Jason Kim, chief executive officer of Firefly Aerospace, said on Monday, Nov. 9, 2026, that defense needs could make up approximately 25% of the new lunar services market.
Kim said military interest is shifting toward spacecraft platforms able to conduct persistent orbital surveillance, rendezvous and proximity operations, and coordinated constellation maneuvers. Rendezvous and proximity operations mean spacecraft flying close to other objects in orbit. Cislunar covers the volume between Earth and the Moon, where these maneuvers would take place.
The Department of the Air Force issued a Request for Information seeking up to five cislunar spacecraft. A Request for Information gathers industry input before a formal purchase. The spacecraft would handle tracking in deep space, orbital reconnaissance, and coordination among vehicles. Deep-space tracking means following objects far from Earth.
The Air Force aims for an initial launch capability in late 2029.
Firefly is speeding up scaled production of its Blue Ghost landers and Elytra transfer vehicles. Orbital transfer vehicles move spacecraft from one orbit to another. The company is responding to surging logistics requirements tied to the pending defense procurement.
The company is preparing to demonstrate deep-space orbital injection and lunar far-side delivery on the coming Blue Ghost Mission 2. Deep-space orbital injection puts a spacecraft on a path toward the Moon. Lunar far-side delivery means landing on the side of the Moon that faces away from Earth.
An earlier Defense Department contract covered responsive on-orbit missions using the Elytra spacecraft. Responsive on-orbit missions involve quickly moving satellites to new tasks. That work validated agile orbital repositioning during earlier defense integration efforts. Agile orbital repositioning means moving a spacecraft quickly to a different orbital position.
Companies that build spacecraft are adopting dual-use vehicle designs meant to serve NASA’s scientific transport goals and the military’s space domain awareness aims. Dual-use designs work for both civil and military missions.
Firefly is putting high-energy orbital transfer stages in place to meet Air Force operational deployment targets set to enter service by 2029. High-energy orbital transfer stages move payloads between orbits with added power.
Under NASA’s $10 billion, 10-year Commercial Lunar Payload Services 2 contract, the company joined as a vendor using an indefinite delivery/indefinite quantity model. That model lets NASA issue task orders as needs come up instead of awarding everything at once. Task orders let NASA buy specific services without running a new competition each time. Firefly can compete for task orders that advance lunar scientific, exploration, and infrastructure goals.
After its successful Moon landing, Firefly has secured four more missions under Commercial Lunar Payload Services 1. Commercial Lunar Payload Services covers NASA’s purchases of commercial lunar delivery services. The company also holds a contract to deliver NASA’s MoonFall mission. Blue Ghost Mission 1 landed on the Moon in March 2025 and finished every mission objective.
Firefly is increasing production of Blue Ghost landers and Elytra orbiters at its newly expanded clean room. The clean room can hold up to 12 spacecraft at one time. Firefly is scaling proven technologies into a bigger lander design meant to carry far more lunar cargo, surface vehicles, infrastructure, and power systems. The aim is to support a lasting human and robotic presence on the Moon.
The company bought SciTec and Space-ng and now uses proven AI software for advanced autonomous guidance and descent operations. The software also improves on-orbit data processing on every mission. Autonomous guidance lets a spacecraft steer itself without steady commands from the ground.
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