Firefly Aerospace has completed a new ISO Class 8 cleanroom at its spacecraft manufacturing campus in Cedar Park, Texas, as the company expands production capacity for its Blue Ghost lunar landers and Elytra orbital vehicles.
The new facility, marked by a ribbon-cutting ceremony on 22 September, is part of Firefly’s 144,000 sqft campus and is four times the size of its existing cleanroom.
The two cleanrooms will provide a dedicated spacecraft assembly line capable of supporting the simultaneous assembly of up to 12 lunar landers and orbital vehicles, according to the company.
The expansion is intended to increase manufacturing throughput as Firefly prepares for a growing number of spacecraft missions.
Firefly said the new cleanroom was funded by a $8.2m grant from the Texas Space Commission, with representatives from the commission, federal and state government and NASA programmes attending the completion event.
"This project is a perfect example of what the Texas Legislature and Governor Abbott envisioned when they created the Texas Space Commission," said Norman Garza, Jr., Executive Director of the Texas Space Commission.
The cleanroom forms part of a wider expansion of Firefly’s Cedar Park operations announced earlier this year.
In May, the company said the expanded campus would include the new cleanroom and an innovation laboratory, with the facility intended to provide dedicated production capacity for its Blue Ghost and Elytra spacecraft.
Supporting lunar and orbital spacecraft production
Firefly’s Blue Ghost programme delivered its first lunar mission earlier this year, and the company said it now has five additional lunar missions under contract involving its Blue Ghost landers and Elytra orbital vehicles.
The company is also developing a larger version of its lunar lander technology to support the delivery of heavier cargo, terrain vehicles, infrastructure and power systems to the Moon.
The additional cleanroom capacity is therefore being brought online alongside Firefly’s plans to increase spacecraft production and support its future mission schedule.
Firefly said the new facility will allow the company to move towards a more dedicated production line, rather than relying on the capacity of its original cleanroom.
The company is headquartered in Cedar Park, Texas, where it develops launch vehicles and spacecraft for commercial, civil and national-security missions.
