Author Topic: Astra Space  (Read 404297 times)

Offline FutureSpaceTourist

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Re: Astra Space
« Reply #840 on: 09/28/2022 08:25 pm »
https://astra.com/news/nasa-contractual-astra/

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NASA MAINTAINS LAUNCH CONTRACT WITH ASTRA
SEPTEMBER 28, 2022

Astra and NASA have agreed to modify the terms of our existing launch services agreement for NASA’s TROPICS mission to allow for the future launch of comparable scientific payloads on version 4.0 of Astra’s rocket. We are delighted to maintain our strong partnership and to have NASA as a launch customer on the next version of Astra’s rocket.

Offline FutureSpaceTourist

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Re: Astra Space
« Reply #841 on: 09/28/2022 08:53 pm »
https://www.nasa.gov/feature/nasa-maintains-contractual-relationship-with-astra-presses-forward-with-tropics-mission

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Sep 22, 2022

NASA Maintains Contractual Relationship with Astra, Presses Forward with TROPICS Mission

Recognizing the urgent science needs, NASA is adjusting its launch services plan to complete the timely launch of a CubeSat constellation designed to improve understanding of tropical cyclones.

The agency’s Time-Resolved Observations of Precipitation structure and storm Intensity with a Constellation of Smallsats (TROPICS) mission launch service now will be competed under the agency’s Venture-Class Acquisition of Dedicated and Rideshare (VADR) IDIQ contract targeting the 2023 hurricane season.

NASA and Astra also have agreed to modify its existing launch services contract, originally planned for the agency’s TROPICS constellation, for the launch of comparable scientific payloads on Astra’s Rocket 4.0 in the future.

NASA selected commercial partner Astra in 2021 to provide launch services for TROPICS across three launches using the company’s Rocket 3.3 launch vehicle. On June 12, 2022, after a nominal first-stage flight, the upper stage of Astra’s Rocket 3.3 shut down early and failed to deliver the first two TROPICS CubeSats to orbit. NASA currently is participating in the launch investigation, led by Astra and the Federal Aviation Administration.

Following the first TROPICS launch attempt, Astra and NASA engaged in discussions regarding the remaining launch attempts. Astra then notified NASA of its intent to discontinue its Rocket 3.3 and indicated the company would potentially not resume launches prior to the 2023 Atlantic hurricane season. The VADR contract allows the 13 companies selected this year to compete for the rebid of the TROPICS launch services, giving the agency and external stakeholders the ability to use TROPICS data sooner.

TROPICS is an Earth venture mission – science-driven, competitively selected, low-cost missions that provide opportunity for investment in innovative Earth science to enhance our capability to better understand the current state of the Earth system and to enable continual improvement in the prediction of future changes. NASA is committed to helping grow the U.S. commercial launch market while enabling the agency’s science missions. The VADR contract allows NASA to nurture the emerging commercial market by awarding launch providers more risk-tolerant payloads such as TROPICS.

Last Updated: Sep 28, 2022
Editor: James Cawley

Offline TrevorMonty

Re: Astra Space
« Reply #842 on: 09/29/2022 12:29 am »




Following the first TROPICS launch attempt, Astra and NASA engaged in discussions regarding the remaining launch attempts. Astra then notified NASA of its intent to discontinue its Rocket 3.3 and indicated the company would potentially not resume launches prior to the 2023 Atlantic hurricane season. The VADR contract allows the 13 companies selected this year to compete for the rebid of the TROPICS launch services, giving the agency and external stakeholders the ability to use TROPICS data sooner.


Last Updated: Sep 28, 2022
Editor: James Cawley
[/quote]

Given NASA's need for these to launch in 2023 really needs to be on LV that is currently operational.


Online Zed_Noir

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Re: Astra Space
« Reply #843 on: 09/29/2022 07:32 am »




Following the first TROPICS launch attempt, Astra and NASA engaged in discussions regarding the remaining launch attempts. Astra then notified NASA of its intent to discontinue its Rocket 3.3 and indicated the company would potentially not resume launches prior to the 2023 Atlantic hurricane season. The VADR contract allows the 13 companies selected this year to compete for the rebid of the TROPICS launch services, giving the agency and external stakeholders the ability to use TROPICS data sooner.


Last Updated: Sep 28, 2022
Editor: James Cawley

Given NASA's need for these to launch in 2023 really needs to be on LV that is currently operational.
So the short list will likely be Electron from RocketLab, Launcher One from Virgin Orbital & Minotaur-C from Northrop Grumman. Possibly the Pegasus XL if Northrop Grumman can come up with the components. Finally there is the option of launching as a rideshare on SpaceX.

Offline Skyrocket

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Re: Astra Space
« Reply #844 on: 09/29/2022 08:26 am »
So the short list will likely be Electron from RocketLab, Launcher One from Virgin Orbital & Minotaur-C from Northrop Grumman. Possibly the Pegasus XL if Northrop Grumman can come up with the components. Finally there is the option of launching as a rideshare on SpaceX.

Originally there were five bidders for TROPICS:

* Astra (3 Rocket-3.3) - won
* Momentus (Vigoride) - deemed non-compliant with the RFP for not having control of the launch date due to the rideshare launch
* SpaceX (Starship) - rejected because NASA did not expect that SpaceX would be able to meet the launch date required.
* Virgin Orbit (LauncherOne) - deemed non-compliant with the RFP, eliminated early in the process, reason not known
* Rocket Lab (Electron) - too expensive

So if Electron was already considered to be too expensive, we can surely rule out a Minotaur-C or Pegasus-XL launch, as these are even more expensive.

With Momentus and LauncherOne not being compliant with the RFP (for what reasons ever), i think we can rule them also out.

That leaves only Starship (likely on one of the early orbital test flights) and Electron from the original contenders.
As for Starship it is still unclear, when it will be able to launch, Electron might be the most likely launcher.

This certainly ignores newcomers like ABL, Relativity, Firefly which might also be willing to bid for the launch.
« Last Edit: 09/29/2022 08:36 am by Skyrocket »

Online ZachS09

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Re: Astra Space
« Reply #845 on: 09/29/2022 12:39 pm »
If Starship is selected, would there be a larger major payload alongside the remaining four TROPICS cubesats, or would TROPICS be the only payload?
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Offline Skyrocket

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Re: Astra Space
« Reply #846 on: 09/29/2022 12:45 pm »
If Starship is selected, would there be a larger major payload alongside the remaining four TROPICS cubesats, or would TROPICS be the only payload?

Likely they would be hitching a ride as the only payload on an low inclination test flight.

Online ZachS09

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Re: Astra Space
« Reply #847 on: 09/29/2022 01:32 pm »
If Starship is selected, would there be a larger major payload alongside the remaining four TROPICS cubesats, or would TROPICS be the only payload?

Likely they would be hitching a ride as the only payload on an low inclination test flight.


Makes sense for a test flight even though it looks overkill at first sight.
« Last Edit: 09/29/2022 01:33 pm by ZachS09 »
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Online mn

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Re: Astra Space
« Reply #848 on: 09/29/2022 02:15 pm »
NASA already lost 2 SC on one launch, do you really think they'll risk the remaining SC on an early starship test flight?

Offline FutureSpaceTourist

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Re: Astra Space
« Reply #849 on: 09/30/2022 01:09 pm »
https://investor.astra.com/news-releases/news-release-details/astra-appoints-axel-martinez-cfo-effective-november-2022

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ASTRA APPOINTS AXEL MARTINEZ AS CFO EFFECTIVE IN NOVEMBER 2022
Sep 30, 2022
PDF Version
Finance executive with 25 years of experience joins Astra to help drive scale and leverage his capital markets experience

ALAMEDA, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Sep. 30, 2022-- Astra Space, Inc. (“Astra”) (Nasdaq: ASTR), a provider of space products and launch services to the global space industry, announced the appointment of Axel Martinez to Chief Financial Officer, effective the day after the filing of our quarterly report in November 2022.

“Axel is a talented and experienced finance executive that will be an invaluable addition to our management team,” said Chris Kemp, Founder, Chairman, and CEO of Astra. “We expect his deep knowledge of the technology industry, experience with scaling high-growth companies, and participation in capital markets will be a huge asset to Astra as we enter our next phase.”

In his most recent roles, Martinez served as Chief Financial Officer at Virgin Hyperloop One and Veev Group Inc. – two growth technology companies. Axel started his technology career at Google where he spent 10 years in finance roles, including Head of Capital Markets where he managed more than $40 billion of capital. Axel also served as VP & Treasurer of Uber where he helped the Company scale into more than 60 countries. Previously, Axel worked at Merrill Lynch and the Chase Manhattan Bank as an investment banker. Axel holds a B.A. in Economics and Political Science from Columbia University and an M.B.A. from Harvard Business School.

Kelyn Brannon will transition her responsibilities and remain CFO through the effective date of Martinez’ appointment.

“We are grateful to Kelyn for her stewardship in taking the company public last year and building the foundation of Astra's finance organization,” said Kemp. “I’d like to thank Kelyn on behalf of the Company for her service and contributions.

Online Steven Pietrobon

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Re: Astra Space
« Reply #850 on: 10/02/2022 07:32 am »
NASA already lost 2 SC on one launch, do you really think they'll risk the remaining SC on an early starship test flight?

Its probably similar to the risk of flying on Rocket 4.0!
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Offline XRZ.YZ

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Re: Astra Space
« Reply #851 on: 10/04/2022 10:03 pm »
Some interview with Chris Kemp
Really funny when he said failure is not an option now.

https://twitter.com/payloadspace/status/1577318556059975681
« Last Edit: 10/06/2022 08:58 am by zubenelgenubi »
XQCR LLYZ GYZH HZSZ

Offline FutureSpaceTourist

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Re: Astra Space
« Reply #852 on: 10/08/2022 12:09 pm »
https://twitter.com/thesheetztweetz/status/1578493987496656896

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Nasdaq gives Astra $ASTR a delisting warning:

Due to being under $1, the company disclosed in a securities filing that Nasdaq said Astra has until April 2023 to get the stock back above that mark for 10 consecutive business days.

More via @saracsalinas: https://www.cnbc.com/2022/10/07/rocket-builder-astra-space-gets-delisting-warning-from-nasdaq.html

Offline FutureSpaceTourist

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Re: Astra Space
« Reply #853 on: 10/11/2022 01:30 pm »
https://astra.com/news/spacecraft-engine-contract-with-maxar-technologies/

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ASTRA ANNOUNCES SPACECRAFT ENGINE CONTRACT WITH MAXAR TECHNOLOGIES
OCTOBER 11, 2022
Astra propulsion systems to be used in Maxar’s PLEO spacecraft platforms

ALAMEDA, CA – October 11, 2022. Astra Space, Inc. (“Astra”) (Nasdaq: ASTR) announced that it has reached an agreement with Maxar Technologies (“Maxar”) (TSX:MAXR) to supply Astra Spacecraft Engines™. The propulsion systems will be used in Maxar’s proliferated low Earth orbit (LEO) spacecrafts, which support a wide variety of global coverage missions, including Earth observation, communications and national security. Astra expects to begin delivery of its spacecraft engines in 2023.

“The Astra Spacecraft Engine’s™ flight heritage, high performance and high reliability were critical in our decision-making process as we prepare to deliver our spacecraft platforms to customers for their critical missions,” said Joe Foust, Maxar Vice President of proliferated LEO Programs.

“We are pleased to support Maxar on their mission-critical spacecraft platform,” said Martin Attiq, Astra’s Chief Business Officer. “This agreement demonstrates continued momentum in our Space Products business and validates our Spacecraft Engine as a core technology supporting new constellations.”

Offline FutureSpaceTourist

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Re: Astra Space
« Reply #854 on: 10/13/2022 10:53 am »
Astra’s engines are popular:

https://astra.com/news/spacecraft-engine-contract-with-astroscale/

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ASTRA ANNOUNCES SPACECRAFT ENGINE CONTRACT WITH ASTROSCALE
OCTOBER 13, 2022
Astra propulsion systems to be used in Astroscale’s space sustainability spacecraft platform

ALAMEDA, CA – October 13, 2022. Astra Space, Inc. (“Astra”) (Nasdaq: ASTR) today announced that it has reached an agreement with Astroscale Holdings Inc (“Astroscale”), the market leader in satellite servicing and long-term orbital sustainability across all orbits, to provide Astra Spacecraft Engines™ for its space sustainability spacecraft platform, ELSA-M, that can safely and responsibly capture and retire multiple client satellites in a single mission.

The ELSA-M satellite servicer will be designed and optimized to remove multiple pieces of debris from LEO in a single orbital mission. The development of the ELSA-M commercial service is supported by the UK Space Agency and European Space Agency as part of the ESA Sunrise program.

“The Astra Spacecraft Engine’s flight heritage, reliability, and scalability were critical factors in selecting Astra as we prepare our ELSA-M platform for important customer missions, and we look forward to continue building a strong relationship with Mike and his team.” said Ian Vanoorschot, Astroscale’s Global Head of Procurement.

“Astra and Astroscale share common values in making space sustainable,” said Mike Cassidy, Vice President of Product Management. “This agreement expands our customer base to Europe, where we see growing demand in Spacecraft Engine capability.”

Offline TrevorMonty

Re: Astra Space
« Reply #855 on: 10/14/2022 10:01 am »


Some interview with Chris Kemp
Really funny when he said failure is not an option now.

https://twitter.com/payloadspace/status/1577318556059975681

They are putting a lot of effort and money into QA so failure isn't option. That means build cost will go up due to higher overheads. Time will tell if that $5m price holds.

New 4.0 LV is 600kg and $5m for bulk buy. They want to automate mission control so there is only 2 staff for launch. If this was feasible both SpaceX and RL would've done it by now given their launch experience.

Lot of blurp about iterating which is great idea  but Astra approach is totally different from SpaceX and RL. Both companies pick LV design and got it flying regularly with paying customers before doing major upgrades. Astra gets operational LV and scraps it after few flights then switches to new larger LV. Don't understand why they canned 3.0 when it was operational. The knowledge gain from ironing out bugs and flying it regularly would've be invaluable for design of next LV. Also customers would have lot more faith in new LV.

A bit on finances, sounds like money is tight and obtaining more will be expensive. Their <$1 share price won't help.

One big plus is Apollo satellite propulsion system which has some big orders. Unfortunately revenue from this is nowhere near enough to help offset expenditure on 4.0 development.



Offline Robotbeat

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Re: Astra Space
« Reply #856 on: 10/16/2022 03:31 pm »
SpaceX scrapped Falcon 1 when operational. Falcon 5 before it was operational. Falcon 9 v1.0 after it was operational. (F9 v1.1 was essentially a new launch vehicle.)
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Offline niwax

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Re: Astra Space
« Reply #857 on: 10/16/2022 04:06 pm »
SpaceX scrapped Falcon 1 when operational. Falcon 5 before it was operational. Falcon 9 v1.0 after it was operational. (F9 v1.1 was essentially a new launch vehicle.)

Importantly, they scrapped them when they had contracts and money. The entirety of Astra is currently valued at $140m, burning $60m per quarter with $200m in the bank as of June 30th. In their last income statement, they highlighted an agreement to sell up to $100m in stock, but at most 20%, to fund the next year of development. At current prices, that's less than a third of what they expected and won't even see them through half a quarter.

They are also sitting on another interesting timebomb in that acquisition agreement for Apollo has a performance clause that awards another $75 million to the previous owners and $10 million to employees if they hit their targets by the end of 2023, both in cash.

The cynic in me says that those partners are pushing to announce engine contracts to be first in line to pick up Apollo at fire sale prices.
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Offline cpushack

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Re: Astra Space
« Reply #858 on: 10/17/2022 10:06 pm »
SpaceX scrapped Falcon 1 when operational. Falcon 5 before it was operational. Falcon 9 v1.0 after it was operational. (F9 v1.1 was essentially a new launch vehicle.)

Importantly, they scrapped them when they had contracts and money. The entirety of Astra is currently valued at $140m, burning $60m per quarter with $200m in the bank as of June 30th. In their last income statement, they highlighted an agreement to sell up to $100m in stock, but at most 20%, to fund the next year of development. At current prices, that's less than a third of what they expected and won't even see them through half a quarter.

They are also sitting on another interesting timebomb in that acquisition agreement for Apollo has a performance clause that awards another $75 million to the previous owners and $10 million to employees if they hit their targets by the end of 2023, both in cash.

The cynic in me says that those partners are pushing to announce engine contracts to be first in line to pick up Apollo at fire sale prices.

I've always wondered where Astra (and really more the APollo part) would fit if Astra fails, I would think that RocketLab could scoop them up cheap, if anything for the talent.

Offline FutureSpaceTourist

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Re: Astra Space
« Reply #859 on: 10/18/2022 01:21 pm »
https://astra.com/news/200-astra-spacecraft-engines/

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CELEBRATING COMMITTED ORDERS FOR OVER 200 ASTRA SPACECRAFT ENGINES™!
OCTOBER 18, 2022

Astra also completes second full program delivery

Astra celebrates cumulative committed orders for more than 200 engines and two full programs of Astra Spacecraft Engines™ already delivered.

“I’m thrilled that Astra has achieved both milestones: over 200 engines ordered and delivery of two full programs,” said Chris Kemp, Founder, Chairman, and CEO of Astra, “Thank you to our customers for their confidence in our team and products, and congratulations to the team for the tremendous amount of work put in to achieve this milestone.”

Astra is preparing for a move-in this quarter into our new 60,000 square foot production facility in Sunnyvale, California, where the team is expected to ramp production early next year to meet planned customer deliveries.

“We have more than doubled our backlog since June 30th of this year in Astra Spacecraft Engines™ where we continue to see sustained demand,” said Margo de Naray, VP of Mission Management and Customer Operations, “Reliable, on-time deliveries and exceptional customer focus are key to this positive momentum.”

Number of cumulative committed orders is measured from July 1, 2021, when Astra acquired Apollo Fusion, Inc. by merger, and includes 14 units in Apollo Fusion’s backlog on July 1, 2021.

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