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<\/p>\nIn December 2020, Astra launched Rocket 3.2 to space. The successor, Rocket 3.3, will make Astra\u2019s first flight with a payload on board as early as this summer. And by the end of the year, the Rocket 3 series is planned to launch on a monthly basis.<\/p>\n
In 2022, Astra is planning to debut Rocket 4.0 in order to launch missions weekly. CEO Chris Kemp spoke about these steps and the ones that will follow, including daily launches from around the world, during a recent episode of NASASpaceflight Live.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
Early Astra rockets<\/p>\n
In July 2018, Astra launched their first rocket, Rocket 1.0, on a suborbital test flight from the Pacific Spaceport Complex in Kodiak, Alaska, the same site that would host the entirety of Astra\u2019s early test flight program.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe flew the first rocket with a suborbital license just about a year after we started the business,\u201d told Kemp. \u201cAnd these iterations were never intended to make it to orbit. In fact, they couldn\u2019t make it to orbit. The upper stage of that first rocket was a hunk of metal. And we accepted each of these steps because we would learn a lot about, for example in that case, the first stage. And with each of these steps, the team got just a tremendous amount of data.\u201d<\/p>\n
This iterative approach to research and development was integral to Astra\u2019s plan to quickly achieve an orbital launch capability.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou\u2019re seeing this same approach now being applied with the Starship program. This isn\u2019t how SpaceX did it the first time, but it is definitely the best way to do it. And we applaud how they\u2019re iterating and how they\u2019re making these generations of spacecraft faster and better. And this is exactly what we\u2019re doing.\u201d<\/p>\n
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Rocket 1.0 lifts off from the Pacific Spaceport Complex in Kodiak, Alaska \u2013 via Astra<\/p>\n
Astra launched Rocket 2.0, another suborbital test flight, just four months later in November 2018. This was the final flight before the debut of the currently active Rocket 3 series, which incorporated several upgrades and changes from Rockets 1.0 and 2.0.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe first rocket we did, 1.0, the nosecone cost almost a quarter of a million dollars because it was made out of carbon fiber. Much like the Rocket Lab rockets. We actually want the entire rocket to cost less than that in the end. So you can\u2019t make the nosecone cost a quarter of a million dollars or even anywhere near that and get to the ultimate price target.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWith the Rocket 2 series and 3 series, there were two different generations of the nosecones. And if you study the nosecone carefully, you\u2019ll see the shape changes a little bit. And the price is now down around $25,000. So we\u2019ve brought an order of magnitude cost out by using a really innovative aluminum and internal structure made out of aluminum tubes.\u201d<\/p>\n
In addition to fairing upgrades, the rockets also got bigger. \u201cBetween Rocket 1.0 and the Rocket 3 series, we got feedback from the market that we needed to put more payload in space. And with constellations like Kuiper, with the Starlink constellation being deployed, with OneWeb and several other constellations, we really wanted to address that entire market. And so we realized the rocket needed to be a bit bigger to put these communications satellites up. And so we increased the diameter of the rocket from 38 to 52 inches.\u201d<\/p>\n
Rocket 3 series<\/p>\n
Rocket 3.0 was set to make a launch attempt with customer payloads on board as part of the DARPA (Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency) launch challenge, which sought a launch provider to conduct two orbital launches from different launch sites within just days of each other. On the final day of the launch window, Astra reached the terminal countdown, but a sensor issue caused an abort, and the DARPA launch challenge prize went unclaimed.<\/p>\n
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Rocket 3.0 is raised vertical ahead of Astra\u2019s DARPA Launch Challenge attempt \u2013 via DARPA<\/p>\n
\u201cIn the actual DARPA Challenge, we got to T-52 seconds. We were in terminal count. And what actually prevented us from launching, I was very proud of the team, because it was sensor input that we got. And it was probably as one of the tanks was pressurizing.\u201d<\/p>\n
Kemp explained that noises from the pressurizing tanks were at a frequency which caused an on board accelerometer to reset. \u201cAnd it was super-interesting, because the entire XYZ didn\u2019t reset, just one of the axes reset. Which was actually an undocumented feature in the sensor that we were using.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd if that had happened in a flight, it could have given our guidance computer data that could have caused really, the consequences of that could be very difficult to predict. And you don\u2019t want a rocket, as it\u2019s lifting off, to have a guidance computer that doesn\u2019t know what direction the thing\u2019s pointed, even for a couple of milliseconds. So we decided the safe thing to do would be to not conduct the launch until we fully reviewed the cause of that issue.\u201d<\/p>\n
After the DARPA challenge window closed, the payloads were removed, and Rocket 3.0 reverted to a test flight status. But before another launch attempt could be made, the vehicle exploded on the launch pad in March 2020.<\/p>\n
Keeping with the iterative development approach, Astra quickly moved to Rocket 3.1. \u201cWe brought one out for the DARPA Challenge, almost launched it. Blew it up by accident. Launched the next one. Launched the next one.\u201d<\/p>\n
Rocket 3.1 was the first Rocket 3 series vehicle to fly, lifting off in September 2020. \u201cWe were able to quickly build another launcher, which reinforced the idea that this portable launch system was a great strategy. Because we could go back, put it all in containers, rebuild, send it back up there, and then launch again six months later.\u201d<\/p>\n
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Rocket 3.1 lifts off \u2013 via Astra\/John Kraus<\/p>\n
This flight was terminated via a commanded engine shutdown approximately 30 seconds after liftoff. \u201cWe had another really complex issue with guidance, where the software system had the rocket clocked in a slightly different configuration. And it was going to fly off course, so we had to turn it off. And so the safety system just turned the engines off and the thing fell out of the sky after about 30 seconds.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cAll the data other than that was perfect. And so we had one line of code in the guidance system that needed to be fixed, but as we scoured all the other data, the engines performed great. The pressurization system performed great. Terminal count performed great.\u201d<\/p>\n
And so the teams moved on to Rocket 3.2. While the goal was to make progress towards reaching orbit, the teams were not afraid of falling short, so long as meaningful data was collected to improve the system for the next attempt.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe didn\u2019t expect that flight to really reach space, and we didn\u2019t expect the upper stage to perform as well as it did because it wasn\u2019t tested and qualified to. I mean, we were really just trying to get the first stage working.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen the upper stage lit, and the upper stage flew away, and the guidance system worked beautifully, and we made it to space, we passed the Von Karman line, we kept going, we kept going, we kept going.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve never seen more people see the point in their career and the point in their life where they\u2019ve achieved something so incredible that, it was absolutely awe-inspiring.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/p>\n