Really, orbit is hard to reach… For the fourth time in five launches, Astra’s small rocket Rocket failed its mission after 3 minutes of flight. The satellites of NASA’s ELaNa 41 mission are lost, but the NewSpace company still hopes to bounce back.
Listed on the stock exchange, Astra suffers a big setback.
Theoretical advantages
Based in California, Astra has so far sent its rockets to the Kodiak launch site in Alaska, which poses significant logistical challenges and limits the type of orbit its Rocket rocket can reach. This first shot from Cape Canaveral should therefore highlight several advantages of the small launcher.
Its ease of use first, because it does not require specialized infrastructure to take off. Its ability to take satellites to the service of NASA then, with this ELaNa 41 mission which allows satellites designed and manufactured by students to reach low orbit. And finally, to increase its rate of fire… Indeed, Rocket wishes to offer floor prices of only 2.5 million dollars per take-off, but for that it will require a very high rate of launches. Unfortunately for Astra, after February 10, customers may have to wait a bit, the take-off having gone very badly.
A big anomaly
After a few days of delay related to the weather, then to faulty ground equipment and a final postponement due to the extinction of the engines one second after their ignition last weekend, takeoff took place as planned on February 10 at 9 p.m. (Paris). The first flight phases went very well, and the rocket followed the correct trajectory, until the extinction of its five Delphin engines located on the first stage.
In rapid succession, the launcher would then have to eject the stage and its fairing, then ignite the engine of the second stage. It seems that the cap is badly separated, and that the second stage is all the same lit. Under the effect of the thrust, the cap finally gave way, but the whole thing was already in a spiral which quickly proved to be uncontrollable. Astra officials, its founder and CEO Chris Kemp in the lead, have sincerely apologized for this new failure.
Astra the vista, baby
In fact, this isn’t the first time Astra has suffered a misfire during an orbital flight attempt. It’s even the opposite, with the exception of takeoff and the successful orbiting of last November 20, all the other launches ended badly. Some, like the one on December 3, 2020, failed very close to their goal…
But the statistics are very tough with Astra and its little rocket: 4 failures out of 5 orbital shots, not to mention a fire that consumed the first complete copy, and two failures during initial tests. However, driven by fundraising and industrial (Planet) and institutional (NASA, Space Force) support, Astra intends to recover from this latest disappointment. It will still be a question of identifying the causes and correcting them quickly, avoiding that the Stock Exchange does not dampen the hopes of the brand. Since yesterday’s failure, the stock has lost a third of its value…
Source:
The Verge
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