Tag: Astra
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Rocket Report: DOJ sues SpaceX; a look inside doomed Spaceport Camden
Welcome to Edition 6.08 of the Rocket Report! The US Department of Justice is taking SpaceX to court over allegations of hiring discrimination, but the government is relying more than ever on SpaceX’s technical prowess. Once again, Elon Musk’s social media posts are part of the story. This week, we also cover the successes and…
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Chris Kemp unplugged—Astra’s CEO dishes on the space company’s struggles
Tuesday at 10 a.m. EDT update: Updated to clarify Kemp’s statements about cash and revenue. Chris Kemp is a fighter. That’s the price of admission if you want to compete in the brutal small launch industry. He is the co-founder, chairman, and CEO of Astra, founded in 2016 with a goal of essentially commoditizing small satellite…
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Astra’s new rocket won’t launch until 2024—if it ever flies
11:20 a.m. EDT Wednesday update: Adding Astra’s plan to grow Rocket 4’s payload capacity to more than 1,000 kilograms. Astra is running out of money. It’s been a year since Astra shelved its first orbital-class rocket after just two successful launches in seven flights. Chris Kemp, Astra’s founder and CEO, last year unveiled a new rocket…
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Rocket Report: Rocket Lab’s next step in reuse, Blue Origin engine explodes
Welcome to Edition 6.02 of the Rocket Report! I’m on my third week at Ars, and the space beat is as busy as ever. Going forward, Eric and I will alternate work on the Rocket Report every other week. SpaceX broke its own booster reuse record this week, and a Chinese company made history with…
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Astra launch fails on first TROPICS flight for NASA
The first of three flights to launch the TROPICS satellites for NASA lifted off on Sunday during at 1:43 PM EDT (17:43 UTC). Astra’s LV0010 vehicle launched from SLC-46 at the Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, making the company’s seventh orbital launch attempt. After a nominal first stage burn, the upper stage engine shut down…
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Activate the ion drive! LeoStella will buy Astra’s electric propulsion systems for small satellites
An electric propulsion system lights up its thruster with xenon propellant. (Astra / Apollo Fusion Photo) Astra Space says it’s made a deal with Tukwila, Wash.-based LeoStella to provide multiple electric propulsion systems for LeoStella’s small satellites, with deliveries due to begin later this year. Financial terms of the contract were not disclosed. LeoStella is…
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Astra rocket launches satellites from Alaska, giving a lift to Seattle-based Spaceflight Inc.
Astra’s LV0009 launch vehicle rises from its Alaska launch pad. (Astra Photo / Brady Kenniston) California-based Astra sent a batch of satellites into orbit for Seattle-based Spaceflight Inc. from an Alaska launch pad today, a just a little more than a month after Astra’s launch failure in Florida. Astra’s LV0009 launch vehicle lifted off from…
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Astra successfully returns to flight with mission for Spaceflight Inc.
Rocket 3.3, the first Astra rocket to successfully launch to orbit, has successfully returned to flight in what was a closely watched mission just over one month after ELaNa-41 failed during fairing and stage separation. The launch took place on Tuesday, March 15 at 9:22am PDT / 16:22 UTC. This mission for Spaceflight Inc., designated Astra-1,…
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Astra finds electrical, software failures as root causes of ELaNa 41 mission failure
Astra has determined the causes of two failure points that led to the loss to the LV0008 Rocket 3 mission, also known as ELaNA 41, on February 10, 2022. During the launch, a failure occurred around the time of stage separation, with Astra announcing not one but two separate failures – one affecting payload fairing…
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Astra suffers failure on ELaNa 41 mission
Astra has launched the ELaNa 41 mission for NASA, the company’s first flight from Space Launch Complex 46 (SLC-46) at the Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida. The LV0008 launch vehicle, the third Rocket 3.3 vehicle, lifted off at 3:00 PM EST (20:00 UTC). An anomaly occurred near the time of stage separation which…