All verified mentions of this organization in source documents.
ASTRA plans to show how a common 12-unit satellite could host an imager, a suite of infrared and microwave sounders, and a Global Navigation Satellite System sounder.
ASTRA was founded in 2005 and develops small satellites, cubesats, and sensors.
ASTRA was one of three companies selected by the U.S. Space Force Space and Missile Systems Center to develop prototype electro-optical and infrared weather sensors.
NOAA awarded ASTRA a $599,885 contract in April for a six-month study called GEO-utilization of Common LEO Architecture for Weather (G-CLAW).
ASTRA won a Small Business Innovation Research contract from NOAA in 2019 to design a cubesat instrument for observing clouds.
Astra will receive a Defense Production Act Title 3 contract to launch two rideshare missions for government customers over the next 24 months.
Aevum, Astra, X-Bow, Rocket Lab, Space Vector, and VOX Space were selected to receive Defense Department contracts funded under the Defense Production Act to shore up domestic industries impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic.
SAM.gov posted a 2020-06-18 announcement that Aevum, Astra, X-Bow, Rocket Lab, Space Vector, and VOX Space will each receive noncompetitive contracts to launch two rideshare missions for government customers over the next 24 months.
Astra failed to win a DARPA launch competition earlier in 2020.
Astra’s reserved launch window that opens 2020-07-20 is expected to remain open through at least 2020-07-25.
Astra’s March blog post listed seven milestones from launch and clearing the pad to reaching orbit, with completing the first stage burn as the fourth milestone after liftoff, passing Max-Q, and reaching a peak altitude of 100 km.
Astra could have won an additional $10,000,000 from DARPA by carrying out a second launch later in March from a nearby pad at the same spaceport.
Had Astra reached orbit on its March launch attempt, Astra would have won $2,000,000 from the DARPA Launch Challenge.
Astra reserved a launch window that opens 2020-07-20 from Pacific Spaceport Complex – Alaska on Kodiak Island.
Astra attempted to launch its Rocket 3.0 vehicle from Pacific Spaceport Complex – Alaska on 2020-03-02 but scrubbed the launch less than a minute before liftoff due to off-nominal guidance, navigation, and control data.
Astra failed its attempt to win the $2,000,000 DARPA Launch Challenge at the Pacific Spaceport Complex at Kodiak Island, Alaska earlier 2020.
Astra had been preparing to launch its Rocket 3.0 vehicle as soon as 2020-03-24 from the Pacific Spaceport Complex – Alaska.
The planned follow-up launch after the 2020-03-02 scrub would allow Astra to replace the DARPA-supplied payload with one from an unidentified customer.
A 2020-03-11 presentation by Chris Kemp, chief executive of Astra, was cancelled about 10 minutes after its scheduled start because conference staff did not know his whereabouts.
Astra planned to launch its Rocket 3.0 vehicle from the Pacific Spaceport Complex – Alaska on Kodiak Island as the first of two orbital launches for the DARPA Launch Challenge.