Let’s light that candle! The people of Aerospace Firefly He took a short break from rocket development recently to start an engine in honor of co-founder Max Polyakov, who turned 43 on Tuesday (June 30).
The Reaver rocket engine, in true celebration form, was used to light candles on a large birthday cake as high-speed cameras rolled, according to a new video. (The other planned use for the engine will be to launch small satellites to orbit at low cost, using Alpha Firefly Rocket.)
“Anyone getting older understands that one of the most difficult problems is figuring out how to light all those damn birthday candles on the cake,” said other Firefly co-founder Tom Markusic in the video, that the company launched on Twitter and YouTube In the video, Markusic was wearing a multi-colored birthday hat and a T-shirt that said “Texas Rocket Science,” a nod to Firefly’s headquarters in Cedar Park, just north of Austin.
The video showed Markusic unsuccessfully trying to light birthday candles on his own. “They melt. They burn you. It’s actually a pretty difficult problem,” he said. “To solve the problem, we have devised a fairly unique solution to light all the candles at once.”
Like any space science problem, solving it required teamwork. The video showed the careful preparations that Firefly workers made to prepare the cake for its special lighting. They measured the sides with a ruler and used hand signals to prepare the engine.
The video then shows a final countdown and the engine running – Blowing fire on the candles and cake in an epic slow-motion video, it’s generally used to see how well a rocket engine works during testing.
He is the co-founder of Firefly, Dr. Max Polyakov’s Bday! @Maxpolyakov’s passion and determination are the driving forces in Firefly’s march into space. We salute his “total attack”. Attitude towards life taking a very aggressive approach to start the birthday celebration! #HappyBirthdayMax pic.twitter.com/1sFI68OCSE June 30, 2020
Was the result tasty? The team doesn’t say as they share the charred cake, but their enthusiasm radiates anyway. “Happy birthday, Max!” They cry.
Firefly Alpha is in development for a test launch by the end of this year, paid flights are expected to start in 2021 or so. The rocket is designed to send up to 2,200 lbs. (1,000 kilograms) to low Earth orbit and 600 kilograms (1,300 pounds) to synchronous orbit to the sun.
Firefly is also working on a more powerful launch vehicle called Beta, as well as a Genesis moon lander compete for opportunities from NASA’s Commercial Lunar Charging Services program to support Artemis’s manned lunar missions.
The Texas-based company was founded in 2017 after a predecessor entity, Firefly Space Systems, filed for bankruptcy protection after a major European investor withdrew from the funds. Firefly officials have said the withdrawal was related to Brexit, which is the UK’s gradual withdrawal from the European Union.
Follow Elizabeth Howell on Twitter @howellspace. Follow us on Twitter @Spacedotcom and Facebook
