Firefly Aerospace and Boeing subsidiary Millennium Space Systems announced Wednesday (August 30) that they have entered what they called a "hot standby phase" for an orbital mission for the US Space Force called Victus Nox.
Latin for "Conquer the night," the Victus Nox mission's launch date aboard Firefly's Alpha rocket has yet to be announced, but the mission would be part of the Space Force's initiative to solicit rapid launch capabilities from commercial industry.
The announcement also meant both companies had virtually no notice and very short windows to get a satellite to the launch site and into space, TechCrunch reported.
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Tight Schedule Required
At some intentionally unknown time in the next six months, Space Force officials will issue an alert notification to the two teams. From there, Millennium would have to transport the spacecraft they have built for the mission from Los Angeles to Firefly's launch pad at Vandenberg Space Force Base and integrate it with Alpha's payload adapter, all of which have to be done within 60 hours or less.
Upon accomplishing the task, the Space Force would provide Firefly with a launch notice, where they must update its trajectory and guidance software with the final orbital requirements, encapsulate the payload, transport it to the pad, attach it to the Alpha rocket, and launch at the first available window within a 24-hour period.
According to US Space Force Space Safari office materiel leader Lt. Col. MacKenzie Birchenough, rapid launch is a capability that is critical to US national defense.
"The accelerated build time the team demonstrated for Victus Nox, combined with the demanding launch and on-orbit goals, exemplifies our strong commitment to preserving our nation's dominance and ability to freely operate in the space domain," he added.
Firefly and Millennium won the contract for the Victus Nox mission in October 2022, with Firefly's award topping out at $17.6 million. The value of Millennium's contract, on the other hand, was not disclosed.
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