Rendering of the Firefly Elytra vehicle. Photo: Firefly Aerospace

Firefly Aerospace on Monday said it has received a contract from the Defense Innovation Unit (DIU) to supply its Elytra spacecraft for a 2027 mission in Low-Earth Orbit (LEO) for responsive on-orbit tasks, including space domain awareness.

The award follows a trade study contract Firefly received from DIU a year ago under the Sinequone project to rapidly launch Elytra to xGEO, which is beyond geosynchronous orbit. Firefly said the Elytra mission to LEO is the first step for future responsive missions in xGEO as part of the Sinequone effort.

Elytra will host different government payloads for the mission, which is set to launch as early as 2027. The payloads include optical visible and infrared cameras, a responsive navigation unit, and a universal electrical bus with a payload interface module.

DIU told Defense Daily that the award was for the second phase of the three phase Sinquone project. The Phase 2 effort “will demonstrate their orbit transfer vehicle in LEO to provide responsive maneuverability data in order to refine the third phase which is the delivery demo to orbit in cislunar space,” DIU said.

Firefly also said the mission will consist of the Elytra Dawn configuration and will include some common components with its launch vehicles and lunar landers, such as avionics, composite structures, and propulsion systems. The spacecraft’s main engine, Spectre, was used as the reaction control system for final descent of the company’s Blue Ghost lunar lander on the moon.

The first Elytra mission is slated for launch this year in support of the National Reconnaissance Office for a responsive on-orbit demonstration.

Firefly’s Alpha launch vehicle was used by the Space Force and DIU in the fall of 2023 for the VICTUS NOX tactically responsive space (TacRS) mission, and is under contract to launch the service’s VICTUS HAZE mission by this fall. The company will also launch the Space Force’s VICTUS SOL TacRS mission.

“Firefly has proven our ability to rapidly and reliably launch, land, and operate in space as we continue to execute bold missions from LEO to lunar orbit and beyond,” Jason Kim, the company’s CEO, said in a statement. “This national security mission will further demonstrate our ability to perform responsive on-orbit task when and where our customers need them with our highly maneuverable Elytra orbital vehicle.”

This story was first published by Defense Daily