NASA has chosen Firefly Aerospace, an American aerospace company, to provide launch services for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's (NOAA) QuickSounder mission under the VADR contract.

The QuickSounder mission, part of NOAA's NEON program, supports weather forecasting, disaster management, and climate monitoring. NASA will oversee satellite development and launch, while NOAA will lead funding, specifications, and post-launch operations. The mission is expected to be launch-ready by February 2026.

This partnership involves collaboration between NASA, NOAA, and commercial partners to design and construct spacecraft and instruments for the NEON network. QuickSounder is the first satellite to use this new Earth observation strategy.

Analyst QuickTake: Firefly Aerospace is increasing its Alpha rocket launch cadence with more frequent launches. In August 2024 , the company extended its collaboration with L3Harris Technologies for a second multi-launch agreement of 20 launches aboard the Alpha rocket. Firefly first partnered with L3Harris in September 2023 . Firefly Aerospace also launched its rocket with eight cubesats developed by universities and NASA facilities, in July 2024 .