A Jackal rendezvous and proximity operations spacecraft will launch on a Firefly Alpha rocket in 2025 to participate in the Space Force’s VICTUS HAZE demonstration mission, True Anomaly said today.
True Anomaly is building a spacecraft to perform an RPO demo in tandem with another vehicle being built, launched, and operated by Rocket Lab. True Anomaly’s Jackal will be integrated into an Alpha fairing at Vandenberg and remain on hot standby until receiving a 24-hour launch notice from the Space Force to head for orbit.
“Firefly is the only company that has the performance that we need to perform that mission,” True Anomaly CEO Even Rogers said. “You need something to get a particular package, to the right place, the right time—and they had the experience.”
Firefly showed off the ability to launch on short notice in 2023 in another “tactically responsive” Defense Department demo, VICTUS NOX. The most recent Alpha launch took place in July, and the company said its next mission on behalf of Lockheed Martin is not yet scheduled.
Jackal time: True Anomaly, founded by four veterans, is focused on delivering the tools required for modern space conflict:
- Jackal, a sensor-studded, maneuverable spacecraft intended for space domain awareness missions
- Mosaic, a user interface for Guardians that Rogers calls the “orchestration and tactics engine for all our hardware.”
True Anomaly lost contact with the first two Jackals, launched this year on a SpaceX rideshare mission, shortly after deployment, but the company has multiple missions heading to orbit ahead of VICTUS HAZE to prove out the vehicle.
The launch services agreement with Firefly also includes two additional responsive launches between 2025 and 2027.
Alpha go: Firefly is just weeks into the tenure of its new CEO, Jason Kim, the former head of Millenium Space, after former CEO Bill Webber was dismissed in August. The company is pushing ahead on Alpha (it also won a new NASA launch contract last month) as well its Blue Ghost Moon lander and plans to build a new medium-lift rocket with Northrop Grumman.
