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When Firefly Aerospace and Northrop Grumman joined forces, they sparked the creation of Eclipse—a medium-lift rocket that stands at the cutting edge of launch innovation. Announced in 2022 under the working name “Beta” or “MLV,” Eclipse was envisioned not just as a successor to Northrop’s Antares and Firefly’s Alpha rockets, but as a leap forward in reusability, performance, and production efficiency.

From its inception, Eclipse has been designed to bring a powerful payload capacity to low Earth orbit—an impressive 16,300 kilograms—as well as the ability to loft 3,200 kilograms to geosynchronous transfer orbits and 2,300 kilograms on lunar trajectories. The rocket’s 59-meter-tall frame, built from lightweight carbon-fiber composites, carries a sprawling 5.4-meter-diameter fairing—giving it both muscle and versatility.

The magic inside Eclipse lies in its propulsion system. The first stage supports seven Miranda engines—descendants of Firefly’s Alpha-series Reaver and Lightning family—each running on RP‑1 and liquid oxygen through a refined tap-off combustion cycle. Together, they push out over 7,160 kN of thrust with a vacuum specific impulse of 305 seconds.

Beyond raw power, Eclipse is engineered for reusability. Its first stage is built to return to the launch site after deployment—a configuration that aligns Eclipse with the reusable strategies pioneered by rockets like SpaceX’s Falcon 9 and Blue Origin’s New Glenn . Testing is already well underway, with more than sixty hot-fire tests of Miranda engines and a full 206-second mission duty cycle burn completed, matching projected flight conditions.

The blend of technologies aboard Eclipse is a deliberate fusion of legacy and innovation. The avionics system draws directly from Northrop’s flight-proven Antares platform, while the carbon-composite airframe and tap-off engine cycle are honed from Firefly’s work on Alpha. This synergy has already attracted a major vote of confidence in the form of a $50 million investment from Northrop Grumman, aimed at accelerating hardware production and qualification campaigns.

Eclipse’s versatility extends beyond the engineering lab to the launchpad. Wallops Island, Virginia’s Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport (LP‑0A) has been designated as its primary launch site, with alternate configurations ready at Vandenberg’s SLC‑2W and Cape Canaveral’s SLC‑20. What makes Eclipse particularly compelling is the market niche it fills. With a payload capacity of some 16 metric tons to LEO, it strikes a balance between heft and cost that suits emerging satellite constellations, space station supply missions, national security payloads, and science platforms alike.

For U.S. national security, the timing is right: Eclipse is lined up for consideration under the Space Force’s NSSL Phase 3 Lane 1, which prioritizes newer medium-class rockets. Behind the scenes, the factories in central Texas are humming. Firefly has doubled its production space in Briggs, Texas, to support both Antares 330 and Eclipse vehicle assembly. Mirrored in Wallops and Vandenberg, these facilities are designed for speed and scalability, with testing, machining, and composite fabrications all co-located.

Video credit: Northrop Grumman