Almost a rocket… almost reached… Pseudo-Ukrainian launch in the USA

Firefly Aerospace's Alpha rocket took off from the US Air Force Launch Center in Santa Barbara County, and after 2.5 minutes of flight the rocket exploded in a controlled manner.

On Friday, September 3, Firefly Aerospace's Alpha launch vehicle took off from the United States Air Force Launch Center in Santa Barbara County. After 2.5 minutes of flight, the rocket was detonated in a controlled manner. It was supposed to launch about 92 kg of payload.

What distinguishes this launch from hundreds of other similar cases is the fact that the rocket was built by the company of Ukrainian Maxim Polyakov.

Alpha was supposed to deliver the SETS propulsion system, a device for collecting and disposing of space debris, and drawings from the winners of a children's competition into low Earth orbit. The first mission was named DREAM or FLTA001.

In the future, Firefly Aerospace plans to commercially use its rockets to launch cargo weighing up to a ton and 630 kg, respectively, into orbits at altitudes of 300 km and 500 km.

Judging by the video released, the launch vehicle successfully launched, but approximately two and a half minutes after launch it exploded.

Firefly clarified that before the countdown began, the launch area and all surrounding areas were cleared to minimize the risk to company employees, base personnel and the public.

“We continue to work, observing all safety protocols,” they added.

That is, the explosion was carried out in a controlled manner – after registering a certain emergency condition on board.

“On the first attempt, the rocket passed several important stages: it took off from the ground, reached supersonic speed, and withstood maximum pressure (Max Q). The Firefly Alpha rocket did not explode spontaneously, its flight was interrupted from the Space Launch Delta 30 control center due to an anomaly, according to flight safety protocols,” the company emphasized.

Firefly Aerospace recalled that not a single company in the world was able to launch a rocket into space successfully on the first try and this was a test flight, the main task of which was to collect data for further launches.

Big plans

Firefly Aerospace (formerly Firefly Space Systems) is a private aerospace enterprise headquartered in Austin, Texas, USA that develops lightweight launch vehicles for launching cargo into space. In 2017, the company was bought by Ukrainian entrepreneur Maxim Polyakov. He relaunched it under the new name Firefly Aerospace. Firefly Aerospace has its own R&D center in Dnepr.

Alpha is a relatively large rocket in the light launch class: height 29 m, stage diameter 1.8 m and fairing 2 m. Two-stage disposable with a payload of 1000 kg to low Earth orbit (200 km) with an inclination of 28.5°, and up to 630 kg – to sun-synchronous (500 km). The main structure is made of carbon fiber reinforced composite. Fuel pair: RP-1 kerosene and liquid oxygen, propellant gas – helium. The mass of the fueled rocket is about 54 tons.

About a year ago, Firefly successfully tested the Alpha first stage, and in August 2021, it conducted a successful static “burn-in” of the rocket.

By May 2021, Firefly had raised $200 million in funding at a $1 billion valuation, and in June received a US patent on its engine technology.

In 2019, Firefly was one of eight companies selected to participate in the U.S. Air Force Orbital Services Program-4. The $986 million OSP-4 program is designed for small to medium payloads weighing more than 180 kg.

SpaceX and Firefly are scheduled to deliver NASA instruments to the Moon in 2023.

It turns out that Maxim Polyakov is the first Ukrainian since independence to build and place a new rocket on the launch pad. Maxim was born in 1977 in Zaporozhye and always dreamed of rockets and space.

“I always liked physics and mathematics, so when it came time to choose a specialty, I knew that I wanted to become a rocket scientist, like my dad,” he said in an interview with EP.

The father of the future entrepreneur worked at the Zaporozhye rocket and space plant Khartron, where he developed rocket control systems.

Polyakov successfully graduated from the physics and mathematics school and expected to enter the Bauman Moscow University, but there was no money to move to Moscow. As a result, he studied to become a gynecologist at the Zaporozhye Medical University, but never worked as a doctor for a day.

Ukrainian Forbes wrote an article about Polyakov in 2013, which stated that he earned his start-up capital by trading medical equipment. And he invested this money in an outsourcing IT company – AlarIT, which wrote code for clients from the USA, Canada and Europe. Polyakov says that within a year he was earning $10,000 a month.

Polyakov’s first major product business was EasyDate, which included several popular dating sites in Europe. There were a number of scandals surrounding this business. For example, in the spring of 2013, an investigation was published by the BBC and the Kyiv Post, which alleged that EasyDate sites hire Ukrainian women who motivate European men to subscribe to paid services. Polyakov then stated that at that time he was no longer involved in this business.

After parting with the dating business, Polyakov moved to Silicon Valley and founded the Noosphere Ventures holding in 2014 to develop space projects.

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