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Firefly Alpha Block 2: INCUS

expected 2027

expected 2027

—hype

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    Firefly Alpha Block 2: INCUS is expected 2027. The exact day has not been announced yet.

    Firefly Aerospace is preparing to launch INCUS on a Firefly Alpha Block 2 from Wallops Flight Facility, Virginia, USA. The Investigation of Convective Updrafts (INCUS) is a NASA Earth science mission led by Colorado State University that will investigate the behavior of tropical storms in order to better represent these storms in weather and climate models. It consists of 3 SmallSats flying in tight coordination to study why convective storms, heavy precipitation, and clouds occur exactly when and where they form. Each satellite will have a high frequency precipitation radar that observes rapid changes in convective cloud depth and intensities. 1 of the 3 satellites also will carry a microwave radiometer to provide the spatial content of the larger scale weather observed by the radars. By flying so closely together, the satellites will use the slight differences in when they make observations to apply a novel time-differencing approach to estimate the vertical transport of convective mass. Launch is expected in 2027 and no firm date has been announced yet.

    The source has announced a date range. An exact day has not been confirmed.

    Where
    United States of AmericaWallops Flight Facility, Virginia, USA

    Date source

    Launch Library 2

    Last verified Sep 17, 2026

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