WASHINGTON — Space transportation company Firefly Aerospace secured a $21.8 million contract from the U.S. Space Force to launch a mission to orbit under the military’s quick-reaction space program, marking the company’s third such award.
The contract, announced by the Space Systems Command Feb. 13, is for a mission dubbed Victus Sol that will utilize Firefly’s Alpha rocket. The launch is part of the Tactically Responsive Space (TacRS) program, which aims to demonstrate the Space Force’s capability to rapidly deploy satellites during national security emergencies.
Details about the payload, mission objectives, and launch timeline are not being disclosed, according to a Space Safari spokesperson. Space Safari, the New Mexico-based office managing the TacRS program, operates under the Space Systems Command.
The latest award signals a shift in the TacRS program from demonstration flights to operational missions. “Victus Sol is moving beyond TacRS demonstrations and will be available for operations,” a Space Safari spokesperson said in a statement to SpaceNews, indicating the program’s evolution toward deploying assets to be used in military operations.
“This mission will provide the operational capability to have a launch vehicle and space vehicle on standby while we continue to launch other commercial and government missions until we’re called up by the Space Force,” said Firefly CEO Jason Kim.
Firefly launched a TacRS mission, Victus Nox, in September 2023 and is scheduled to launch Victus Haze later this year, which will carry a satellite built by space technology firm True Anomaly.
Firefly, based in Cedar Park, Texas, won the Victus Sol contract through competitive bidding under the Space Force’s Orbital Services Program-4, a flexible contract vehicle managed by the Space Systems Command’s Rocket Systems Launch Program.
