Firefly Aerospace Earns AS9100 Quality Certification

MAY 14, 2020–Firefly Aerospace, a small-sat startup from Austin TX, has achieved a crucial quality certification.

On May 6th, 2020, Firefly Aerospace announced that they had earned their AS9100 certification, an aerospace quality certification. This certification is widely used in the aerospace industry and shows that companies have good quality assurance management.

This a key milestone for the company, as they transition from development to actual production of hardware, notably their Alpha rocket, which is slated to complete its first test flight this summer, according to a tweet by Firefly.

During these challenging times, Firefly continues to make substantial daily progress on the path to Alpha first flight this summer. Qualification testing of the world’s simplest high-performance rocket engine (“Reaver”) is progressing well. Crank it up! pic.twitter.com/bY5IUQuyU7

— Firefly Aerospace (@Firefly_Space) April 14, 2020

The certification will also be used to help the development of future plans Firefly has, such as its triple-core Beta rocket, meant to launch medium-sized payloads, their orbital transfer vehicle, and their Genesis Lunar Lander concepts.

Over the next few months, Firefly will complete more and more tests to prepare for the maiden flight of the Alpha rocket, designed to be able to launch 1 metric ton to LEO (Low Earth Orbit) and 550 kg to SSO (Sun Synchronous Orbit) per Firefly.

The Alpha is designed to be able to launch twice a month, with the first flight test being launched from SLC-2 at Vandenberg Air Force base. Firefly also has plans to launch from other locations in the future, such as SLC-20 at the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, according to Firefly.

Go Alpha, Go Firefly.