{"id":11953,"date":"2020-12-17T01:35:40","date_gmt":"2020-12-16T17:35:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp-productionenv-bjg9h2g2bgg5b8aa.southeastasia-01.azurewebsites.net\/news\/astras-smallsat-launcher-reaches-space-on-second-test-flight\/"},"modified":"2020-12-17T01:35:40","modified_gmt":"2020-12-16T17:35:40","slug":"astras-smallsat-launcher-reaches-space-on-second-test-flight","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/news\/astras-smallsat-launcher-reaches-space-on-second-test-flight\/","title":{"rendered":"Astra\u2019s smallsat launcher reaches space on second test flight"},"content":{"rendered":"<figure id=\"attachment_49280\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-49280\" style=\"width: 1200px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-49280\" src=\"http:\/\/spaceflightnow.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/50724622122_51456a0f24_k.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1200\" height=\"800\" srcset=\"https:\/\/spaceflightnow.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/50724622122_51456a0f24_k.jpg 1200w, https:\/\/spaceflightnow.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/50724622122_51456a0f24_k-300x200.jpg 300w, https:\/\/spaceflightnow.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/50724622122_51456a0f24_k-768x512.jpg 768w, https:\/\/spaceflightnow.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/50724622122_51456a0f24_k-678x452.jpg 678w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1200px) 100vw, 1200px\"><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-49280\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Astra\u2019s Rocket 3.2 takes off from Kodiak Island, Alaska. Credit: Astra \/ John Kraus<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>On its second test flight Tuesday, Astra\u2019s privately-developed small satellite launcher ran out of fuel seconds before reaching the velocity needed to enter orbit but exceeded the company\u2019s expectations with an otherwise-successful climb into space from Kodiak Island, Alaska.<\/p>\n<p>Astra officials said Tuesday the rocket \u201cperformed flawlessly\u201d for roughly eight minutes, successfully demonstrating the launcher\u2019s first stage burn, stage separation, payload fairing jettison, and second stage ignition milestones on the ascent into space.<\/p>\n<p>The second stage engine shut down prematurely after exhausting its kerosene fuel supply, leaving the rocket just shy of the velocity required to reach orbit around Earth, Astra said.<\/p>\n<p>Astra shared images captured by the rocket after it reached space, showing the curvature of the Earth and scattered clouds hanging over the deep blue Pacific Ocean. The company said the rocket flew to a maximum altitude of about 242 miles, or 390 kilometers, and reached a top speed of around 16,100 mph (7.2 kilometers per second).<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThis far exceeded our team\u2019s expectations,\u201d said Chris Kemp, co-founder and CEO of Astra, based in Alameda, California.<\/p>\n<p>If the second stage engine had fired its full duration \u2014 just 12 to 15 seconds longer, Kemp said \u2014 the rocket would have gained another 1,000 mph in velocity and entered a stable orbit, according to Astra.<\/p>\n<p>Astra says the second stage\u2019s early cutoff can be fixed with a tweak to the upper stage&nbsp;Aether engine\u2019s propellant mixture ratio, which governs how much kerosene fuel it consumes relative to liquid oxygen, the rocket\u2019s oxidizer.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe now have flight data, so we can tune the mixture between the fuel and the liquid oxygen, so there\u2019s no residual liquid oxygen in the next flight,\u201d Kemp said. \u201cSo this system works \u2026 From all the preliminary data we\u2019ve looked at, the system performed flawlessly.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The upper stage engine shut down in a controlled fashion after depleting its fuel, and had the mixture ratio been correct, the rocket would have reached orbit, Kemp said.<\/p>\n<p><iframe id=\"twitter-widget-0\" scrolling=\"no\" frameborder=\"0\" allowtransparency=\"true\" allowfullscreen=\"true\" class=\"\" style=\"position: absolute; visibility: hidden; width: 0px; height: 0px; display: block; flex-grow: 1;\" title=\"X Post\" src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/embed\/Tweet.html?dnt=false&amp;embedId=twitter-widget-0&amp;features=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%3D%3D&amp;frame=false&amp;hideCard=false&amp;hideThread=false&amp;id=1338999451893915649&amp;lang=en&amp;origin=https%3A%2F%2Fspaceflightnow.com%2F2020%2F12%2F16%2Fastras-smallsat-launcher-reaches-space-on-second-test-flight%2F&amp;sessionId=bba72bee08f93fdbaa498c7d4bc51b8e79fa49c9&amp;theme=light&amp;widgetsVersion=6a3ad42b224df%3A1778106238597&amp;width=550px\" data-tweet-id=\"1338999451893915649\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-twitter-extracted-i1782469572748137227=\"true\">\n<p dir=\"ltr\" lang=\"en\">A quick video recap of our 8.5-minute flight to space today! pic.twitter.com\/gvElF4fbAZ<\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Astra (@Astra) December 16, 2020<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p><script async=\"\" src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>Astra\u2019s Rocket 3.2 vehicle \u2014 the company\u2019s second rocket to attempt an orbital flight \u2014 took off from the Pacific Spaceport Complex at Kodiak Island, Alaska, at 3:55 p.m. EST (11:55 a.m. Alaska time; 2055 GMT) Tuesday.<\/p>\n<p>Five kerosene-fueled Delphin engines, developed in-house at Astra, powered the 38-foot-tall (11.6-meter) rocket through a blanket of clouds with 32,500 pounds of thrust.<\/p>\n<p>Astra set measured objectives for the test flight, the second of three demonstration launches the company has said it expected to need to reach orbit.<\/p>\n<p>The first stage\u2019s five engines fired for 2 minutes, 22 seconds, and the rocket jettisoned its clamshell-like payload fairing three seconds later. The stages separated next, followed by ignition of the second stage engine 2 minutes, 33 seconds, into the flight.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThis is where I believe most of the team would have called it a day and felt we had a very successful flight because it would have meant that the first stage of the rocket was \u2018de-risked\u2019 and we could turn all of our attention of our third and final flight to the upper stage,\u201d Kemp said. \u201cBut the rocket continued to perform.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>After shutting down its upper stage engine, the rocket simulated procedures to deploy a payload into space. There were no satellites aboard the test flight Tuesday, and the rocket re-entered the atmosphere and burned up.<\/p>\n<p>Engineers will analyze data from Tuesday\u2019s flight over the coming weeks, but Kemp said Astra is on pace to perform its next launch \u2014 with Rocket 3.3 \u2014 from Alaska in early 2021. He added that Astra does not expect to change any hardware or software code on the next rocket, but can resolve the mixture ratio problem with adjustments in software parameters.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe expected to have a really successful first stage flight and have something go wrong with the second stage, to be honest with you,\u201d Kemp said in a conference call with reporters Tuesday. \u201cWe now have some tuning to do and another rocket ready to go here at Astra \u2014 Rocket 3.3 \u2014 and we are intending to put a payload on this rocket and fly it.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Kemp said Astra\u2019s approach to rocket development \u2014 using rapid design cycles and a series of test flights \u2014 has proven successful with the better-than-expected outcome of Tuesday\u2019s launch.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThere are some things that we can\u2019t test on the ground, and (one) is an optimization of the mixture control ratio on the upper stage,\u201d Kemp said. \u201cIt\u2019s only something that you can test in flight. So we got the data we need to make the optimizations necessary to get that mixture control ratio correct on the next flight.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThat\u2019s great news from our perspective,\u201d Kemp said. \u201cIt proves our why iterating and getting to space sooner is the better approach.\u201d<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_49281\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-49281\" style=\"width: 1200px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-49281\" src=\"http:\/\/spaceflightnow.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/50724621862_59e6df1195_k.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1200\" height=\"800\" srcset=\"https:\/\/spaceflightnow.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/50724621862_59e6df1195_k.jpg 1200w, https:\/\/spaceflightnow.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/50724621862_59e6df1195_k-300x200.jpg 300w, https:\/\/spaceflightnow.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/50724621862_59e6df1195_k-768x512.jpg 768w, https:\/\/spaceflightnow.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/50724621862_59e6df1195_k-678x452.jpg 678w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1200px) 100vw, 1200px\"><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-49281\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Five kerosene-fueled Delphin engines power Astra\u2019s Rocket 3.2 vehicle off the pad at Kodiak Island, Alaska. Credit: Astra \/ John Kraus<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Astra was established in 2016 to mass-produce rockets at relatively low cost, giving military, government, and commercial customers a more affordable option to launch small satellites. Its competitors in the small satellite launch market include Rocket Lab, which has been in commercial service for several years, and Virgin Orbit, which plans its second orbital launch attempt in January after its air-dropped rocket failed just after engine ignition on its inaugural test flight in May.<\/p>\n<p>Numerous other companies, such as Firefly Aerospace and Relativity Space, plan to launch their small satellite launchers for the first time in the next couple of years.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThis today demonstrates that this is the right strategy for space: iterating, learning as quickly as possible, incorporating the learnings into the next release, and iterating quickly,\u201d Kemp said Tuesday. \u201cSo we intend to continue to iterate with Rocket 3.3, 3.4, 3.5, and beyond, increasing performance, decreasing cost and ultimately delivering our customers\u2019 payloads to space at a fraction of the cost that has ever been accomplished before.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Astra\u2019s first orbital launch attempt Sept. 11 ended 30 seconds after takeoff when a guidance system problem caused the rocket to drift off course. In response, the rocket\u2019s engines were commanded to shut down and the vehicle fell back to the spaceport on Kodiak Island.<\/p>\n<p>The company says its rocket and the vehicle\u2019s ground infrastructure can be shipped to launch sites around the world and set up in a few days with small team. At Kodiak, Astra\u2019s launch site is a bare concrete pad before the company\u2019s hardware begins arriving before each flight.<\/p>\n<p>A crew of five set up the mobile launch pad and Rocket 3.2 at Kodiak over several days, Kemp said, but Astra had to send a backup team to finish the job after a member of the primary crew tested positive for COVID-19. That forced the first team to quarantine in their hotel.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI think this a huge testament to the automation, the refinement, that has gone into this system over the past couple of years since we first started building and launching orbital rockets, that we are now at a point that just five people can go up and set up the entire launch system, launch site, and rocket, and launch it in just a couple of days,\u201d Kemp said.<\/p>\n<p>A control team working from Astra\u2019s headquarters in California oversees the final launch countdown.<\/p>\n<p>Astra currently has around 100 employees, and the company says it has raised $100 million to date from private investors. Buying the full capacity on a launch of an Astra rocket will cost about $2.5 million, the company says, less than the price of a dedicated flight on any other orbital-class rocket.<\/p>\n<p>Kemp declined to give a number on the amount of payload mass Rocket 3.2 could have delivered to orbit, but Astra officials said earlier this year that Rocket 3.1 \u2014 which launched in September \u2014 was designed to carry up to 55 pounds (25 kilograms) of cargo into orbit.<\/p>\n<p>Astra says it has a roadmap for more capable rockets, eventually aiming to build a launch vehicle to deploy a satellite with a mass up to 330 pounds (150 kilograms).<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAt some point, we will make some number of identical copies of this rocket,\u201d Kemp said. \u201cAnd I think that\u2019ll come in the next six months or so, where we really just turn production on and we make a dozen or so identical carbon copies of the same rocket.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe continue to have a roadmap ahead of us where ultimately, over the next couple of years, we are going to continue to increase the performance and decrease the cost of the rocket, where we\u2019re able to fly large numbers of small satellites very competitively with larger rockets.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><b><i>Email the author.<\/i><\/b><\/p>\n<p><em><strong>Follow Stephen Clark on Twitter: @StephenClark1.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Astra\u2019s Rocket 3.2 takes off from Kodiak Island, Alaska. Credit: Astra \/ John Kraus On its second test flight Tuesday, Astra\u2019s privately-developed small satellite launcher ran out of fuel seconds before reaching the velocity needed to enter orbit but exceeded the company\u2019s expectations with an otherwise-successful climb into space from Kodiak Island, Alaska. Astra officials [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[1623,1941,291,1958,25,1959,1960,1961],"class_list":["post-11953","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news","tag-alaska","tag-astra","tag-commercial-space","tag-kodiak-island","tag-launch","tag-pacific-spaceport-complex-alaska","tag-rocket-3-2","tag-smallsats"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11953"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11953"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11953\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11953"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11953"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11953"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}