РН Astra – калифорнийский стартап втихаря делает сверхлегкую ракету

Автор Тангаж, 17.02.2018 22:24:50

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tnt22

ЦитироватьLaunchStuff‏ @LaunchStuff 3 ч. назад

Missed launch: The SuprSekrit launch service provider Astra Space had their second flight on the 29th from the Pacific Spaceport Complex – Alaska. Details unknown due to SuprSekrit.

https://www.faa.gov/data_research/commercial_space_data/launches/?type=Licensed ...

http://www.kodiakdailymirror.com/news/kodiak_news/article_ad1c3100-f403-11e8-a285-b7ca9d4f022c.html
ЦитироватьRocket launch scrubbed on Wednesday

Posted: Thursday, November 29, 2018 9:22 am
By JACK BARNWELL jack@kodiakdailymirror.com 

KODIAK — A planned rocket launch by Astra Space Inc. at Pacific Spaceport Complex-Alaska was scrubbed Wednesday afternoon.

Barry King, director of range operations for Alaska Aerospace Corporation, confirmed the scrub but declined to comment on why the launch didn't go forward. King also declined to state the specific company conducting the launch operation. However, Astra is the only company licensed by the Federal Aviation Administration to conduct commercial launch operations at Pacific Spaceport Complex-Alaska.
Других сообщений пока нет...

tnt22

https://spacenews.com/astra-space-suborbital-launch-fails/
ЦитироватьAstra Space suborbital launch fails
by Jeff Foust — December 6, 2018


Launch facilities at Pacific Spaceport Complex Alaska on Kodiak Island. Credit: Alaska Aerospace Corp.

WASHINGTON — A test flight in Alaska of a small launch vehicle by a stealthy startup company ended in failure in late November, the Federal Aviation Administration has revealed.

In a speech Dec. 6 at a U.S. Chamber of Commerce space conference here discussing the agency's approach to commercial spaceflight safety, FAA Acting Administrator Dan Elwell mentioned a recent, but previously unreported, accident involving a launch taking place from Alaska one week ago.

"The recent launch mishap is an example of why I'm confident we're on the right track," he said. "Look, rockets are complex, powerful vehicles that fail every now and again. But because of our approach to licensing and the precautions operators take, no one in the public has ever been hurt."

"We saw that in Alaska a week ago today," he continued. "Even though all five engines failed, all debris landed in the spaceport boundary and there were no injuries or property damage to the uninvolved public."

Elwell didn't provide additional details about the event, and left the conference without taking questions. However, according to the list maintained by the FAA on its website of licensed launches, there was a launch Nov. 29 by Astra of its "Astra Rocket 2" from Alaska. No payload is listed for that launch, and the site provides no other details about the mission.
Спойлер
launch license the FAA issued to Astra Space Inc. on Oct. 15, also available on the FAA website, authorized the company to perform a suborbital flight of its "Rocket 2" vehicle from Launch Pad 2 at Pacific Spaceport Complex-Alaska, the commercial launch site on Kodiak Island, Alaska, operated by Alaska Aerospace Corp.

The launch featured a first stage but an "upper stage mass simulator" in place of an active upper stage. The rocket was intended to fly on an azimuth of 195 degrees, or slightly west of due south, from the spaceport, but the license did not disclose the planned altitude or downrange distance for the mission.

As the name suggests, the launch was the second for Astra Space. The company performed an initial suborbital launch, also from Kodiak, July 20. The launch took place in foggy conditions and the outcome was also shrouded in secrecy: the FAA said that launch suffered an unspecified "mishap" but Alaska Aerospace Corp. said the customer for that launch, which it declined to disclose citing a nondisclosure agreement, was "very pleased with the outcome of the launch."

Alaska Aerospace Corp. did not immediately respond to a request for comment Dec. 6 about the Nov. 29 launch accident. An FAA source, speaking on background, said the accident caused no damage to the spaceport.

Astra Space has also not commented on the launch failure. The company, based in Alameda, California, has been working on a small launch vehicle capable of placing 100 kilograms into low Earth orbit, according to documents included with its lease agreement with the city of Alameda for a building the company uses. The company has maintained a low profile, identifying itself as "Stealth Space Company" in some job listings
[свернуть]

tnt22

Цитировать Mark Harris‏ Подлинная учетная запись @meharris 39 мин.39 минут назад

Scoop: Astra Space's tests contaminated hundreds of tonnes of soil & damaged a building at the Pacific Spaceport Complex Alaska on Kodiak Island. My latest for @newscientist [paywall]
https://www.newscientist.com/article/2218048-revealed-rocket-test-at-alaskan-spaceport-polluted-230-tonnes-of-soil/ ...




37 мин. назад

I got Astra on the record for the first time. They say both test flights last year were successful, but that both ended early. Both landed on spaceport land, requiring over 230 tonnes of soil to be removed to the mainland for decontamination.


34 мин. назад

Debris from the first flight in July also damaged exterior panels on PSCA's Integration & Processing Facility. The damage was fixed by early spring this year. This damage increased insurance costs for @vectorlaunch - one of the reasons it did not launch from PSCA last year.




 29 мин. назад

The boss of PSCA at the time told @SpaceNews_Inc that the launch had caused "no material damage to our facilities." However, minutes from a spaceport board meeting had a section entitled "Facility Damage Report from 7.20.18 launch". https://spacenews.com/alaska-launch-shrouded-in-secrecy/ ...


25 мин. назад

Remember how an FAA official said all 5 of Astra's rocket engines failed on its 2nd flight (another great story by @jeff_foust)? Astra says that was incorrect. 2 engines on the rocket failed, the remainder were shut down to maintain trajectory.


Прим. Статья по первой ссылке доступна полностью только подписчикам  :(
ЦитироватьRevealed: Rocket test at Alaskan spaceport polluted 230 tonnes of soil
30 September 2019
By Mark Harris


The Pacific Spaceport Complex Alaska is in an isolated spot
NASA/Alaska Aerospace Corporation

Last year, Astra Space began its first rocket test launches at one of the most isolated spaceports in the world. Until now, it had seemed that the rockets failed to launch. But New Scientist has learned that the rockets did take off — before malfunctioning and damaging the spaceport. Remediation work has included sending more than 200 tonnes of soil for decontamination. ...

tnt22


tnt22

https://spectrum.ieee.org/tech-talk/aerospace/satellites/fcc-filing-confirms-final-contestant-in-darpas-12-million-satellite-launch-challenge
Цитировать
10 Jan 2020 | 19:40 GMT
FCC Filing Confirms Final Contestant in DARPA's $12 Million Satellite Launch Challenge
Astra Space, the sole remaining participant, gets early notice of the competition launch site
By Mark Harris


Illustration: iStockphotoEditor's Picks

In 2018, the U.S. Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) announced the multi-million-dollar DARPA Launch Challenge to promote rapid access to space within days rather than years. To earn prizes totaling more than US $12 million, rocket companies would have to launch unfamiliar satellites fr om two sites in quick succession.

"The launch environment of tomorrow will more closely resemble that of airline operations—with frequent launches from a myriad of locations worldwide," said Todd Master, DARPA's program manager for the competition at the time. The U.S. military relies on space-based systems for much of its navigation and surveillance needs, and wants a way to quickly replace damaged or destroyed satellites in the future. At the moment, it takes at least three years to build, test, and launch spacecraft.

To ensure that DARPA was incentivizing the flexible, responsive launch technologies the U.S. military needs, competitors would receive information about the site of their next launch fewer than 30 days prior to each flight, DARPA's rules stated, and only learn their actual payloads two weeks out. 

While 18 companies impressed DARPA enough to pre-qualify, just three startups overcame the Challenge's first hurdle by securing a launch license from the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration.

Vector Launch had already flown prototype rockets on sub-orbital missions, and  URL=https://virginorbit.com/]Virgin Orbit[/URL] was developing an air-launched rocket that would be carried aloft by a modified Virgin Atlantic 747. The third qualifier was a space startup that asked to remain anonymous. In April 2019, each company received $400,000 to help them advance to the launch phase.

It was too little, too late for Vector, which in August replaced its founding CEO, Jim Cantrell, and suspended operations amid financial difficulties. In October, Virgin Orbit also pulled out, writing: "After comparing DARPA's requested timeline with our commitments to our commercial and government customers, we have elected to withdraw from the competition."

That left the hopes of the U.S. military resting on a mysterious space company still operating in stealth mode.

According to a recent filing at the FCC, the last startup standing in the Launch Challenge is actually Astra Space, a secretive Bay Area company that has won dozens of U.S. government contracts from NASA and the Pentagon. Astra Space does not even have a website, and calls itself a "stealth space company" in job listings.

Last year, Astra Space launched its first two sub-orbital rocket missions from the remote Pacific Spaceport Complex-Alaska (PSCA) on Kodiak Island. Neither flight was a complete success. The first resulted in minor damage to a rocket processing facility, and debris from both launches caused environmental damage that required hundreds of tons of soil to be removed for remediation.

In December, Astra Space was granted permission by the FCC for its first orbital rocket flight at PSCA. This will involve launching a small experimental satellite called GEARRS3, developed in part by the Air Force Research Laboratory.

Quick on the heels of that, Astra Space requested permission this week for another orbital launch, from NASA's Wallops Flight Facility on the eastern shore of Virginia. In its application, Astra Space noted: "The operation is to launch a small satellite into low earth orbit. This will be a launch... in support of the DARPA Challenge."


Credit: Astra Space/FCC
Schematic of the latest version of Astra Space's orbital launch vehicle.

Under Launch Challenge rules, Astra Space should only have been informed of the launch site at most 30 days before making its attempt. Astra Space's FCC paperwork, however, states an earliest launch date of 1 March 2020, giving Astra Space at least 55 days to prepare. The paperwork even requests permission to launch as late as the start of September.

Attempting to compress multi-year launch preparations into weeks "was always a bridge too far," says Cantrell, ex-CEO of Vector. "From a purely physical point of view, we could string up a rocket up in our backyard and launch it, but the reality of the regulatory environment forces more of a six-to-12-month decision. We gave [DARPA] the feedback, gently, that it was not realistic."

"We have made some amendments to timelines to allow compliance with national policy and regulatory requirements, while still meeting our goals of being responsive," says Master. Although Astra Space will know wh ere it will fly from, it will only receive its final trajectory 30 days prior to launch, and only receive the actual spacecraft a few days before.

Since qualifying for the Launch Challenge, Astra Space's original FAA launch license expired. A fresh license [PDF], issued this week, allows Astra Space to use a new version of its rocket for its first orbital attempt—but only from PSCA in Alaska. It would need a modification of this license for its DARPA flight at Wallops, potentially adding another delay.

Astra Space did not immediately reply to requests for comment.

Despite the Launch Challenge loosening its rules and losing almost all its participants, Cantrell remains supportive of DARPA's efforts. "They're really pushing the boundaries and trying to break the rules of how things have always been done," he says.

tnt22

https://www.bloomberg.com/features/2020-astra-rocket/
Цитировать3 февраля 2020 г., 13:00
A SMALL ROCKET MAKER
IS RUNNING A DIFFERENT KIND OF SPACE RACE

Astra, Darpa's rocket startup of choice, is preparing to launch satellites into orbit in record time

By Ashlee Vance 
Photographs by Jason Henry

Video
▲ Astra's rocket named "One of Three" undergoes late night testing in Alameda, Calif.

The 40-foot-long, 4-foot-wide rocket loomed over the quiet suburb of Alameda, Calif., on the morning of Jan. 18, near the Pottery Barn Outlet. A handful of engineers and metal wrenchers got to work early, setting up the rocket and connecting it to a mess of electronics and tubes. The device stood up straight, with the help of some black metal scaffolding. Its bottom third gleamed aluminum; the rest, actor-teeth white. Over the course of the day, the team pumped in various gases and liquids to prepare the rocket's valves, chambers, and other components for a crucial test.

Shortly after midnight, the rocket was ready for an exercise called a cold flow, meant to ensure that its propellant tanks can handle liquid fuel. Once the team had filled the rocket, taken the needed measurements, and checked for leaks, they simply evacuated the machine by releasing huge volumes of liquid nitrogen into the air. The thing about liquid nitrogen is that it must be kept supercold to remain liquid. It boiled instantly on contact with the outside air, creating a billowing white cloud that stretched out more than 200 yards. With the team's floodlights beaming down on the test site, this odd fog monster easily could have been seen by anyone living in the houses as close as 2,000 feet away. Soon, though, the rocket was trucked off toward its next temporary home, a spaceport in Kodiak, Alaska.


▲ Adam London (left) and Chris Kemp (right), the cofounders of Astra, inside a rocket engine test chamber

Until speaking with Bloomberg Businessweek, Astra, the three-year-old rocket startup behind the test, had operated in secret, rolling nitrogen clouds aside. The company's founders say they want to be the FedEx Corp. of space. They're aiming to create small, cheap rockets that can be mass-produced to facilitate daily spaceflights, delivering satellites into low-Earth orbit for as little as $1 million per launch. If Astra's planned Kodiak flight succeeds on Feb. 21, it will have put a rocket into orbit at a record-setting pace. Chief Executive Officer Chris Kemp says he's focused less on this particular launch than on the logistics of creating many more rockets. "We have taken a much broader look at how we scale the business," he says.

Going fast in the aerospace business is a rarity and doesn't usually work out so well. But the U.S. government has made speedy rocket launches something of a national priority, and Astra stands as a Department of Defense darling right now. The Pentagon's R&D arm, the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, or Darpa, made Astra one of three finalists in a contest called the Launch Challenge. The terms: Whichever startup could send two rockets fr om different locations with different payloads within a few weeks of each other would win $12 million.

Astra is the only finalist still in the running. Virgin Orbit, part of billionaire Richard Branson's spaceflight empire that's been working on its rocket for about a decade, has withdrawn from the contest. Vector Launch Inc., the third finalist, filed for bankruptcy in December. That's left Astra in a competition against itself and physics, which may be why Kemp, a relentless ball of confident energy who dresses in head-to-toe black, is uncharacteristically trying to set modest expectations for the Kodiak launch.

Video
▲ Workers mount the five engines that power the rocket's first stage

"It would be unprecedented if this was a successful orbital flight," he says. "We want to emphasize that this is one of many launches we will do in an ongoing campaign."

The 42-year-old CEO spent almost five years at NASA, but he's not a rocket scientist by training. He joined NASA in 2007 after running a string of internet startups, eventually becoming the space agency's chief technology officer. While at NASA he shepherded an open source software project called Open Stack, which turned into a data center and cloud computing phenomenon. He left in 2011, hoping to capitalize on Open Stack's success, but his next company, Nebula, found itself outgunned by Amazon.com Inc.'s cloud computing services; Oracle Corp. acquired Nebula's piece parts in 2015. Unsure what to do next, he spent a couple of years hunting for fresh ideas, which is when he ran into Adam London, Astra's co-founder and CTO.

London is the rocket man, a 46-year-old with a doctorate in aerospace engineering from MIT and a talent for calculating drag coefficients and gravity losses in his head. He spent 12 years running a small rocket company called Ventions in the heart of San Francisco. Ventions's handful of employees focused on miniaturizing rocket technology in their makeshift lab, living on NASA and Darpa contracts and the odd consulting gig. By 2016, London had grown determined to build the rocket of his dreams, but he needed a lot more capital. Kemp and his talent for winning over investors seemed like a good match, so after many chats, they joined forces. "I liked Chris's enthusiasm, his ability to think about the story, and certainly his network," says London, the measured counterpoint to Kemp's bravado.[

The rest of Astra's 150-person team includes some legit aerospace veterans—former SpaceX employees such as Chris Thompson (part of the SpaceX founding team), Matt Lehman (propulsion), Roger Carlson (the Dragon capsule), and Bryson Gentile (the Falcon 9 rocket). But there's also a large contingent of people who came either from gritty, bootstrapped rocket outfits or from other fields entirely. Much of the engine building has been done by Ben Farrant, a former Navy engine man who's spent the bulk of his career in the auto racing world tuning vehicles. Les Martin, a launch and test infrastructure engineer, built test stands for SpaceX, Virgin Galactic, and Firefly Aerospace after learning electronics in the Marines. "I didn't know the first thing about rockets, whenever I got into it," he says. "But with these startups, you're involved pretty quickly in just about every single aspect.

Rocket Commerce

DATA: SPACEX, ROCKET LAB, ASTRA

Astra has raised more than $100 million from investors including Acme, Advance, Airbus Ventures, Canaan Partners, Innovation Endeavors, and Salesforce co-founder Marc Benioff. Billions have flowed into commercial spaceflight ventures over the past few years, often to newcomers that, like Astra, have shied away from competing directly with Elon Musk's SpaceX and government-backed makers of large rockets.

The jumbo end of the market centers on rockets that fly roughly once a month and cost $60 million to $300 million per launch, typically carrying tons of cargo. Astra says its daily launches, meant to carry about 450 pounds of cargo to orbit, will be pitched to the dozens of companies making a new breed of small satellites, such as Planet Labs, Spire Global, and Swarm Technologies.

Whereas conventional orbital networks are composed of a relative handful of satellites the size of a car, Planet and its rivals produce tens to hundreds of basketball-size satellites for use in very specific orbits to photograph, track, and connect things on Earth in near-real time. At the moment no one really knows how big or viable the market for smaller rockets to ferry these satellites might be. Rocket Lab, a company founded by Peter Beck in Auckland in 2006, is the only small-rocket maker that's actively launching. Rocket Lab enjoyed a banner 2019, putting six rockets into space, and has about a dozen more launches scheduled for this year. Its success has placed immense pressure on companies such as Astra and Virgin Orbit to catch up.



▲ A rocket factory coming to life inside of a 250,000 square foot-facility next to an Alameda neighborhood

Astra has operated in secrecy partly to avoid being pushed to set unrealistic deadlines. Most of its workers have online résumés that list their employer as "Stealth Space Company," and there hasn't been a website. At the former Alameda Naval Air Station, Astra took over a decrepit building used decades ago to test jet engines indoors, which has helped keep its secrecy intact. The facility has two long tunnels that send fire and scorching hot air up through exhaust towers and thick concrete walls capable of absorbing the explosive impacts of tests gone wrong.

This setup has allowed Astra to conduct thousands of runs on its rocket engines without its neighbors noticing much of anything. It's also meant Astra can put the engines through their paces on-site and make adjustments to the hardware quickly, instead of going to the Mojave Desert or an open field in Texas wh ere other rocket makers typically run engine trials.

Kemp says that Rocket Lab's going launch rate of about $7.5 million a pop is too high and that the company's Electron rocket has been overengineered. Instead of using carbon fiber for the rocket body and fancy 3D-printed parts as Rocket Lab does, Astra has stuck with aluminum and simplified engines built with common tools. London's team has tried to make the Astra radios, igniters, and even the rocket transport vehicle low-cost, high-performing, and easy to re-create.

Alongside its rocket test building, Astra has been assembling a 250,000-square-foot manufacturing facility that Kemp says will be able to churn out hundreds of rockets a year. "Our strategy is to always focus on the bottom line," he says. "Nothing is sacred. We're able to profitably deliver payloads at $2.5 million per launch, and our intent is to continue to lower that price and increase the performance of our system."

The proof is in the orbital launch. Most spaceflight companies' first crafts go boom in a bad way, but Rocket Lab has an almost flawless launch record. Beck, a self-taught rocket engineer, says his perfectionism is a selling point. "If someone wants to build a rocket that is super inaccurate, let them," he says. "I'm not built to build shit." Astra's previous two launches, each of a smaller version of its current rocket, tumbled back onto the Kodiak coastline in 2018, breaking apart in spectacular pyrotechnic displays.

Video
▲ An engineer relies on a forklift to get at the rocket's electronics during testing procedures

To win the $12 million, Astra will need to place a satellite of Darpa's choosing into the right orbit. The Pentagon agency will then sel ect another launch site—probably somewhere in California, Florida, or Virginia—and give Astra a few weeks to get a fresh rocket to the new launchpad. It would be an incredibly quick turnaround for an industry in which six to 12 months is a typical time span needed to calibrate the specifics around new launch sites and payloads.

"That is what was expected," Kemp says. "Many of our objectives on those launches were achieved, and I guarantee we couldn't have built our orbital rocket in three years if the team hadn't benefited from that experience." London is more circumspect—but comparably optimistic. "I did expect or at least hoped we would be in orbit by now," he says. "But outside of things being a little harder than you would like, the broad direction and slope of things line up pretty well with our original plan."

Astra has several rocket bodies awaiting the challenge on its Alameda factory floor. Kemp says the company has signed contracts for more than a dozen launches with paying customers, and it plans to create a launchpad in the Marshall Islands to match the one in Alaska. So far, he says, there are no plans to launch directly fr om the Alameda Pottery Barn.

tnt22

ЦитироватьJeff Foust@jeff_foust  3:37 PM - Feb 3, 2020

Some new details about "Stealth Space Company," aka Astra Space, which is planning its next launch as soon as Feb. 21 from Alaska:

https://www.bloomberg.com/features/2020-astra-rocket/ ...


3:39 PM - Feb 3, 2020

That launch appears to be the one referenced in a recent Coast Guard notice, which says a launch is planned that day from Kodiak between 11:30am and 3pm local time; additional launch opportunities exist daily through the end of the month.

https://www.navcen.uscg.gov/pdf/lnms/lnm17042020.pdf ...

tnt22

NOTMAR (local), стр 2



Пусковой период: с 21 февраля по 1 марта с.г. (включительно)
Пусковое окно: ежедневно с 20:30 до 24:00 UTC / с 23:30 до 03:00 ДМВ

tnt22



tnt22

https://spacenews.com/astra-emphasizes-rapid-iteration-in-its-quest-for-low-cost-rapid-launch/
ЦитироватьAstra emphasizes rapid iteration in its quest for low-cost, rapid launch
by Jeff Foust — February 14, 2020


Astra performs a test of its small launch vehicle at its Alameda, California, headquarters in an undated scene fr om a video released by the company in February. Credit: Astra

WASHINGTON — As Astra prepares for its first orbital launch attempt, the company is setting expectations accordingly and taking the long view towards its goal of frequent, low-cost access to space.

The launch window for Astra's first orbital launch fr om Pacific Spaceport Complex – Alaska now opens Feb. 25, according to a U.S. Coast Guard notice published Feb. 12. The company will have daily windows from 3:30 to 7:00 p.m. Eastern through March 3.

In a Feb. 13 interview, Chris Kemp, chief executive of Astra, confirmed that launch window but didn't give a specific date when the company would make its first launch attempt. The rocket, dubbed "One of Three," will be flying to the spaceport on Kodiak Island, Alaska, in a few days.

That launch, he confirmed, will be the first of two missions as part of the DARPA Launch Challenge, a competition by DARPA to demonstrate responsive launch capabilities. Astra is the sole remaining competitor in the challenge after the other two finalists, Vector and Virgin Orbit, dropped out last year.

Kemp said the company has yet to receive the payload provided by DARPA that the company will launch on that mission. "I think it shows up any day now," he said. "Part of the challenge is not knowing what the payload is and integrating the payload at the last minute." He added he expected DARPA to disclose more details about the competition on or around Feb. 18.

Astra will receive $2 million if it successfully places that payload into orbit, and $10 million if it successfully performs a second launch from another site, which would be either Vandenberg Air Force Base in California, Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia or Naval Outlying Field on San Nicolas Island off the California coast. Kemp said the company has been preparing for launching from any of those three sites, including filing an application with the Federal Communications Commission for a license supporting a Wallops launch, but has not been informed by DARPA which site they would use.

However, Kemp said that the company, which emerged from stealth mode just this month, was aware of the long odds of success for the first orbital launch of any rocket. "The fact that we're talking now to the press is really a function of wanting to make sure that, prior to the DARPA Launch Challenge, we don't frame everything around this first launch," he said. "It's not our expectation that our first launch will succeed, but it is our expectation that a campaign will succeed if we launch, learn and iterate."

He said he expected "a few attempts" before succeeding to place a payload in orbit. He based on that on historic estimates that it takes "somewhere between three and four" launches before a vehicle is successful. SpaceX, for example, did not make orbit until the fourth flight of its Falcon 1 rocket. However, Rocket Lab achieved orbit on its second Electron mission after a problem with range safety equipment, and not the rocket itself, on its first launch.

Astra is preparing for that by building three of its "Rocket 3.0" vehicles together. Kemp said the second rocket is about 90% complete and the third 40% complete. "We're able to produce a rocket a month," he said. "That allows us to, if this first flight isn't entirely successful, make whatever changes we'd like to make," he said. "It will not be a year before we launch again. It will be maybe a month or two before we launch again."

Once Astra does reach orbit, be it on its first launch or third, the company is ready to move ahead with a "big long list of satellites on manifest." He didn't disclose any specific customers, but said it included a mix of commercial and government customers willing to fly an untried vehicle to get they payloads into orbit.

"There's just so little supply of launches when customers want to fly and wh ere they want to fly that they're willing to launch on a rocket that has no success record," he said. "The fact that we have so many customers waiting in line without yet establishing that track record is pretty encouraging to us."

The key to Astra's success, he argued, is the ability to iterate quickly, incorporating improvements in the design of the rocket. The company has already done that through its first two rockets, suborbital vehicles launched from Alaska in 2018. The first rocket had a carbon composite nose cone, which cost about $250,000 to make, which was close to the target cost of the entire vehicle. "We could not use composites, period," he said, with the company switching to an aluminum structure that is cheaper and faster to produce.

Astra, unlike many others in the launch business, is eschewing the use of additive manufacturing, or 3-D printing. "We do 3D-print two components on the rocket today, and we are moving away from that as fast as we possibly can, because those 3D-printed components cost as much as the entire rocket."

That iteration will continue after successfully reaching orbit. Kemp said a version 4 of the rocket will be able to place 50 kilograms into a sun-synchronous orbit. "We think that is about right for wh ere the market is today," he said. He expected Astra to produce 25 of those, of which more than half have been sold.

That iteration also reflects competition from Rocket Lab's Electron. After Electron entered service Astra made changes to the design of its rocket, including new engines with double the thrust from those used on its 2.0 version of the rocket and larger tanks. "We were able to quickly respond to Rocket Lab's successful orbital flight," Kemp said. "We decided to double the mass of our rocket so we could directly compete with Rocket Lab. That is something that didn't take is five years to do or 11 years to do. It took us one year."

Future versions will be driven by market needs, including both vehicle capacity and launch rate. Astra, in an introductory video posted on its website, spoke of offering daily access to space, a goal he said provides a "north star" to guide the company's efforts that will take three to five generations of vehicles to reach.

"You get there by, frankly, iterating," he said. "With each generation of the rocket we'll have an opportunity to look at the market and understand what the demand looks like, and then design the rocket for a certain production rate."

Kemp emphasized near the end of the half-hour interview that the company won't be discouraged if its upcoming launch fails. "If this launch isn't entirely successful, we're going to go do it again," he said. "We're going to iterate towards orbit."

tnt22

Astra появилась в соцсетях

Цитировать Astra‏ @astra 2 ч. назад

Welcome to Astra! We're launching a new generation of space services to observe, connect, and improve life on earth.


tnt22



tnt22

Цитировать Homem do Espaço‏ @HomemDoEspacoBr 6 ч. назад

Astra Rocket will be launched in a @DARPA mission




4 ч. назад

Foguete Astra Rocket "1 de 3". A Astra e a Agência de Projetos de Pesquisa Avançada de Defesa (DARPA) estão se preparando para o primeiro em um "desafio de lançamento" de missão dupla.




4 ч. назад

#LaunchChallenge Astra Rocket by Homem do Espaço


tnt22

Компиляция из различных материалов, есть редкие кадры первых суборбиттальных пусков
ЦитироватьAstra's Secret Rocket Project Finally Reveals Itself

Scott Manley

25 февр. 2020 г.

About 18 Months ago I covered Astra, a small rocket startup based only a few miles from my home. They were still a 'Stealth' company, and would not publicly acknowledge what they were doing, even after a pair of suborbital tests which failed due to engine problems. However they're now speaking publicly, and making a lot of noise about their smallsat launcher and their first orbital launch attempt only a few days from now.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GUzDTV1JEWQhttps://www.youtube.com/embed/GUzDTV1JEWQ (9:19)

zandr

https://www.militarynews.ru/story.asp?rid=1&nid=527886&lang=RU
ЦитироватьСтартап Astra совершит первый тестовый запуск своей ракеты для выполнения срочных заданий Пентагона
       Вашингтон. 28 февраля. ИНТЕРФАКС - Новый частный американский производитель ракет - компания Astra планирует в пятницу совершить первый тестовый запуск своего носителя легкого класса Rocket 3.0 с мини-спутниками в интересах министерства обороны США, сообщило Агентство перспективных исследовательских проектов в области обороны (DARPA).
       Запуск, который проводится в рамках конкурса DARPA, планируется осуществить с тихоокеанского космического комплекса на острове Кадьяк, расположенного у южного побережья Аляски, во временное окно с 23:30 в пятницу до 02:30 мск в субботу. В случае непогоды оно может быть расширено до 1 марта.
       Ракета Astra Rocket 3.0 представляет собой двухступенчатую ракету с пятью двигателями. Носитель может выводить на 500-километровую солнечно-синхронную орбиту до 150 кг полезной нагрузки. Длина ракеты составляет всего 11,6 метра и может транспортироваться в контейнере на любой стартовый комплекс.
       На борту Astra Rocket 3.0 размещены четыре малых спутника. Они будут выполнять роль срочного заказа на вывод на орбиту груза, который передается компании Пентагоном для установки на ее ракете, как минимум, за трое-четверо суток до старта.
       В рамках теста, в частности, планируется вывести на целевую орбиту высотой 445 км экспериментальный спутник связи Prometheus Лос-Аламосской ядерной лаборатории, двух спутников связи, созданных в университете Южной Флориды и радиомаяка Space Object Automated Reporting Systems.
       При этом в рамках конкурса DARPA запуск ракеты-носителя будет признан успешным, даже если ракета поднимется, хотя бы на высоту 150 км.
       Высокая экономичность ракеты может позволить занять Astra серьезные конкурентные позиции на рынке космических запусков. По утверждению компании, ее ракета будет самым простым и технологичным носителем в мире. Стоимость одного старта должна составлять около 2,5 млн долл. Для сравнения запуск ракеты тяжелого класса Falcon 9 компании SpaceX оценивается более чем в 60 млн долл.
      "Мы хотим получить возможность запускать полезную нагрузку на орбиту в очень короткие сроки, без предварительного уведомления о полезной нагрузке, орбиты или места запуска ", - сказал Тодд Мастер, менеджер отдела по тактическим технологиям программы "DARPA Launch Challenge".
       В случае успешного старта Astra получит от DARPA 2 млн долл. Это позволит компании получить еще 10 млн долл. при осуществлении второго успешного запуска, который уже запланирован на 18 марта.
       Компания Astra собирается осуществлять дешевые регулярные запуски космических аппаратов в интересах американских военных, которым нужны носители, способные по кратчайшим заявкам выводить на орбиту малые космические аппараты.
       Конкурс DARPA был объявлен два года назад. Изначально в нем участвовали 18 компаний. Однако по итогам осталась одна Astra.
       До конца 2020 года Astra создать 25 ракет, чтобы начать коммерческие запуски. После этого она планирует выпустить еще 100 ракет с более низкой стоимостью.

Salo

"Были когда-то и мы рысаками!!!"


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ЦитироватьSpace books написал:
Astra выходит из тени. Дебютный запуск космической ракеты с Аляски — трансляция
https://youtu.be/2Wzagx8kC7s


https://youtu.be/2Wzagx8kC7s
Завтра,   29 февраля в 22:30 вечера по киевскому времени, в космическом бизнесе   дебютирует частная калифорнийская компания Astra. С площадки LP-3B   Тихоокеанского космического комплекса/Аляска она попытается запустить   ракету-носитель Rocket 3.0 с тремя наноспутниками и прибором, который  на  орбите останется закрепленным на верхней ступени.

Миссия под эгидой Минобороны США носит название "Один из трех" (One of Three).
https://youtu.be/76ck6Bw2M4k
https://youtu.be/76ck6Bw2M4k  
DARPA  Launch Challenge - конкурс от Управления перспективных  исследовательских проектов Пентагона по гибкому/оперативному запуску  небольших полезных нагрузок в кратчайшие сроки после размещения заказа.  Объявлен в 2018-м. Задача: дважды вывести грузы на околоземную орбиту с  разных стартовых площадок в течение двух-трех недель.  Квалификационный этап из 18 участников прошли три компании —  Vector Launch, Virgin Orbit и Astra. Название последней объявили только  на днях: компания запросила анонимность на подготовительном этапе.  Vector обанкротилась, а Virgin вышла из игры. Astra получила $400 000.  Приз за успешную доставку груза на орбиту — $2 млн. Удача со вторым  быстрым запуском принесет Astra $10 млн.  Если эта миссия будет успешной, вторая по условиям конкурса  должна состояться на чуть отличную орбиту не позднее 18 марта — с другой  площадки этого же комплекса на мысе Нэрроу острова Кадьяк.  

Спутники  

Исторически военные спутники — очень дорогие и технологически  продвинутые массивные аппараты, которые разрабатывают и собирают годами.

   В последнее время Минобороны США стремится к гораздо более  гибкому графику и возможностям присутствия в космосе, используя  небольшие спутники, а также кубсаты — аппараты, кратные размерам  10х10х10 см, или даже совсем миниатюрные — покетсаты. Их удобно  запускать на малых ракетах частников вроде Rocket Lab.  

Под головным обтекателем будут:  

Prometheus 2.5 — полуторакилограммовый коммуникационный спутник  стоимостью менее $100 000, собранный в Лос-Аламосской лаборатории США.  Срок службы — от трех до пяти лет. С его помощью военные оценят новые  недорогие методы передачи аудио-, видео- и других файлов с портативных  полевых устройств на развертываемые терминалы наземных станций с  использованием загоризонтной спутниковой связи.  ARCE-1А и ARCE-1B (Articulated Reconnaissance and  Communications Expedition) — пара кубсатов размера 0.5U от Университета  Южной Флориды для отработки межспутниковой связи с целью поиска новых  способов автономизирования глобальных коммуникаций.  SOARS (Space Object Automated Reporting Systems) — радиомаяк  компании Tiger Innovations (штат Виргиния) для регулирования "дорожного  трафика" на орбите, который проверят в космосе для усовершенствования  его технологии.
https://youtu.be/48t0-eo55oo
https://youtu.be/48t0-eo55oo
Целевая  орбита — 445 км над Землей, но в DARPA уточнили, что посчитают миссию  успешной даже при достижении спутниками высоты в 150 км.  

Ракета  

Astra Rocket 3.0 — двухступенчатая ракета-носитель легкого  класса на топливной паре "ракетный керосин/жидкий кислород" высотой 11,6  и диаметром 1,32 м. Тяга первой ступени с пятью двигателями Dеlphin —  140 кН. Вторая ступень оснащена двигателем Aether. Плановые возможности:  100 кг груза на низкую околоземную орбиту. Спроектирована под перевозку  в обычном транспортном контейнере для максимально гибкого  использования.
 
 В космос версия Rocket 3.0 еще не летала, прошла лишь наземные  тесты. Два суборбитальных тест-запуска ракет-предшественниц завершились  неудачами: первая стартовала с Кадьяка в июле 2018-го и упала вскоре  после старта, вторая слетала примерно так же в ноябре того же года —  отказ всех пяти двигателей.  В компании подчеркнули, что возможный провал миссии их не  шокирует и перспективам не навредит, так как "исторически" для  достижения орбиты новый ракетам требуется до четырех пробных запусков.
https://youtu.be/LUW5rIYsSYk
https://youtu.be/LUW5rIYsSYk  
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"Были когда-то и мы рысаками!!!"