Sep 22, 2020
Ashlee Vance, the author Elon Musk's biography, published an article about Firefly co-founder Dr. Max Polyakov. According to the article, Polyakov has invested $150M of his own money into the rocket industry, which is only exceeded by Elon Musk, with SpaceX, and Jeff Bezos, with Blue Origin. The combined value of the businesses Polyakov either runs or has invested in tops $1B. Also, Polyakov has given millions of dollars to local universities to set up programs in aerospace, robotics, artificial intelligence, cybersecurity, and other engineering programs in retooled facilities with subsidized faculty. After Polyakov bought Firefly, Markusic and the company’s other American aerospace hires worked out a special agreement with the U.S. government: a one-way deal that allows for Ukrainian aerospace IP to flow to Texas but not vice-versa.

Sep 20, 2020
Firefly Aerospace performed a successful test of the Alpha flight first stage, putting the company another step closer to launch. The four Reaver engines performed 35 seconds of thrust vector control maneuvers, challenging the flame deflectors to constrain the Reaver engine power.

Sep 10, 2020
Firefly Black has been selected as an exhibitor in the AFWERX EngageSpace competition, a program of the U.S. Air Force and Space Force. Firefly proposes fielding a transportable launch system capable of launching 630 kg to SSO and 1000 kg to LEO (28.5 degrees). This would provide a survivable solution for reconstitution of future Space Force and Space Development Agency satellites during a conflict. The Alpha launch vehicle would be mounted on a transporter-erector-launcher (TEL) and pre-positioned in a hangar near an airfield and configured with a portable clean room tent to facilitate rapid spacecraft integration, closeout, and checkout. Payloads may be stored at the base/location in advance of need or deployed to integrate with the launch vehicle in a “just in time” CONOPs. A suite of flight software loads for predetermined design reference missions (DRMs) would be available for immediate upload to the launch vehicle depending on the selected mission. Candidate spacecraft would all be enveloped within predetermined environments and parameters of the launch vehicle, and in a “ready for call up” state with payloads fully integrated to their bus, environmentally tested, and encapsulated with fairing. The launch vehicle TEL and all ground infrastructure would be over-road and air-transportable, ensuring resiliency of the system in a contested environment with traditional launch bases no longer usable.

Sep 10, 2020
Firefly Aerospace will sponsor Space Foundation's 11th Annual International Student Art Contest. Its theme is “How Space Technology Helps Improve Life on Earth”.

Sep 9, 2020
Oleksandr Bondarenko, the Governor of the Dnipropetrovsk region, claims that Polyakov has invested ~$30M in total in Firefly's Dnipro factory for the production launch vehicle parts, which employs 100 people. Additionally, the company leases production facilities at Yuzhmash, the state-owned aerospace manufacturer, where employees from both Firefly and Yuzhmash work together, serving as an example of a successful public-private partnership.