Problem with Firefly’s Alpha rocket puts Lockheed satellite in shallow orbit

By Joey Roulette

WASHINGTON (Reuters) -Firefly Aerospace said the sixth mission of its Alpha rocket suffered a mishap in space after launching from California on Tuesday, putting a satellite owned by Lockheed Martin in a “lower than planned orbit,” suggesting a potential mission failure.

Firefly said the mishap occurred during separation of Alpha’s core stage booster with its second stage roughly two and a half minutes after liftoff, which “impacted the Stage 2 Lightning engine nozzle, putting the vehicle in a lower than planned orbit.”

The company said it was working with Lockheed to determine the root cause of the failure. Lockheed did not immediately respond to a question on whether it believes its satellite could raise its orbit or otherwise survive the mishap.

The mission was the first in a multi-mission agreement between Firefly and Lockheed, which had on board the rocket a self-funded satellite called LM 400 Technology Demonstrator, meant to advance space technologies and lower risk for Lockheed customers.

(Reporting by Joey Roulette; Editing by Mark Porter)