FLY News & Events

Firefly Aerospace announced a $13M subcontract from NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory to manufacture, test, and deliver the aeroshell for NASA's SkyFall mission to Mars, targeted for launch in late 2028. The SkyFall mission, managed by JPL, will deploy three heritage Mars helicopters to perform science and demonstrate airborne subsurface mapping and resource prospecting, paving the way for American astronauts on Mars.

NASA announced Tuesday the selection of three companies to land four new missions on the Moon in late 2028 as part of the agency's Moon Base Program. Astrobotic, Firefly Aerospace (FLY), and Intuitive Machines (LUNR) will deliver NASA science payloads to the lunar surface as the agency builds the first outpost on another celestial world. "These new awards to our commercial partners, totaling nearly $600M to land more missions on the Moon with science payloads, demonstrate our commitment to accelerating our effort to build a long-term presence on the lunar surface, and give us more opportunity to develop the skills we need to prosper there," said Lori Glaze, associate administrator for the Human Spaceflight Mission Directorate at NASA Headquarters in Washington. Astrobotic is awarded $297.9M total for two deliveries, as well as Firefly Aerospace $144.2M and Intuitive Machines $148.3M for one delivery each as part of the agency's Commercial Lunar Payload Services initiative, a backbone of the Moon Base. Each will use updated versions of already-flown lander designs to enable NASA's increased mission cadence. Shares of Intuitive Machines are up 6.6%, while shares of Firefly Aerospace gained 3% in pre-market trading.

Craig-Hallum notes that NASA hosted a press conference awarding $148M to Intuitive Machines (LUNR), $144M to FireFly Aerospace (FLY), and $298M to Astrobotic for lunar landers. Intuitive Machines and FireFly Aerospace contract wins are right down the middle of expectations, the firm adds. Craig-Hallum remains impressed by the efforts of new NASA administrator Isaacman. Namely, by the regular cadence of well thought out awards, better use of available resources, and an approach centered on partnering with and enabling commercial players. For Intuitive and FireFly, the awards were likely right in line with expectations, with the Astrobotic awards more than expected, the firm adds. Craig-Hallum has a Buy rating on Intuitive with a price target of $42.

Firefly Aerospace announced a $144M NASA Commercial Lunar Payload Services contract to deliver a rapid mission to the Moon with Firefly's Blue Ghost lunar lander. This marks the company's sixth contracted lunar mission to date. Targeted to launch in 2028, Firefly will design, build, test, and deliver the mission in approximately two years, half the time of the Blue Ghost Mission 1, by utilizing its Blue Ghost lander design and operations. For this mission, Blue Ghost will return to the Moon's near side, similar to where Mission 1 landed, and deliver three NASA science instruments, including the Laser Retroreflector Array to enable precision laser ranging, the Linear Energy Transfer Spectrometer to measure the radiation environment, and the Stereo Cameras for Lunar Plume Surface Studies to further study plume-surface interactions during touchdown.