Central Texas aerospace company expands to prepare for new space age

More rockets will soon be built in the Austin-area. Firefly Aerospace, an end-to-end space transportation company, think space truckers, is unveiling their newest Rocket Ranch facility today.

BRIGGS, Texas (KXAN) -- More rockets will soon be built in the Austin area. Firefly Aerospace, an end-to-end space transportation company, think space truckers, is unveiled its newest expansion to the Rocket Ranch facility on Wednesday.

"Less than a year ago. Much of the facilities that we toured today were dirt and now they are full fledged manufacturing facilities ready to produce rockets and landers and an orbiting spacecraft," said CEO Bill Weber.

The expanded facility will allow the company to produce and assemble a new rocket, the Medium Launch Vehicle, as well as test engines with 230,000 pounds of thrust. A new 100-foot test stand is part of the facility.

In addition, the facility will give the company access to a new automated fiber placement machine, allowing them to build rocket components at a faster pace as well as a new robotic powermill. This device will allow the company to rotate rockets with an 18-foot diameter.

Testing rockets in Central Texas

According to Weber, choosing Burnet County as the home for Rocket Ranch made the expansion possible. "A lot of the proximity to other industry and development here and local residents made this a really, really good location."

The facility doesn't just build rockets, it tests them as well. Doing so requires them to take extra steps to ensure the community doesn't panic.

"Let's face it, rockets make noise and, and so we want to make sure that the community understands, it's not sustaining noise and disruption. But when a rocket engine fires, you're gonna hear it and you're gonna know it," Weber said.

In 2020, a fuel leak during one of the rocket tests caused an explosion at the site. No one was injured during the accident. The new test site has water suppression systems nearby and extra space surrounding the site as a safety measure.

The new test site is designed to handle the new MLV rocket. That rocket is more than 200 feet high and is easily twice the diameter of the last generation rocket. It is expected to also be much louder.

"There's a lot that you do in terms of sound abatement and just design of the stand itself," Weber said. "If you take those steps, and you do it the right way, you can neutralize a lot of that increase in noise."

This is the latest in several expansions of the company's facilities. They've recently increased the size of their Cedar Park facility. Later this year, the company will undertake another major mission. They plan to launch their Blue Ghost lunar lander to the moon.