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FireFly Space Systems〔〔(【引用サイトリンク】title=Firefly Space Systems unveils Alpha launch vehicle design with aerospike engine )〕 is a private aerospace firm based in Austin, Texas that will launch small and medium-sized satellites to orbit. They're proponents of NewSpace: a movement in the aerospace industry whose objective is to increase access to space through innovative technical advances resulting in a reduction of launch cost, and the lessening of regulations and logistical restrictions associated with dependence on national space institutions.〔 ==History== Firefly was formed in January 2014〔 〕 by Dr. Tom Markusic, P.J. King〔 and a small group of entrepreneurs who self-funded the company. In September 2014, Firefly announced it would move its headquarters from Hawthorne, California to Austin-suburb Cedar Park, Texas. By November it relocated to Texas.〔 It grew to 30 employees by August 2014 and 43 employees by November 2014.〔 Firefly has office and engineering facilities in Austin, Texas and Hawthorne, California and purchased of land for an engine test and manufacturing〔 facility in Briggs, Texas, north of Austin. Tom Markusic has a background in propulsion engineering, and has worked at other NewSpace companies including SpaceX — where he was manager of the SpaceX Texas Rocket Test Facility — and also held senior posts at Virgin Galactic and Blue Origin.〔 The company name came to Markusic while sitting on his back porch watching fireflies and realizing that in the future the sky above Earth might look like that as spacecraft ferried people to Mars. In 2014, Firefly purchased fiber-winding equipment for manufacturing composite cryotanks that will be built using an out-of-autoclave process. Prototype tanks were tested at Marshall Space Flight Center in mid-2014.〔 The Firefly Alpha design was revealed in July 2014.〔 Firefly plans to be cash-flow positive by 2018, based on anticipated small-satellite business.〔 In June 2015, Firefly projected initial engine tests on their Texas test stand by September 2015 and the first full-pressure test of the full-size first-stage test article before year-end 2015. A suborbital launch of Firefly Alpha will occur no earlier than 2017.〔 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Firefly Space Systems」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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