A Closer Look At Astra’s Upcoming Launch, Progress, & Plans
Around the country, we are seeing more companies start and make significant progress in a short period of time. In addition to this many companies such as Astra have extremely ambitious goals and time schedules for the future. This is part of the reason they are so interesting to keep track of and watch each aspect of progress as time goes on.
Astra is set to launch their LV0008 rocket very soon after its first fully successful launch only a few months ago in November of 2021. In addition to this, the company has been making great progress through the development, manufacturing, testing, and launching phases of the rocket and more. All of which play an important role in the future success of not only their small-lift launch vehicle but the company itself as well.
While Astra had a few failures prior to their first success, it’s by no means easy. Successfully launching a rocket is an incredible feat for any agency much less a small company. However, after multiple failed attempts they had a successful launch. Astra has also put a lot of time into different facilities, plans, their overall goal for the future of the company, and more. Here I will go more in-depth into what the company has been up to, and why Astra is so important.
LV0008 Launch
Since Astra’s first launch a few years ago, they have been innovating and fixing different problems on their launch vehicle. Starting with Rocket 1, the company is now on LV0008, or Rocket 3.3. This will be the company’s and launch vehicle’s 7th launch in total. This launch is coming right after Astra’s first fully successful launch in November of 2021. This launch marked a huge milestone for the company which they plan to build on in the coming days. One of the unique aspects of this launch compared to previous ones is the location. All six previous launches happened at PSCA or the Pacific Spaceport Complex in Alaska. This site has multiple pads and hosted the previous unsuccessful and successful Astra launch attempts.
The upcoming launch however is planned to take off from the Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida. Specifically, at Space Launch Complex 46 within the station. This will be Astra’s first launch ever in Florida and they are planning for success. On top of LV0008 will be a payload from NASA. NASA Venture Class Launch Services 2 Mission One, officially known as VCLS Demo-2A, consists of five CubeSats meant to be delivered to LEO. This is part of the Educational Launch of Nanosatellites or ELaNa initiative by NASA. This launch has been delayed a few times now due to multiple different factors. Originally planned for February 5th, the launch was delayed to today the 6th, due to a range asset that went out of service. Most recently Astra tweeted letting everyone know they are now aiming for February 7th as they “are working with the range on the next launch opportunity for @NASA’s ELaNa 41 mission. After November’s successful launch, a lot of people have high hopes and expectations for the upcoming launch. It’s likely we will see LV0008 take off from Cape Canaveral Florida within the next few days and tomorrow at the earliest.
Astra’s Past
Now that we know about Astra’s upcoming launch and its recent success, let’s take a look at the company’s progress over time and the results of past launches. As I mentioned prior, there have been 6 launches so far with the seventh planned within the next few days. The first test flight of Rocket 1 happened in July of 2018, the payload consisted of a mass simulator and it was the first-ever flight of an Astra rocket. The goal was to successfully launch the rocket to a suborbital destination. The launch was technically a failure however Astra gained a lot of valuable information. Only a few months later in November of the same year, Astra performed its second test flight with Rocket 2 headed for a suborbital destination.
Similar to the previous launch it was technically a failure however they gained a lot of important information that could be applied to future variants. Almost two years later in September of 2020, Astra attempted to launch Rocket 3.1 for the first time without a payload and a destination to low Earth orbit. Unfortunately, it was a failure, and 30 seconds after liftoff engines were shut down by the range safety officer. Months later in December of 2020, Astra tried another launch with Rocket 3.2. This launch showed great progress but was unsuccessful once again. It was the first Astra rocket to pass the Kármán Line and reach its target orbital altitude of 390 kilometers. However, it narrowly failed to reach stable orbit due to issues with the upper stage propellant mixture ratio, but exceeded the company’s expectations with an otherwise-successful climb into near-orbital space from Kodiak Island, Alaska.
Then there was the 5th launch in August of 2021. This launch used Rocket 3.3 carrying a payload for U.S. Space Force headed to LEO. This launch was another failure but did so in a very interesting way. An engine failure shortly after liftoff caused the rocket to drift sideways off the launch pad before ascending vertically. At approximately two and a half minutes after launch, range safety ordered engine shutdown, terminating the flight. A fueling system propellant leak was determined to be the root cause of the problem. This leads us to the most recent launch in November of 2021. Here LV0007 took off from PSCA headed to LEO with another payload for the U.S. Space Force. However, this mission was a success and saw Astra reach and deliver the payload to low Earth orbit. Now only a few days away is Astra’s 7th launch with LV0008. They have had plenty of failures over time but have taken note of errors and improved each launch. Rocket companies often have very rough and explosive initial launch attempts. Rockets are extremely complex pieces of technology and engineering. In addition to this if practically anything goes wrong the entire mission is often at stake. This combined with the nature of rockets and you are likely to have quite a few explosions on your first launches. Astra similar to other companies and agencies experienced this exact progress. While it took a few failures to get it right, the company has made immense progress in a short period of time and it’s looking very promising for the upcoming launch.
Conclusion
Around the country more and more companies are not only starting but making significant progress. Astra is a great example as they attempt to have their second successful launch within only a few days. While the company has had plenty of failures over the past years, only a few months ago Astra had its first fully successful mission. They now plan to continue this streak with the company’s first launch from Cape Canaveral Florida. This will happen with LV0008 or Rocket 3.3, the latest launch vehicle iteration from Astra. With a launch planned for February 7th, we will have to wait and see if Astra makes it happen and the results of the 7th launch of Astra’s launch vehicle.