Noosphere Ventures presented its most innovative space projects at the 70th International Astronautical Congress in Washington

Firefly Aerospace and SETS, both part of Noosphere Ventures’ investment portfolio, presented their latest developments at the 70th International Astronautical Congress (IAC) 2019, which took place on 21-25 October in Washington, D.C.

At the Firefly Aerospace booth, the company presented its rocket launch vehicles, an orbital test apparatus designed to verify successful orbital delivery telemetry, and its newest design technology for landing a module on the Moon. Firefly Aerospace announced that in the first quarter of 2020, the Firefly Alpha launch vehicle is scheduled to take its first full-scale test flight. As announced in November 2018, NASA selected Firefly Aerospace for the Commercial Lunar Payload Services Contract with a budget of US$2.6B. In October 2019, the U.S. Air Force also selected Firefly Aerospace for delivering small and medium payloads into orbit within 12 to 24 months after receiving an order.

At the SETS booth, the company presented its latest available SPS-25 and SPS-40 propulsion systems designed for medium and large satellites. These systems are used to adjust the orbit parameters and insure the maneuverability of satellites in space.

The purpose of this year’s International Astronautical Congress was to celebrate “one giant leap for mankind”, to bring humans back to the surface of the Moon, as well as other international achievements in space exploration.

“To succeed we must come together to create a unified vision that can be realized through the effective use of our collective assets and resources,” the organizers of IAC-2019 welcomed the participants to the Congress.

The IAC is an extensive annual gathering of scientific contributors in the space exploration industry, generally held in late September or early October. The IAC congress consists of a variety of plenary sessions, lectures, and meetings to allow agency heads and senior executives of the world’s space agencies to meet and collaborate.