ECLIPSE™

An evolutionary successor to the Antares launch vehicle

ECLIPSE™
Eclipse rocket diagram

ECLIPSE

Firefly Aerospace and Northrop Grumman are co-developing Eclipse, a new medium launch vehicle that combines the best flight-proven technologies, systems, and mission experience from both companies.

Key Benefits:

  • Fills a void in the underserved medium-lift market.
  • Supports commercial, civil, national security, and international launch markets. 
  • Delivers to customers' preferred orbits with competitive pricing.
  • Lower cost and increased performance.
  • Provides greater launch schedule availability from Wallops Island.

Eclipse is an evolutionary successor to the Antares launch vehicle, offering a significant leap in power, performance, and payload capacity.

Built on the Success of the Antares and Alpha

Eclipse is an evolutionary successor to the Northrop Grumman Antares launch vehicle, offering a significant leap in power, performance, and payload capacity. The vehicle retains many flight-proven systems from the Antares program with additional upgrades, including a more powerful vacuum-based liquid second stage and an industry-standard 5.4 meter-class fairing that’s customizable to support multiple customer requirements. Eclipse also uses technologies from Firefly’s flight-proven Alpha vehicle, including patented tap-off cycle propulsion technology and carbon composite sandwich structures to reduce mass and costs, and improve strength and reliability.

About Antares Rocket about About Alpha about

Eclipse in the News

Northrop Grumman Invests 50 Million in Firefly Aerospace to Advance Eclipse Medium Launch Vehicle

Northrop Grumman Invests $50 Million in Firefly Aerospace to Advance Eclipse™ Medium Launch Vehicle

video announcement

Video: Rocket Engine Hot Fire!

Medium Launch Vehicle taking off from launch pad

Northrop Grumman Teams with Firefly Aerospace to Develop Antares Rocket Upgrade and New Medium Launch Vehicle

rocket engine test with green flames shooting out

Firefly Aerospace Completes First Miranda Engine Hot Fire Test

(fireflyspace.com)

rocket engine test with flames shooting out

Firefly Aerospace Completes Risk Reduction Testing for Critical Miranda Engine Components

(fireflyspace.com)

Media Inquiries

Northrop Grumman
Gabrielle Lemmon
(410) 993-7371

Business Development

Northrop Grumman
Nicole Jordan
(425) 306-6499

Firefly Aerospace
Aaron Prescott
(202) 834-8312