The satellites launched by Firefly Alpha might be in an orbit lower than planned
(Firefly Aerospace https://bit.ly/3S1MREH)
The Firefly Alpha first successful launch might not that successful after all.
The satellites launched ended up in a lower orbit than expected, and their lifespan turned out to be less than estimated.
The Firefly Alpha is a two-stage ultra-light kerosene-oxygen launch vehicle developed by the private company Firefly Aerospace.
The rocket is a low-cost vehicle for delivering small satellites to low Earth orbits.
The company says that they can put up to one metric ton of payload to low Earth orbit or 630 kilograms of payload to sun-synchronous orbit.
THE LAUNCH
The first launch of the rocket took place last fall, but it ended in an explosion and loss of payload due to a malfunction in one of the engines.
The second launch was postponed three times and took place on October 1 of this year
The company reported that it was completely successful and a deployment module for 5 pico-satellites and 2 cubesats were launched into low-Earth orbit with an altitude of 300 kilometers.
However, shortly after launch, Seradata, a company that tracks and catalogs objects in near-Earth orbits, doubted the success of the first flight of Firefly Alpha.
The payload was initially launched into orbit with a perigee of 220 kilometers and an apogee of 275 kilometers and the satellites entered the atmosphere faster than originally planned.
Firefly Aerospace did not confirm this information, saying that despite earlier reports, there were no staging issues and the satellites were delivered to a predetermined elliptical orbit.
However, the space company announced that it will continue to analyze the situation.
Source:
- Spacenews.com: https://spacenews.com/firefly-says-alpha-launch-a-success-despite-payload-reentries/
- Republic World: https://www.republicworld.com/science/space/firefly-aerospace-insists-launch-mission-is-a-success-despite-payloads-falling-prematurely-articleshow.html
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