Lockheed Martin, Firefly and Seagate team up to launch satellites from the sea

Lockheed Martin, Firefly Aerospace, and Seagate have announced a partnership to develop a sea-based satellite launch capability, potentially offering flexible orbital insertion for defense and commercial payloads. A maritime launch platform would provide geographic flexibility unavailable from fixed land-based sites, enabling launches from equatorial or high-inclination trajectories on short notice. For defense applications, sea-launch capability could support rapid replenishment of critical satellite constellations following hostile action in orbit. The partnership marks a novel convergence of defense prime, launch vehicle, and data storage expertise.