Firefly Aerospace to develop CMC rocket engine nozzle extension

Source | Firefly Aerospace

Firefly Aerospace (Cedar Park, Texas, U.S.) has been awarded a contract from the Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL) at the Edwards Air Force base in California to develop a ceramic matrix composite (CMC) nozzle extension for applications in liquid rocket engines. This material improves rocket performance by increasing launch vehicle payload capability while reducing production costs compared to industry standard metal-based nozzle extensions.

“Firefly’s expertise in carbon [fiber] composites and rocket propulsion puts us in a position to develop a composite-based nozzle extension that allow us to reduce mass on our launch vehicles and ultimately increase payload capacity for customers,” says Jason Kim, CEO of Firefly Aerospace. “As we’ve seen with Firefly’s carbon [fiber] composite barrels, domes and tanks, composites provide a cost-efficient, lightweight solution that improves performance.”

Second stage nozzle extensions have historically been produced with metals that are often heavy, expensive to manufacture, and reliant on non-domestic sources of raw material. As an alternative, CMC can offer significant cost and mass savings with higher strength at relevant temperature ranges. In fact, Firefly’s composite material solution is expected to reduce the mass of nozzle extensions by more than 50%, unlocking additional performance and payload capability. In addition, use of composite materials offers significant lead time reduction from months to weeks with domestically available materials and a rapid spin form production process.  

Firefly says it will use its its expertise to rapidly design, build and test a composite-based nozzle extension to validate the material. once developed and validated, the composite nozzle extensions will enable future responsive space applications that support U.S. national security and the larger commercial space industry. Firefly also plans to use the composite nozzle extension fabrication methods for its second stage engines, Lightning and Vira, that power Firefly’s Alpha rocket and medium launch vehicle (MLV), respectively.