Firefly Aerospace Inc.

Operator: Greetings. Welcome to the Firefly Aerospace Inc. First Quarter 2026 Financial Results Conference Call. At this time, participants are in a listen-only mode. A question-and-answer session will follow the formal remarks. To ask a question during the session, you will need to press 11 on your telephone. You will then hear an automated message advising your hand is raised. To withdraw your question, please press 11 again. Please note, this conference call is being recorded. I will now turn the conference over to Michael Sheetz, Firefly Aerospace Inc.'s Director of Investor Relations. Michael, you may begin. Thank you, Operator. Michael Sheetz: Hello there, and may the fourth be with you. I am Michael Sheetz, and welcome to Firefly Aerospace Inc.'s first quarter financial results call. I am pleased to be joined on the call by CEO, Jason Kim, and CFO, Darren Ma, as we report for the period ending 03/31/2026. Today’s call will include forward-looking statements, including, but not limited to, statements the company will make about future financial and operating performance, growth strategy, and market outlook. Actual results may differ materially from those contemplated by these forward-looking statements. Factors that could cause the actual results and trends to differ materially are set forth in our annual and quarterly reports filed with the SEC. Firefly Aerospace Inc. assumes no obligation to update any forward-looking statements, which speak only as of their respective dates. Also, on this call, we will discuss both GAAP and non-GAAP financial measures. A reconciliation of GAAP to non-GAAP measures is included in the first quarter 2026 earnings release. Unless otherwise stated, financial information referenced in this call will be non-GAAP. Our earnings press release, SEC filings, and a replay of today’s call can be found on our investor website at investors.firefliespace.com. I will now turn the call over to Jason. Jason Kim: Thank you, Michael, and welcome to our first quarter 2026 earnings call. Firefly Aerospace Inc. opened the year with strong execution and increasing momentum driven by major government programs that align directly with our core capabilities. We delivered record quarterly revenue of $81 million. The acceleration of the ARTEMIS program combined with NASA’s Moon Base Initiative calls for monthly robotic lunar landings and reinforces the demand signals we have been building toward. Our early investments to scale Blue Ghost production and our milestone as the first commercial company to land on the Moon successfully position us to be a critical commercial partner as NASA expands lunar operations. With three additional missions ahead, we are already executing toward the goal. We also advanced our ocular lunar imaging service through a new partnership with NVIDIA, enabling on-orbit processing for faster, more actionable data in cislunar space. On the national security front, Firefly Aerospace Inc. subsidiary, SciTech, secured an agreement with the U.S. Space Force to support the space-based program under Golden Dome. We are concurrently delivering and proving the value of our AI-enabled data processing through the U.S. Space Force’s operational FORGE missile defense system. Within launch, the capacity-constrained market is driving increased demand for Alpha following its successful return to flight. We also completed the Victus DM responsive launch demonstration and made steady progress on our reusable Eclipse rocket in the first quarter. The pace of change in the space economy is accelerating, and Firefly Aerospace Inc. is scaling up our existing revenue-generating capabilities to meet the demand across every line of business. For those new to Firefly Aerospace Inc., we are a space and defense company delivering innovative hardware and software to perform the hardest missions in space for national security, exploration, and commercial technology. Our hardware is represented by four revenue-generating products: our Blue Ghost lunar landers, ELECTRA satellite orbiters, small-lift Alpha rockets, and medium-lift Eclipse rockets. Firefly Aerospace Inc.’s software portfolio falls under our SciTech AI-enabled defense systems, which are proven in national security operations. The industry tailwinds behind artificial intelligence and data centers are fueling operational realities for our company as we deliver crucial no-fail systems in support of the U.S. and our allies. We are meeting the U.S. government’s call for commercial investment, speed, and scale in defense and exploration. Our advanced technology products and funding of infrastructure include upgrades and expansion of Firefly Aerospace Inc.’s co-located spacecraft and rocket factories, clean rooms, and test stands, as well as our data centers and classified facilities. Now turning to our business updates. In the first quarter, we completed new milestones across each of our product lines and services. The lunar opportunity is here. Recent milestones, including the NASA Moon Base event, Artemis II successful lunar orbit, and our Blue Ghost Moon landing and surface operations, ignited the industry and the world. The Moon is now a permanent destination. NASA’s Moon Base plan represents a dramatic acceleration of the ARTEMIS program, with a detailed pathway to a regular cadence of missions to the surface and persistent support from satellites in lunar orbit. Our prior growth strategy was to extend from one Moon landing a year to multiple a year, and now we have an amplified demand signal from NASA. The agency’s objective is to provide multiple robotic landings on the Moon’s surface starting next year, as well as larger lander missions to support the required lunar infrastructure for a permanent presence. The first two phases of the NASA Moon Base architecture taking place over the next seven years represent a $20 billion program with multiple shots-on-goal opportunities for Firefly Aerospace Inc. When you combine Blue Ghost, the only commercial lander to operate successfully, with our ELECTRA spacecraft, we provide the ideal system to deliver and support many of the payloads and capabilities needed, such as navigation, orgo communications, surface observation, power infrastructure, exploration drones, rovers, cargo, and support systems for humans on the Moon. The Moon is a vastly untapped resource, and Firefly Aerospace Inc. is the tip of the spear in the routine deliveries and services that NASA needs to support a permanent presence on the Moon. Last week, we heard NASA Administrator Isaac Minh’s request at a congressional hearing to template Blue Ghost and launch with frequency. As stated earlier, we are already building towards this. In the first quarter, we made significant progress on our new clean room, which is four times the size of our existing clean room. This enables a production line of lunar landers for frequent missions. We are leveraging our vertical integration to scale up while also investing in our Blue Ghost supply chain. We are working closely with each major supplier to ensure they are ramping up with us through long-term agreements and strategic inventory in place to ensure quality, schedule, and quantities of delivery. Meanwhile, assembly of our Blue Ghost lander and ELECTRA orbiter is well underway for Blue Ghost Mission 2, and we are on track to complete assembly and payload integration this summer. We named Blue Ghost Mission 2 Riders to the Dark, as our team charges toward another historic milestone conducting the first American landing on the Moon’s far side carrying both NASA and commercial payloads. We are making progress on our additional lander contracts. With the Blue Ghost Mission 3 preliminary design review complete, which verifies the vehicle’s design to deliver payloads to the Moon’s Gruithuisen Domes, the team is now preparing to complete the critical design review for Mission 3 while also getting ready to complete the preliminary design review for Blue Ghost Mission 4 to the Moon’s South Pole. Moving to ELECTRA, we are pleased to add NVIDIA as another Firefly Aerospace Inc. partner, with our first collaboration included as part of our ocular lunar imaging service. NVIDIA’s Jetson module was embedded in the high-resolution Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory telescopes and delivered to Firefly Aerospace Inc.’s spacecraft facility for integration on our ELECTRA orbital vehicle. ELECTRA will first serve as a transfer vehicle and communications relay for Blue Ghost, and then begin our Oculus service to support advanced lunar surface mapping, mineral detection, and reconnaissance for five years in lunar orbit. Our ocular data will be rapidly processed onboard ELECTRA and autonomously transmitted back to Earth utilizing the NVIDIA Jetson module combined with Firefly Aerospace Inc.’s SciTech-enabled AI software. This allows Firefly Aerospace Inc. to mitigate downlink constraints from the Moon by processing data on orbit before it is transmitted to Earth as real-time actionable insights for government and commercial customers. Firefly Aerospace Inc.’s AI software will further enable advanced space domain awareness. Our AI algorithms and data fusion technologies are already proven in critical national security missions in Earth orbit. Our software will enable ELECTRA to leverage multiple data feeds onboard to more accurately track objects and provide timely situational awareness to space operations occurring in the cislunar domain. These capabilities are transferable to ELECTRA’s upcoming space domain awareness mission for the Defense Innovation Unit’s Sinaquon project. This mission also incorporates high-resolution Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory telescopes, just like the ones enabling our Oculus service. After completing the critical design review for the mission, the team has begun building and testing ELECTRA flight hardware. Additionally, in the first quarter, Firefly Aerospace Inc. completed critical ELECTRA test milestones for Blue Ghost Mission 2, including separation testing to demonstrate ELECTRA’s mechanisms that will deploy the European Space Agency’s Lunar Pathfinder satellite following separation from our Blue Ghost lander. This further highlights ELECTRA’s ability to operate and deploy critical high-mass payloads across cislunar space. The team also completed the initial interoperability test to ensure our ELECTRA orbiter communicates with Blue Ghost on the Moon’s far side and acts as a backup communications relay for NASA’s Lucy Knight payload. This enables NASA’s radio telescope to operate for up to two years on the surface even without direct line of sight to Earth. This relay service on ELECTRA is the pathway to our commercial offering, delivering alternative communications options that reduce blackout periods and strengthen connectivity for multiple future lunar missions for Firefly Aerospace Inc. and our customers. As we saw at the recent Space Symposium event, there is growing demand for ELECTRA’s robust capabilities combined with our AI-powered software to support dynamic space operations for national security, space exploration, and international missions. The demand includes space maneuverability to novel orbits, deorbit services for multiple spacecraft, and long-haul communications. At the symposium, U.S. Space Force Major General Purdy further emphasized the need for enhanced national security capabilities in cislunar space, including transportation, communications, and navigation systems beyond Earth orbit. Once deployed, those assets require protection and continuous monitoring, which is best done from the Moon as the ultimate high ground. Our ELECTRA vehicles are well positioned to enable these missions with high-thrust precision Spectra engines, ample fuel and payload capacity, and AI software. As General Salzman said in his April 30 congressional testimony, speed, scale, and clear demand signals are critical, and ELECTRA positions us to capture that with responsive on-orbit capability. We will continue to scale up our ELECTRA production line as demand steadily increases. Moving to our SciTech software offerings under our spacecraft business, we are pleased to be selected by the U.S. Space Force to support the space-based program under Golden Dome. In a Space Force press release just a week ago, this program was announced to develop a space-based missile defense interceptor system that will demonstrate capability integrated into the Golden Dome architecture by 2028. Space Force awarded a select group of companies, including Firefly Aerospace Inc.’s subsidiary, SciTech, with contracts totaling up to $3.2 billion. This critical program will enable next-generation space-based tracking and advanced interceptors integrated with artificial intelligence to counter the speed, maneuverability, and lethality of threats. As the prime contractor, we continue to execute on the operational U.S. Space Force FORGE system, providing a modernized AI-enabled missile warning and tracking architecture. We are rapidly processing vast amounts of data from satellites across all orbits, from LEO to MEO to GEO, to deliver high-quality mission-critical information to our warfighters to defend against threats. After the Space Force operationally accepted our FORGE system last year, in the first quarter we were awarded a $109 million engineering change proposal to accelerate and expand data center delivery. This critical system processed thousands of threats in the first 30 days of the Iran conflict to help protect the warfighters. The team further completed the interim ground readiness review for the Space Development Agency as part of our role in delivering the mission and data fusion ground components for the Proliferated Warfighter Space Architecture satellite constellation Tranche 1 Tracking Layer. More recently, the Air Force Research Laboratory awarded us a contract to support development of the advanced algorithm R&D and verification architecture by implementing deep learning and advanced AI algorithms on small size, weight, and power processors. This capability supports enhanced target detection, tracking, and custody and is conducive to future on-orbit processing missions. Last week, we also heard Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff General Kane underscore in a congressional hearing the urgent need for critical investments in space-based command and control, artificial intelligence, advanced surveillance, and reconnaissance. This capability counters modern multi-domain threats, where operations are coordinated and synchronized across air, land, sea, space, and cyber domains. Our proven AI software and on-orbit processing capabilities are well positioned to support these multi-domain operations. Shifting to launch, in March Alpha Flight 7 successfully returned to flight and completed all mission objectives after deploying a Lockheed Martin demonstrator payload and validating key Block 2 subsystems. Additionally, in the first quarter, Firefly Aerospace Inc. supported Lockheed Martin on the U.S. Space Force’s Victus DM mission, performing two responsive space exercises to practice advanced emergency launch protocols required in a real threat scenario. Victus DM marks the second tactically responsive space effort that Firefly Aerospace Inc. completed to date after our record-setting Victus Nox mission, which launched with a 24-hour notice. The first Victus DM exercise included a rapid payload process demonstration where spacecraft arrival, operations checkouts, mating, and encapsulation were completed in under 12 hours. The second exercise included a 36-hour rapid launch simulation to practice and advance emergency launch protocols required to execute tactically responsive space missions in a real threat scenario. We are now focused on delivering our first Block 2 vehicle, which will debut on Flight 8 that is targeted to launch late this summer. Block 2 is designed to expand Alpha’s deployable launch capabilities for critical responsive space missions, such as hypersonic testing, national security missions, and commercial satellite launches for domestic and international customers. Firefly Aerospace Inc. completed qualification testing for the first- and second-stage tanks for Flight 8 and moved into the integration and test phase as we progress toward launch. The significant improvements across Alpha from Block 2 focus on enhancing reliability and production rate as part of our company culture of safety, quality, and reliability. And we are working ahead. We have structures and engines in build for Flights 9, 10, and beyond, rolling off our automated fiber placement machine and into assembly, as we continue to target three more Alpha launches in 2026. For our 2027 manifest and beyond, we talked to both new and repeat customers at Space Symposium this year and see strong interest in Alpha on the heels of our successful Flight 7 launch. As we look to the future, we are pleased to see the recent Swedish defense budget allocating tens of millions to invest in orbital launch infrastructure. Our international partners want to bring Alpha to market in Sweden, as well as other allied countries. To meet the growing demand for satellite launch capabilities around the globe, this approach allows us to not only increase our launch cadence, but also open new markets, add resiliency to our launch sites, and provide a national security advantage. Firefly Aerospace Inc. also recently signed an agreement with Seagate Space to collaborate on the development of an offshore launch platform that enables responsive sea-based Alpha launches. Together, we will work to mature the design of an integrated offshore launch system capable of supporting the unique requirements of liquid-fueled orbital rockets. These capabilities are in alignment with the Space Force demands for flexible infrastructure to accommodate responsive small launchers and eliminate single points of failure. In the Spaceport of the Future report, they have called for flexible manifesting, rapid integration, and launch-to-orbit timelines of 24 hours or less for designated payloads, which we have proven on Victus Nox. Everything we learned from building, testing, and launching our Alpha rockets allows us to improve and reduce risk for Eclipse. Our reusable medium-lift vehicle is marching towards its debut, while the need for more launch capacity from more providers is growing. All the major flight articles for our first Eclipse vehicles are in build and test, including our Miranda flight engines. In the first quarter, we completed qualification of the Eclipse interstage, a critical primary structure that connects the first stage to the second stage, as well as the liquid oxygen transfer line and the composite overwrap pressure vessels. More recently, we are progressing through the test campaign on Eclipse’s first-stage tanks, which tower nearly 100 feet tall. This risk-reduction testing allows us to push the tanks beyond their limits to verify flight margins. With that business summary, I will turn it over to Darren for a review of the first quarter financials. Darren Ma: Thank you, Jason, and good afternoon, everyone. We delivered record Q1 revenue driven by strong business fundamentals. As Jason highlighted, we have multiple growth drivers in place, which gives us confidence in achieving our long-term objectives. On today’s call, I am going to review the financial results of first quarter 2026 before handing the call back to Jason for closing remarks. For listeners new to Firefly Aerospace Inc., I want to reemphasize that key operational metrics drive our financial performance. In our spacecraft solutions business, we generally recognize revenue over time under each contract as we complete milestones. This adds a more predictable, recurring revenue component alongside the more event-driven launch business. For the launch business, we focus on the number of launches; for example, revenue for our operational Alpha vehicle is recognized at a point in time when the launch occurs. For Eclipse, while in development, we recognize revenue as a percentage of completion based on program milestones as part of the Northrop Grumman partnership. Once the Eclipse vehicle is operational, we will recognize revenue in the same manner as Alpha, when launches occur. Now turning to our first quarter results. We delivered the highest quarter of revenue in the company’s history, at $80.9 million. This compares with $57.7 million in the fourth quarter and $55.9 million in the same quarter a year ago. The sequential revenue growth was driven by the ramp of the FORGE and Golden Dome space-based interceptor programs, a full quarter of SciTech, and the successful Alpha launch. Within our total revenue, spacecraft solutions accounted for $67.6 million, and launch was $13.3 million. We ended the first quarter with a total backlog of approximately $1.3 billion, relatively flat from last quarter, reflecting the conversion of backlog to revenue and timing of new awards. As Jason mentioned earlier, we are excited about the industry tailwinds, including NASA opportunities for Blue Ghost, customer demand for Alpha, additional missions for ELECTRA, and increasing demand for our AI software solutions. Our position in the market and these sector catalysts provide Firefly Aerospace Inc. with confidence in our long-term revenue growth trajectory. First quarter GAAP gross margin was 21.6%, compared with 27.7% in the prior quarter. The change was primarily due to a higher mix of cost-plus program contracts driving revenue. GAAP operating expenses for the first quarter were $113.1 million, compared with $101.6 million in the fourth quarter. The increase was primarily from the inclusion of SciTech’s operating expenses for the full quarter and our continued R&D investments. For operating expenses, the primary differences between GAAP and non-GAAP measures are stock-based compensation expense, one-time transaction-related expenses, and the amortization of intangibles. Non-GAAP operating expenses for the first quarter were $93.7 million, compared with $80.5 million in the fourth quarter. The sequential increase was driven by our continued R&D investments to support Alpha Block 2 production ramp and Eclipse development. GAAP operating loss was $95.7 million, compared with a loss of $85.6 million in the fourth quarter. Non-GAAP operating loss was $76.2 million, compared with a loss of $64.5 million in the fourth quarter. GAAP net loss in the first quarter was $96.7 million, compared with a loss of $41.1 million in the fourth quarter. As a reminder, we recognized a one-time $37.1 million tax benefit related to the SciTech acquisition and a one-time $8.4 million gain on settlement of contingent liabilities in Q4. Our non-GAAP net loss in the first quarter was $74 million. This compares with a net loss of $58.5 million in the prior quarter. GAAP basic and diluted net loss per share was $0.61, compared with a loss of $0.26 last quarter. Non-GAAP basic and diluted net loss per share for the first quarter was $0.46, compared with a loss of $0.38 last quarter. We exited Q1 with a share count of 160.1 million shares. We expect our total share count to increase by about 1 million shares per quarter. Stock-based compensation expense was $12.5 million in the first quarter, compared to $12.6 million in the prior quarter. Adjusted EBITDA in the first quarter was a loss of $64.7 million, compared with a loss of $57.3 million in the fourth quarter. Turning to our balance sheet, we ended the quarter with total liquidity of $811.6 million, consisting of $551.6 million in cash, cash equivalents, and short-term investments and $260 million of available capacity from our revolving credit facility. After the close of the quarter, we upsized the capacity of our credit facility to $305 million, which remains undrawn. Capital expenditures in the first quarter were $16.3 million, compared with $12.1 million in the fourth quarter. The sequential increase was driven by test and upgrades to support Alpha Block 2 production and spacecraft manufacturing expansion that positions us to support NASA’s accelerated lunar opportunities. Free cash flow was an outflow of $78.9 million, compared with an outflow of $79.3 million in the fourth quarter. As a reminder, in the second quarter, we will have the final SciTech acquisition-related payment of approximately $24 million reflected in our cash flow. Now turning to our revenue outlook for 2026. With continued strength across our business, we remain confident in our trajectory to achieve significant annual revenue growth this year and are reiterating our outlook of $420 million to $450 million, consistent with what we gave on the March call. Thank you for your interest in Firefly Aerospace Inc. With that, I will turn the call back to Jason for his closing remarks. Jason Kim: Thank you, Darren. The first quarter proved what we have been building toward: Firefly Aerospace Inc. is not just participating in the space economy, we are shaping it. This is a defining moment in our industry. From our Moon landing to missile defense systems, from responsive launch to AI-powered space domain awareness, we are delivering the integrated capabilities that define the future of space exploration and defense operations. NASA is accelerating. The Space Force is investing. Our allies are mobilizing. Firefly Aerospace Inc. stands ready, with mission-proven hardware in production, battle-tested software in operation, and our team of Fireflies innovating and executing at pace. We stand at the threshold of a new era, where what was once impossible becomes inevitable. Firefly Aerospace Inc. has the end-to-end ecosystem to make it happen. Thank you for joining today’s call. Michael Sheetz: Thank you, Jason. Operator, we are ready to take questions. We will now open the call for questions. Operator: Thank you so much. Please press 11 and wait for your name to be announced. To remove yourself, press 11 again. One moment for our first question. It comes from the line of Sheila Kahyaoglu with Jefferies. Please proceed. Sheila Kahyaoglu: Good afternoon, and thank you so much for the time. This morning, you announced SciTech won a key position among 12 total companies on Space Force’s space-based interceptor program. Can you maybe elaborate on that win a little bit more, your positioning there, and how SciTech accelerates the growth profile of Firefly Aerospace Inc.? Jason Kim: Thanks, Sheila. I will go back to what we have said before on previous earnings calls: Firefly Aerospace Inc. had multiple shots on goal for Golden Dome. We have referenced that a lot of the capabilities that SciTech has in battle-tested AI development on the FORGE program, which went operational last September, have seen a lot in real operations, particularly in Iran. A lot of the battle-tested algorithms are very transferable to other programs like Golden Dome. And if you remember what General Gulmein has said before, one of the hardest parts of such an architecture of this magnitude and complexity is the command and control and the fire control, the ground processing. Because SciTech is battle-tested and has exercised AI in no-fail missions in real-world operations, all those algorithms are transferable to Golden Dome as well. And then, as you know, our Alpha rocket is able to take 1 ton to orbit as well as 2 tons to suborbital, so it makes it really right-sized to launch hypersonic tests, potentially targets, for things like space-based interceptor. So there are multiple shots that we have on goal. Sheila Kahyaoglu: Great. Thank you for that. And maybe, Jason, you called out in the slides you expect a $20 billion opportunity for the initial phases of the Artemis Moon Base Program over the next seven years, based on monthly missions and large landers. What are you hearing from the customer on that, and can you talk about your operational readiness in support of that type of cadence? Jason Kim: Yes. The bold thinking that we heard from NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman recently since he released the Moon Base plans by NASA is the exact type of thinking that we embrace at Firefly Aerospace Inc. We were already thinking ahead and already building out our clean rooms and our production line capabilities to support not just one lunar lander a year, but multiple. This just further validates or amplifies the demand signal. When you look at having a permanent presence on the Moon, you have to validate a lot of technologies to understand the Moon better, to support human environmental control life support systems on the Moon, take cargo to the Moon, as well as have mobility such as rovers and light terrain vehicles. All those things are what we are working on with landers that can be templated into production-line landers so that we can address the frequency that is being demanded by NASA to take those types of technologies. One of the things that we are doing is we have quadrupled our clean room space compared to our existing clean room. That floor space and footprint help us with the rate. With our new Chief Operating Officer, Ramon Sanchez, who came in the fourth quarter of last year, he has brought a lot of best practices and expertise of production flow and labor and equipment utilization. That is helping us with ramping up production lines. We are vertically integrated as well, so one of the things that is important for rating up lunar landers is having the hardware put together and having the components. We build the avionics, we build the harnesses, carbon composites, and structures. We also are investing in some of our supply chain of our critical components. We are working closely with our supply chain in terms of having their dedicated support as well as strategic inventory and quality. Safety, quality, and reliability are really important to us. That is our focus as well. At the end of the day, it is about increasing the frequency of launch of these lunar landers, also building bigger lunar landers that we have designs for, and ensuring the probability of mission success just like we did on Blue Ghost Mission 1. Operator: Thank you. Our next question comes from the line of Seth Seifman with JPMorgan. Please proceed. Seth Seifman: Hey, thanks very much, and good afternoon. I wanted to follow up quickly on the space-based interceptor award for SciTech and just understand in terms of how they fit in, how you see the ground station role ramping up. What specifically does the infrastructure that SciTech has now— is that what would be used to support a space-based interceptor as part of Golden Dome? Is it something that would require the build-out of new infrastructure? If you can help us think in a little bit more detailed way what that involves, and where we saw there were several contracts that went out to different companies to work on it, are there other competitors who are potentially playing the same role here? Jason Kim: Hey, Seth. I think I mentioned in the fourth quarter of last year that SciTech, the acquisition of SciTech, was strategic, and it truly is. It really bolstered Firefly Aerospace Inc.’s entrance into national security, and in particular SciTech is the prime contractor on FORGE. That is a multi-hundred-million-dollar program of record. It is doing AI today in real-world operations. If you remember what General Gutlein said about Golden Dome, he is looking to defeat or stay ahead of the threats that have speed and maneuverability as well as lethality. One of the things that counters that is AI and the use of AI. Because SciTech has that capability as well as a rich history of 45 years of algorithms that also have been used to support the Space Force and the Air Force and the Missile Defense Agency, all of those battle-tested operational algorithms are also brought to bear for things like Golden Dome ground processing. With the AI processing, you can speed up the timelines because the threats are very advanced. In terms of the capabilities that SciTech has, they can mix and match a lot of those algorithms together to apply to this mission. Seth Seifman: And then just in terms of the overall contribution that they had in the quarter, is that something that you guys can disclose? Darren Ma: We have not broken it out separately, but FORGE and Golden Dome space-based have had revenue ramp up in Q1 this quarter. Seth Seifman: Very good. Thanks very much. Operator: Our next question comes from the line of Kristine Liwag with Morgan Stanley. Please proceed. Kristine Liwag: I wanted to follow up on your comments about Alpha after Flight 7’s success. You called out stronger customer demand, but backlog is relatively flat in the quarter. Does that mean that you anticipate orders that occurred after the quarter closed? And how should we think about the order trends for the year? Jason Kim: Hi, Kristine. Yes, we are seeing strong interest in Alpha on the heels of the successful Alpha Flight 7 Stairway to Seven mission. We completed all the post-data; everything was nominal. I was in the Mission Control Room with our team, and it was a flawless launch. It was with a Lockheed Martin demonstrator as well. We were able to insert that into the proper orbit. We even had our relight of the second stage. A lot of the transition to Block 2—a lot of the components and technologies that are going to help us with manufacturability and reliability on Block 2—were tested on Flight 7, to include the in-house avionics, the in-house batteries, and some temperature protection systems. We are very happy with those results. Because of that, at Space Symposium there was a lot of interest with existing customers as well as new customers. It is a matter of timing. A lot of our government customers, as you know, are going through some timing with their funding, as well as we had a lot of interactions with new customers as well. I will pass it on to Darren in terms of any additional color. Darren Ma: I think you covered it, Jason. Also keep in mind, we burned down the backlog this quarter with the record revenue quarter as well. Kristine Liwag: Great. Super helpful. And if I could pivot to the Moon opportunities. With NASA potentially skipping Artemis and going straight to the Moon, Blue Ghost’s capability set is really unique there with your successful landing as the first commercial company to have done so. But as you start seeing other companies accelerate their human landing systems capabilities and a much higher volume of potential payload that could reach the Moon, how do you think about where Blue Ghost lives in the construct when you have higher volume available too? Where does it live in that ecosystem, and how do we think about the longer-term opportunity for Blue Ghost? I think, Jason, you called out that you are also looking at a higher payload lander in the future. Jason Kim: Yes. In terms of our Blue Ghost line, we have designs for larger landers. A lot of the underlying technologies that made us successfully land and perform the 14 days of surface operations on Blue Ghost Mission 1 are transferable to our larger lander designs as well. If you go back to the NASA budgets, the CLPS 1.0 program, which is a highly successful program, has increased its budget from $2.6 billion to $4.2 billion. The anticipated CLPS 2.0 program is going to be around $6 billion. When you look at post-2030 landings, there are at least three 500-kilogram-to-lunar-surface CLPS missions, then there are twelve 3-ton mass-to-lunar-surface missions as well, and the remaining 15 are around 8 tons of mass to the lunar surface. Those are all in our roadmap. In fact, our larger lunar lander designs are scalable to meet that demand. It is not just the frequency of launch cadence of these lunar landers that NASA is asking for; it is also the magnitude, or the size, of these lunar landers that are increasing. Because we have a lot of capabilities that share common vertically integrated components such as carbon composites and engine technology as well as avionics—we build big things at this company. Our Alpha rocket is 100 feet tall, and our Eclipse rocket is 200 feet tall. So building a larger lander is right up our alley. Kristine Liwag: Great. Super helpful. And when do you think you could see these demand signals firm up into contracts? Jason Kim: We are seeing a lot of requests already, Kristine. There are things like CLPS 2, Moonfall, and CS-8, and CLPS 2.0. The majority of these are already solicitations that are out. If NASA stays on schedule, performers can get on contract as early as the third quarter of this year for some of these. Kristine Liwag: Great. Thank you for the color. Operator: Our next question comes from Edison Yu with Deutsche Bank. Please proceed. Edison Yu: Hey. This is Laura on for Edison. Thanks for taking our question. I want to ask about more broadly how we should think about the role of AI across your business today. Given your recently announced NVIDIA collaboration and also the R&D contract you were awarded, should we be thinking AI is primarily supporting SciTech’s software, or do you also see it becoming increasingly important for the spacecraft, autonomy, etc.? Jason Kim: You are exactly right, Laura, that we see AI as critically important to space. One of the visions that we have is we want to deploy on-orbit processing more and more. That is what makes the SciTech acquisition so strategic in the fourth quarter last year: we were thinking ahead, and SciTech’s software is operational on the ground today with big data centers to do no-fail Space Force missions and programs of record. They also have experience operationally performing on-orbit processing in space. That is one of the things that we envision at Firefly Aerospace Inc.—we have the whole ecosystem to launch satellites, build the satellites, operate the satellites with processing onboard with the SciTech algorithms to perform AI and processing with low latency, because a lot of these missions that we are going after, especially in national security, have very short timelines to be effective. Our recent partnership news with NVIDIA around the Moon on our Oculus service to do space domain awareness more quickly using AI and SciTech algorithms is a perfect example of taking things that work on the ground or in low Earth orbit and deploying them to the Moon because the Moon is the ultimate high ground. We see more and more deployment of AI on orbit. In addition, AI is being used across the company to increase productivity. We see it not only in the products that we provide but also in how we do work as well. Operator: As a reminder, to ask a question, simply press 11. Our next question comes from the line of Sujeeva De Silva with ROTH Capital. Please proceed. Sujeeva De Silva: Hi, Jason. Hi, Darren. Congratulations on the progress here. Following up on the Alpha discussions you have had at Space Symposium and others, given your strong government defense relationships, do we expect the launches in the future manifest to remain primarily government, or do you think you will diversify into civil or commercial? Obviously, there is strong demand from government, but wondering if it will be an effort on your part to diversify that or that should not be the expectation. Jason Kim: Hi, Sujeeva. Demand is not the problem with Alpha. We are steadily increasing rate year to year because there is so much demand from national security as well as commercial and civil. In terms of the benefits of the Alpha rocket—being a 1-ton-to-orbit capability and a 2-ton-to-suborbital capability, as well as having the responsive launch capability like we demonstrated on Victus Nox and recently with Victus DM—that really is very fit for national security purposes. If you think about national security, if there was a conflict, especially a near-peer conflict, one of the things that would be vulnerable are our launch sites. We have a deployable Alpha capability that we would like to field. With that capability, you could get resiliency through having a deployed capability in case any of the U.S. launch capabilities are inoperable. We are opening up a launch pad in Sweden, and that is the first time that we are going to take Alpha global. With our deployable launch system, we could take it to other places. Having the resiliency tied to the 1-ton capability that is right-sized to counter threats that U.S. adversaries might put into low Earth orbit, in addition to the 24-hour response timeline that we demonstrated on Victus Nox, is a combination that really supports national security very well. Sujeeva De Silva: Great. Thanks, Jason. And then my other question is on ELECTRA. With the first launch of the lunar satellite with the second Blue Ghost, can you remind us of the revenue model framework for ELECTRA—whether you can start revenue with that launch—and does the NVIDIA partnership enhance your pricing or revenue opportunity above and beyond what it was before? Darren Ma: Hey, Sujeeva. The ELECTRA that is on Blue Ghost Mission 2 is recognized as part of the entire contract. Blue Ghost Mission 2, we won it for $130 million. We have a number of commercial payloads on there, including a rover from the UAE and a couple of other commercial payloads that are add-ons on top of that. The Oculus imaging service is another add-on on top of that as well. That is all being recognized over time, as we discussed on the call. Sujeeva De Silva: Great. And, Darren, does the NVIDIA partnership enhance your ability to capture revenue in Oculus? Jason Kim: That is definitely part of the Oculus imaging service. The way to look at this is Oculus on Blue Ghost Mission 2—we are going to be able to experiment and try out different modes. Not only are we going to be able to send the raw data from doing lunar mapping and surveying, as well as sending space domain awareness data down to the ground to get processed even more, we are going to be able to demonstrate and experiment with AI on our NVIDIA module that is on the Oculus sensor using SciTech algorithms. There is going to be a lot of new discovery, and those are the kinds of things that the Department of Defense as well as NASA are looking for more of. There is more to come there. Operator: Our last question comes from Analyst with KeyBanc Capital Markets. Please proceed. Analyst: Hey, thanks for taking my question. It is Liam on for Mike today. I wanted to ask more broadly about NASA’s lunar plans and building a base on the Moon. What do you think would be the most feasible type of power generation to power the grid for lunar operations? What type of role could Firefly Aerospace Inc. play in powering the lunar grid? Jason Kim: I will go back to Blue Ghost Mission 1. When we successfully landed, we performed the 14 days of surface operations, which is the longest of any commercial mission on the surface of the Moon. We also had an engineering change proposal to look at operating slightly into the lunar night. Using our in-house batteries, we were able to operate five hours into the lunar night and still gather data from that. One of the things we can do in the future is add more batteries as we collect solar energy from our solar arrays. That will allow us to keep heating critical components like avionics and instruments on the lunar lander to last longer into the lunar night. We could also scale our solar energy as well. That is something that we have proven with Blue Ghost Mission 1. There are other opportunities like radioisotope heater units (RHUs). As you remember from the Mars missions, there are also other types of RTGs that can be used. Nuclear-powered plants can be used as well. Those are all things that NASA will want to explore more of because the essential things that you need to have a permanent presence on the Moon are things like power, communications, and navigation, and those are all things that Firefly Aerospace Inc. envisions continuing to support NASA with. Analyst: Thanks. And then lastly, on Blue Ghost, given NASA’s increased appetite for landers versus three months ago, how should we think about segment gross margins once mission cadence ramps up? Has there been any change to your view on Blue Ghost margins? Darren Ma: We have not— the only thing that has really changed there is in the program. Previously, we were planning to win multiple shots on goal each year, but now that has really accelerated. Our views on gross margin there have not really changed. We do not break out the spacecraft gross margin. Spacecraft solutions include Blue Ghost, ELECTRA, and also our software solutions business. Operator: Thank you. This will conclude our Q&A session. I will pass the call back to Michael for closing comments. Michael Sheetz: Thank you, everyone, for attending today’s call. We look forward to speaking with you again when we report our next quarter’s financial results. Thanks all. Operator: This concludes our conference. Thank you for participating, and you may now disconnect.