We are excited to have made a ton of progress on our first of three attempts on our path to orbit! We are incredibly proud of our team; we will review the data, make changes and launch Rocket 3.2, which is nearly complete.
In a virtual press briefing, Astra officials say the guidance system issue that introduced a roll oscillation on the Rocket 3.1 flight last night will likely be fixable with a software update.Astra says the next launch with Rocket 3.2 is likely before the end of the year.
Launch dates/times and NOTMAR and water area restrictions for Astra – P128Mission P128 will launch from Alaska Aerospace’s Pacific Spaceport Complex Alaska (PSCA) Launch Pad LP-3B atNarrow Cape, Kodiak, Alaska with a window of 07 December - 18 December 2020 (local).Each day will have a launch time window of 1000 – 1330 hours Alaska Standard Time (1900 – 2230 hours UTC), whichencompasses debris times, on a launch azimuth of approximately 195 degrees.
Things are heating up! Here’s a look at Rocket 3.2’s final static fire test ahead of our December 7th launch. Rocket 3.2 is powered by five Delphin electric-pump-fed engines. Made in-house, each engine produces over 6,500 lbs. of thrust.
030520Z DEC 20NAVAREA XII 547/20(16,19).GULF OF ALASKA. NORTH PACIFIC. ALASKA. 1. HAZARDOUS OPERATIONS, ROCKET LAUNCHING 071900Z TO 072230Z DEC, ALTERNATE 1900Z TO 2230Z DAILY 08 THRU 18 DEC IN AREAS BOUND BY: A. 57-25-33N 152-30-08W, 57-26-31N 152-29-42W, 57-25-44N 152-20-52W, 57-29-08N 152-17-37W, 57-26-31N 152-06-11W, 54-39-35N 153-28-13W, 54-40-40N 153-43-32W. B. 44-49-26N 158-54-28W, 44-18-19N 156-09-28W, 40-39-53N 157-24-22W, 41-15-40N 160-08-24W.2. CANCEL THIS MSG 182330Z DEC 20.
🚀 Update: Rocket 3.2 will be launching no earlier than Dec 10th with a launch window from 11am to 2pm PT
The launch has slipped to Dec. 11, per temporary flight restrictions.https://tfr.faa.gov/save_pages/detail_0_1349.html
🚀 Update: Rocket 3.2 will be launching no earlier than Dec 11th with a launch window from 11am to 2pm PT
Saturn and Jupiter have joined us for tomorrow's launch of Rocket 3.2 😍
We will live tweet, but no livestream this time. We aim to turnaround a video shortly after flight.
We're 47 minutes from the launch window opening; as of this posting there is no new Astra Tweet.
Launch window is now open, so launch should be happening about now.
Quote from: TweetWe will begin tweeting at T-15 minutes!
We will begin tweeting at T-15 minutes!
🚀 Launch update: due to weather, our next opportunity will be on Monday, Dec 14th. In the meantime, enjoy this aerial view from @johnkrausphotos
🚀Launch update: due to weather, our next opportunity will be on Tuesday, Dec 15th
We've entered terminal count! T-15 minutes
We are GO for launch! T-5 minutes
T-0 LIFT OFF!
https://twitter.com/Astra/status/1338952225175957504"KARMAN LINE PASSED!!!!!!!"
It ignited
Should be SECO around now if it did fire successfully...
Do we have an accurate T-0 time? I estimated by the Tweet timestamps.
Does that mean orbit?
https://twitter.com/Astra/status/1338956481371115521
Quote from: lrk on 12/15/2020 08:18 pmDoes that mean orbit?I don't believe so. These are probably the views heading for the drink.
HUGE SUCCESS!!!!!!! Flight video, data, and more details to follow!
Quote from: AstraHUGE SUCCESS!!!!!!! Flight video, data, and more details to follow!
Well, regardless of whether they made it to orbit today, congratulations are still in order, making it way further than any of their previous attempts. A good first stage burn, stage sep and upper stage ignition are still all huge milestones and proves that they are a serious contender in the smallsat launch marketplace - only a few companies are able to say that.
Astra says they are "getting final data confirmation" on whether Rocket 3.2 reached orbit.
Quote from: lrk on 12/15/2020 08:29 pmWell, regardless of whether they made it to orbit today, congratulations are still in order, making it way further than any of their previous attempts. A good first stage burn, stage sep and upper stage ignition are still all huge milestones and proves that they are a serious contender in the smallsat launch marketplace - only a few companies are able to say that. There was no confirmation of second stage ignition.
twitter.com/thesheetztweetz/status/1338960965753315331Quote Astra says they are "getting final data confirmation" on whether Rocket 3.2 reached orbit.
look at the timestamp on the image. If we had liftoff at 20:55 and this was taken at 21:03, that's 8 minutes later. The engine still looks warm too.(Though it could just be on a suborbital trajectory at T+8 minutes.)
Quote from: Jrcraft on 12/15/2020 08:23 pmlook at the timestamp on the image. If we had liftoff at 20:55 and this was taken at 21:03, that's 8 minutes later. The engine still looks warm too.(Though it could just be on a suborbital trajectory at T+8 minutes.)The engine nozzle should be glowing brightly, which is not the case here. It is slightly red, so it could have been cooling down after perhaps an early shutdown.
Does Astra have any Loss of Signal zones in receiving transmissions from the upper stage?
https://twitter.com/thesheetztweetz/status/1338960965753315331Quote Astra says they are "getting final data confirmation" on whether Rocket 3.2 reached orbit.
Gossip is that they didn't make orbit by a few seconds. Some "fixable" anomaly.
Quote from: brussell on 12/15/2020 09:05 pmGossip is that they didn't make orbit by a few seconds. Some "fixable" anomaly.Negative perigee or will they maybe eek out a few orbits??
Chris Kemp on Astra's flight: "After reaching an altitude of 390 kilometers, which was our nominal orbital altitude, we reached a velocity of 7.2 kilometers per second... short of the orbital velocity of 7.68 kilometers per second."
500 meters per second short, alas.https://twitter.com/lorengrush/status/1338977683594731523QuoteChris Kemp on Astra's flight: "After reaching an altitude of 390 kilometers, which was our nominal orbital altitude, we reached a velocity of 7.2 kilometers per second... short of the orbital velocity of 7.68 kilometers per second."
Interesting. At 5-6 G's which is typical at that point that's 8s-10s short. Sounds about right.
Rocket 3.2 reached Max Q at about T+00:57 seconds.MECO at T+02:22Stage sep at T+02:29Upper stage shutdown at about T+06:00
Quote from: brussell on 12/15/2020 09:53 pmInteresting. At 5-6 G's which is typical at that point that's 8s-10s short. Sounds about right.Per Michael Sheetz, Astra said the upper stage shut down around T+6:00, which seems more than 8-10 seconds short of a usual launch timeline? Could point to a lower-thrust upper stage, but I don't know what nominal SECO would have been.https://twitter.com/thesheetztweetz/status/1338977719799963654QuoteRocket 3.2 reached Max Q at about T+00:57 seconds.MECO at T+02:22Stage sep at T+02:29Upper stage shutdown at about T+06:00
If that's true that's much much shorter than the correct timeline. That doesn't sound right. It wouldn't make 7.2 km/s. Where is he getting that info?
Astra says its second shot at going to orbit was "historic," and the launch had a "fantastic and flawless count." Rocket hit maxQ 57 secs into flight, and after stage separation, the upper stage engine ignited and shut off nominally six minutes later after expending all its fuel.
Quote from: brussell on 12/15/2020 10:00 pmIf that's true that's much much shorter than the correct timeline. That doesn't sound right. It wouldn't make 7.2 km/s. Where is he getting that info?Ah - the following from Joey Roulette suggests that the 6 minutes was the length of the second-stage burn, not T+6:00:https://twitter.com/joroulette/status/1338978341660073985QuoteAstra says its second shot at going to orbit was "historic," and the launch had a "fantastic and flawless count." Rocket hit maxQ 57 secs into flight, and after stage separation, the upper stage engine ignited and shut off nominally six minutes later after expending all its fuel.That sounds more like it, and a couple tweets downthread he reports that the Astra CEO said they were 12-15 seconds short of nominal.
Just finished a call with @Astra. Rocket was 0.5 m/s short of orbit. With a better fuel mixture in the upper stage it would have orbited. Apogee of 390km. Rocket 3.3 will carry a payload, and there will be no hardware or software changes. 🚀
Also, and this is remarkable, they set up the Alaska launch site with five people, in a week, starting with four shipping containers and a concrete pad. That ... is really hard.
Sorry that should be 0.5 km/s
I hope the payload fairing DID manage to separate. It wasn’t tweeted out, so that might have been a factor to why orbit wasn’t achieved.
You can fool some of the people some of the time, but you can't fool all of the people all of the time.https://twitter.com/Astra/status/1338985732338139136"Rocket launch startup Astra has joined an elite group of companies who can say their vehicle has actually made it to orbital space – earlier than expected."
There is a very cool video of stage sep and second stage ignition in Linkedin. It will probably be up on twitter soon.
Testing if Linkedin @#*(@ shows up here...https://www.linkedin.com/posts/astraspace_32-activity-6744750524186394624-pTsN/
Astra launches Rocket 3.2 to space from Kodiak, Alaska: cnbc.com/2020/12/15/ast…Photos: @astra / @johnkrausphotos
A quick video recap of our 8.5-minute flight to space today!
QuoteA quick video recap of our 8.5-minute flight to space today!
Quote from: Steven Pietrobon on 12/15/2020 10:16 pmYou can fool some of the people some of the time, but you can't fool all of the people all of the time.Quote from: TweetRocket launch startup Astra has joined an elite group of companies who can say their vehicle has actually made it to orbital space – earlier than expected."orbital space" ? I'm very confused...
You can fool some of the people some of the time, but you can't fool all of the people all of the time.Quote from: TweetRocket launch startup Astra has joined an elite group of companies who can say their vehicle has actually made it to orbital space – earlier than expected.
Rocket launch startup Astra has joined an elite group of companies who can say their vehicle has actually made it to orbital space – earlier than expected.
Quote from: zubenelgenubi on 12/15/2020 08:12 pmDo we have an accurate T-0 time? I estimated by the Tweet timestamps.Quote from: FutureSpaceTourist on 12/15/2020 11:09 pmQuoteA quick video recap of our 8.5-minute flight to space today!By the tweeted video, lift-off was at 20:55:00 UTC.
You can fool some of the people some of the time, but you can't fool all of the people all of the time.
It's a dreadful old cliche but every failure is a dress rehearsal for success*So not bad. Pretty good in fact. As long as they can figure out what went wrong and fix it. Still on course for The Aerospace Corps 5/8 rule *Unless you run out of money first of course.
Rocket 3.2 launched yesterday out of Kodiak, Alaska A thread recapping our flight:
Rocket 3.2 had a clean lift-off at 12:55pm PT
At T+57 seconds, Rocket 3.2 reached Max-Q
At T+145 to T+153, Rocket 3.2 crossed the Karman line entering outer space and successfully completed fairing separation, stage separation and upper stage ignition
The upper stage continued to burn for six minutes and 48 seconds, precisely reaching the target apogee of 380 km at 7.2 km/s. Rocket 3.2 then successfully sent a signal simulating deployment of a satellite
We will be sharing more details on our blog. In the meantime, for more photos from our launch, check out our Flickr account: https://www.flickr.com/photos/astraphotos/
"FAILURE" in the title is definitely not what I would use. Given that they didn't plan on actually making orbit until flight 3.3, this flight accomplished all of their planned objectives and then some. Perhaps we can just change "FAILURE" to "Sub-orbital".
Seems like if SpaceX Starship was a success even though the final step failed, why couldn't we call this Astra flight a success (although partial) ??
Quote from: lonestriker on 12/16/2020 02:40 pm"FAILURE" in the title is definitely not what I would use. Given that they didn't plan on actually making orbit until flight 3.3, this flight accomplished all of their planned objectives and then some. Perhaps we can just change "FAILURE" to "Sub-orbital".Their press kit explicitly listed a "TARGET ORBIT: Inclination: 98.1 degrees, Altitude: 380 kilometers"Rocket 3.2 fell short of orbit. It was a good test flight, but it fell short of its stated goal. That's a launch vehicle failure. - Ed Kyle
Quote from: edkyle99 on 12/16/2020 07:55 pmQuote from: lonestriker on 12/16/2020 02:40 pm"FAILURE" in the title is definitely not what I would use. Given that they didn't plan on actually making orbit until flight 3.3, this flight accomplished all of their planned objectives and then some. Perhaps we can just change "FAILURE" to "Sub-orbital".Their press kit explicitly listed a "TARGET ORBIT: Inclination: 98.1 degrees, Altitude: 380 kilometers"Rocket 3.2 fell short of orbit. It was a good test flight, but it fell short of its stated goal. That's a launch vehicle failure. - Ed KyleIt was a failure as much as the last Starship test flight was a "failure". The objective for both was NOT a completely flawless flight, but to make a big progress towards that. Both checked in on that goal.The customer of this flight was Astra themselves. Customer's wish was to make progress, customer is very happy about the result, that is not a failure.Astra from the beginnig said that the goal is to make it to orbit within three launches. If Rocket 3.3 does not make it, that would be a failure.Thread title should be "Partial success" IMHO.
ASTRA MAKES IT TO SPACE!DECEMBER 17, 2020December 15th, 2020 was a historic day for Astra and America, as we joined a small, elite group of privately funded companies that have made it to space. We couldn’t be more proud that our team accomplished this milestone in the face of so much adversity this year. Only three months after our last orbital launch attempt, we were back in Kodiak with the goal of a nominal first stage burn, followed by fairing separation and stage separation. We achieved all of these objectives and more!Rocket 3.2 lifted off from the Alaskan coast on December 15th at 12:55 pm PT followed by more than two minutes of a successful first stage flight. A few seconds later, we completed a nominal stage separation and ignition of the upper stage, and blasted past the Kármán line, the border between Earth’s atmosphere and outer space. Almost seven minutes later, traveling over 16,000 miles per hour (Mach 21), Astra’s upper stage engine shut down nominally after depleting all of its fuel. Rocket 3.2 precisely achieved its target altitude of 380 kilometers at 7.2 km/sec… just short of orbital velocity of 7.68 km/sec.Our data shows that all of the rocket’s hardware and software performed exceptionally well, and that only a small adjustment to the mixture ratio of fuel and oxidizer stands between us and our first customer payload delivery in a few months. Most importantly, this means that Astra can immediately begin delivering for our customers. As of today, we have contracted over two dozen launches, representing over 100 spacecraft. We are immediately executing our plan to ramp up of rocket production and launch operations.Our next rocket is nearly complete and we’ll be identifying opportunities based on yesterday’s data on how to further improve the vehicle performance ahead of our next launch. This rapid iteration is unique to Astra and separates us from other launch providers in the industry.To say that 2020 has been a challenge is an understatement and Astra has shared many of the struggles that much of the world has experienced this year. However, we are grateful to close out this year with the outcome of yesterday’s launch as well as being announced as one of NASA’s mission partners. It is more than we could’ve hoped for as a team. Thanks to our incredible team and their families, as well as our customers, suppliers, partners, investors and all of our fans!Per Aspera Ad Astra!Chris and Adam
