look like

It will borrow the technology of the Israeli Beresheet lunar lander, which was developed by Israel Aerospace Industries.

He fell on the surface of the Moon in April 2019 due to a failure occurred in the engine. Beresheet was to become the first private lander on the surface of the satellite. After its collapse, the development of Beresheet 2 was planned.

Instead, Firefly Aerospace uses the design and core technology of the project. Agreements on the use of intellectual property have already been signed. The new lunar lander will be called Genesis.

Specifications of Genesis have not yet been disclosed, as well as the date of its possible launch. Firefly Aerospace hasn’t launched rockets yet – its first lightweight carrier Alpha should fly in December 2019. In its turn, Genesis should be brought into orbit by a Beta rocket. It has not been constructed yet.

How NASA, Firefly and Luna are connected

Firefly Aerospace is one of 9 companies with which NASA will collaborate on sending descending vehicles to the Moon as part of the NASA CLPS program.

Among other applicants for cargo delivery to the satellite surface there are Lockheed Martin, Astrobotic, Moon Express, Masten Space Systems, Deep Space Systems, Draper, Intuitive Machines, Orbit Beyond. The total amount of contracts under the program exceeds $2.6 billion.

Avision Robotics is developing a SaaS platform for controlling UAVs. It allows drones to fly in the air without collisions, choosing safe routes. In a UTM structure that operates on a nationwide government level, Avision is a certified USS (UAS Service Supplier). The USS system is a service by which commercial operators of UAVs automatically submit information and authorize their flights (this may be delivery by drone, videotaping or video surveillance, rescue operation, etc.). It works like this:

About how it came to agree on cooperation with NASA, the company says: “We offered our solution, and together we built UTM. Due to the quality and complexity of our system, we have received NASA/FAA certification as a UAS Service Supplier. We work with NASA and Nevada on a standard contract basis.”

Avision has also developed a web-service and a mobile application that allows commercial and state-owned companies to plan flights, monitor a fleet of drones, and manage a team of pilots/operators. It is integrated with the UTM system and with account of such other parameters: weather, battery charge, other routes in the system, terrain and information about buildings.

This application is available in the USA, Russia and Ukraine, it has official data on no-fly zones in the country, so that it can be used to plan and carry out flights according to the rules in force in Ukraine.

NASA and Nevada announced the launch of a project introducing a UTM system in the center of Reno this spring. Also, they announced a similar launch in the state of Texas. Avision is working with the implementation of the UTM system in other countries around the world, including projects where it will be the national air traffic control system. But the details of these projects are not reported.

The company does not disclose financial data, however, according to its co-founder Oleksandr Mozolyuk, the company is already making a profit. It raised investments, also won the national Vernadsky Challenge. Avision also underwent a 500 Startups program.

The company was established on the basis of Firefly Space Systems, which was bought and relaunched by the Ukrainian entrepreneur and founder of Noosphere Ventures Maxym Polyakov in 2017. The company develops light transporters for cargo delivery to near-Earth orbit. Its head office is located in the USA, however, the R&D center of the enterprise has opened in Dnipro. There they are developing an electric jet engine and a satellite. However, so far, the company has not conducted test or commercial launches, the first tests are scheduled for 2019, when it will have access to the spaceport.

Photo: Prototypes of the launch vehicle and landing probe from Firefly

The total amount of contracts that CLPS members can receive is more than $ 2.6 billion. The number of possible missions, as well as the amount of remuneration for each, is not disclosed. The agency is considering the option of providing funds for the development of equipment and research, The Verge reports with reference to Thomas Zurbuhen, NASA Deputy Division for Scientific Missions. However, NASA does not expect all 9 enterprises to succeed in conquering the Moon.

The CLPS program will be the first step towards re-sending a man to the Moon. President Trump signed the relevant directive in December 2017. Since then, the agency has been developing a complex plan for its implementation. Small scientific devices, created and launched by private companies, should expand the concept of resources available on the Moon. For example, to find ice, which is useful for creating rocket fuel. The technologies tested on the vehicles will be able to create a full-fledged pilot-controlled lander module. The agency also plans to build the Gateway orbital station, which will serve as a kind of outpost for astronauts and ships traveling to the Moon.