Author Topic: Astra Space  (Read 405698 times)

Offline TrevorMonty

Re: Astra Space
« Reply #820 on: 08/29/2022 08:24 pm »
https://astra.com/news/astra-announces-airbus-oneweb-satellites/

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ASTRA ANNOUNCES SPACECRAFT ENGINE CONTRACT WITH AIRBUS ONEWEB SATELLITES
AUGUST 29, 2022


ALAMEDA, CA — August 29, 2022. Astra Space, Inc. (“Astra”) (Nasdaq: ASTR), a provider of space products and launch services to the global space industry, today announced that it has been selected by Airbus OneWeb Satellites, LLC (“AOS”) to supply the Astra Spacecraft Engine for integration into the portfolio of Arrow commercial small satellites manufactured by AOS.

Airbus OneWeb Satellites LLC is a joint venture between Airbus and OneWeb. AOS manufactures satellites for the OneWeb commercial constellation and Airbus customers in Merritt Island, Florida. AOS is producing satellites for Airbus U.S. Space & Defense, Inc., in support of U.S. government programs.
Thats good news but I don't think revenue is enough to support outgoings on LV development.
« Last Edit: 08/30/2022 07:06 pm by zubenelgenubi »

Offline FutureSpaceTourist

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Re: Astra Space
« Reply #821 on: 09/01/2022 04:31 pm »
https://twitter.com/astra/status/1565376265141440517

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Testing engines for our new launch system. #AdAstra
« Last Edit: 09/01/2022 04:31 pm by FutureSpaceTourist »

Offline edzieba

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Re: Astra Space
« Reply #822 on: 09/01/2022 06:00 pm »
https://twitter.com/astra/status/1565376265141440517

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Testing engines for our new launch system. #AdAstra
Well that's funny. That sure does look like a Reaver (as expected), but that does not appear to be any of the stands at Firefly's Briggs test site. I also can't find any stands at Stennis with that distinctive stepped barrier.

Offline lrk

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Re: Astra Space
« Reply #823 on: 09/01/2022 07:26 pm »
Clearly not in their existing indoor test facility, but could they have set up a new test stand by the runway at the old Alameda naval base?  They test fired complete Rocket 3 stages there, and a single Rocket 4 engine would be a comparable level of thrust.

Offline Ronsmytheiii

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Re: Astra Space
« Reply #824 on: 09/01/2022 10:34 pm »
https://twitter.com/astra/status/1565376265141440517

Quote
Testing engines for our new launch system. #AdAstra
Well that's funny. That sure does look like a Reaver (as expected), but that does not appear to be any of the stands at Firefly's Briggs test site. I also can't find any stands at Stennis with that distinctive stepped barrier.

Just as an aside to the static fire video they showed during the investor day presentation. It was mentioned that they built a static fire stand of their own to test the new engine. I was looking around and it looks like they set up shop outside castle airport in Atwater CA. Specifically 2500 Test cell which, based on google maps photos, is identical to the pictures they showed in the presentation. Additionally, In the last image you can see some planes in the background that can also be seen behind the stand on google maps. 

Astra has also done Rocket 3 static fires at castle airport before.

tinyurl.com/mrsp4spd

Offline Gliderflyer

Re: Astra Space
« Reply #825 on: 09/02/2022 01:52 am »
Bing maps continues their trend of having more recent pictures than Google maps
I tried it at home

Offline Steven Pietrobon

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Re: Astra Space
« Reply #826 on: 09/02/2022 10:35 am »
Looked a bit engine rich at the end of the burn.
Akin's Laws of Spacecraft Design #1:  Engineering is done with numbers.  Analysis without numbers is only an opinion.

Offline Robotbeat

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Re: Astra Space
« Reply #827 on: 09/02/2022 04:06 pm »
Not bad, though, and just during shutdown.
Chris  Whoever loves correction loves knowledge, but he who hates reproof is stupid.

To the maximum extent practicable, the Federal Government shall plan missions to accommodate the space transportation services capabilities of United States commercial providers. US law http://goo.gl/YZYNt0

Online sentinelnorth

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Re: Astra Space
« Reply #828 on: 09/02/2022 10:07 pm »
That looks to me like TEA-TEB burnoff at shutdown. You can see the green flash at ignition as well. This makes sense given that it looks to be a close derivative of Firefly's Reaver, which also uses TEA-TEB.

Offline Robotbeat

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Re: Astra Space
« Reply #829 on: 09/02/2022 10:11 pm »
That looks to me like TEA-TEB burnoff at shutdown. You can see the green flash at ignition as well. This makes sense given that it looks to be a close derivative of Firefly's Reaver, which also uses TEA-TEB.
Makes perfect sense at the beginning but not at all at the end.
Chris  Whoever loves correction loves knowledge, but he who hates reproof is stupid.

To the maximum extent practicable, the Federal Government shall plan missions to accommodate the space transportation services capabilities of United States commercial providers. US law http://goo.gl/YZYNt0

Online sentinelnorth

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Re: Astra Space
« Reply #830 on: 09/02/2022 11:26 pm »
That looks to me like TEA-TEB burnoff at shutdown. You can see the green flash at ignition as well. This makes sense given that it looks to be a close derivative of Firefly's Reaver, which also uses TEA-TEB.
Makes perfect sense at the beginning but not at all at the end.

TEA-TEB flashes can happen at the end of burn for a variety of reasons. See, for example, this F9 landing. There's two green flashes post-landing; note the one right as Merlin shuts down.


Re: Astra Space
« Reply #831 on: 09/02/2022 11:26 pm »
That looks to me like TEA-TEB burnoff at shutdown. You can see the green flash at ignition as well. This makes sense given that it looks to be a close derivative of Firefly's Reaver, which also uses TEA-TEB.
Makes perfect sense at the beginning but not at all at the end.

Perhaps they want to burn off the rest of the highly toxic TEA-TEB rather than have personnel handle it again, but don't want to effect their test results much, so they burn it off at the end?
Wait, ∆V? This site will accept the ∆ symbol? How many times have I written out the word "delta" for no reason?

Offline Gliderflyer

Re: Astra Space
« Reply #832 on: 09/02/2022 11:35 pm »
That looks to me like TEA-TEB burnoff at shutdown. You can see the green flash at ignition as well. This makes sense given that it looks to be a close derivative of Firefly's Reaver, which also uses TEA-TEB.
Makes perfect sense at the beginning but not at all at the end.
Firefly's tests have green at the end too. TEA TEB tends to linger, so purging everything out at shutdown makes sense.

« Last Edit: 09/02/2022 11:35 pm by Gliderflyer »
I tried it at home

Offline Steven Pietrobon

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Re: Astra Space
« Reply #833 on: 09/03/2022 05:33 am »
TEA-TEB flashes can happen at the end of burn for a variety of reasons. See, for example, this F9 landing. There's two green flashes post-landing; note the one right as Merlin shuts down.

Only the centre engine is used for landing. We see green from either side of the centre engine, indicating a TEA-TEB dump from most likely the two outer engines used for the re-entry burn. Not sure why Firely would want to dump TEA-TEB at the end of the burn.
Akin's Laws of Spacecraft Design #1:  Engineering is done with numbers.  Analysis without numbers is only an opinion.

Offline Celeste_El

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Re: Astra Space
« Reply #834 on: 09/03/2022 10:33 pm »
They posted the test with a second camera angle on their Instagram.
https://www.instagram.com/reel/Ch-IlMgpXGD/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link
« Last Edit: 09/03/2022 10:35 pm by Celeste_El »

Offline TrevorMonty

Re: Astra Space
« Reply #835 on: 09/04/2022 10:36 am »

Astra trading at <$1.00 a share and what it means for company.
They have about year before being delisted from stock exchange. This video explains process and their options. Of cause their business could turn around and price pick up.



This is explanation of Reverse Split.
https://www.investopedia.com/terms/r/reversesplit.asp

Basically 2×$1.00 shares become 1x$2.00 share. Doesn't mean the new share's price won't drop below $1.00.







Offline Celeste_El

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Re: Astra Space
« Reply #836 on: 09/14/2022 12:42 am »
Astra hired Doug Kunzman as the head of Test and Launch Engineering and Operations (a mouthful of a title) . Doug has a long history working for the Navy serving as the commanding officer of Lake Erie and later Regional Support for the Northwest. He also did a quick 2 year stint as the Director of New Shepard Operations and Maintenance as Blue. Bad timing to hire someone from the New Shepard program lol. Either way, aerospace and military connections are never a bad thing.
https://twitter.com/Astra/status/1569747234031542272
« Last Edit: 09/14/2022 01:01 am by Celeste_El »

Offline Celeste_El

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Re: Astra Space
« Reply #837 on: 09/14/2022 12:58 am »
In less happy news. It looks like 3 people have been removed from their team page since Jun. Will Drewery (VP of supply chain), Hemant Chaurasia (VP of product), and Ryan Carrithers (VP of Finance). Will and Hemant left and are working at different companies based on their LinkedIn. Ryans LinkedIn still says he works there but its possible he left recently and hasn't updated his account.

This would make 5 executives since January have left the company or stepped down from a leadership role in some capacity. Not great news.

Offline FutureSpaceTourist

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Re: Astra Space
« Reply #838 on: 09/16/2022 09:46 pm »
https://twitter.com/astra/status/1570891015892144128

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A birds-eye view of our Skyhawk factory here in Alameda, California. #factoryfriday

Offline edzieba

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Re: Astra Space
« Reply #839 on: 09/17/2022 08:12 am »
Neat production optimisation: the hoop tank reinforcement elements are not individual hoops, but a perforated and stamped sheet curled into a tube. That would save a whole lot of part tracking & handling and alignment work!

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