The American company Firefly Aerospace has expanded its manufacturing campus in Texas and opened a new innovation lab. It is now preparing to begin mass production of lunar landers and orbital spacecraft.
New Campus
The expansion took place in Cedar Park, where two new buildings were added to the existing facility. Together, they form a single campus spanning over 13,300 square meters for aircraft assembly and testing, mission control, avionics and component manufacturing, and engineering and business operations.
The new campus is twice the size of the company’s previous facilities. It is located less than 50 kilometers from Rocket Ranch in Briggs, where Firefly has six test stands and more than 20,000 square meters of facilities for the development, production, and integration of launch vehicles.
Clean room and assembly line
A key part of the expansion will be a new cleanroom, funded by a grant from the Texas Space Commission. It will be four times larger than the current facility and will be used for the mass production of Blue Ghost lunar landers and Elytra orbital vehicles.
Blue Ghost has already proven its reliability. In March 2025, the spacecraft successfully landed on the Moon and carried out NASA’s scientific mission. The company now plans to turn this lander into a production-ready product capable of supporting several lunar missions per year as part of NASA’s initiative to establish a lunar base.
Gloworks Lab
A standout feature of the new campus is an innovative laboratory called Gloworks. It is designed to rapidly develop technologies in the fields of propulsion systems, carbon composites, robotics, and 3D printing.
The laboratory is equipped with 3D printers—including those designed for working with titanium—plasma cutters, equipment for manufacturing composite materials, welding machines, and automated milling machines. According to the company’s Chief Technology Officer, Shea Ferring, Gloworks is developing solutions for entirely new challenges, ranging from ensuring spacecraft survival during lunar nights to the controlled deorbiting of spent spacecraft.
Updates at Rocket Ranch
Simultaneously, the company is continuing to modernize Rocket Ranch in Briggs. Two new mezzanine levels were recently installed there, adding approximately 2,800 square meters of production and engineering space.
In addition, Firefly is upgrading its Eclipse engine test stand to enable simultaneous testing of multiple engines and increase the pace of testing. The test stand for the Alpha rocket stages is also being upgraded to simplify operations and improve the reliability of ground systems.
According to interestingengineering.com
