Astra - Rocket 3

The Rocket 3 series is Astra’s orbital rocket series, with LV0006 being ready for launch after its successful static fire on August 04, 2021. With a height of 13.1 m (43 ft), a diameter of 1.32 m (4.3 ft) and a payload capacity of 25 kg to a 500 km Sun-Synchronous Orbit (SSO), it is in the same class of small-sat launch vehicles as Rocket Lab’s Electron.

Rocket 3 is an expendable, vertically-launched two stage LOX/kerosene rocket, designed to fit inside a standard shipping container and built to dramatically lower the cost of access to space. Eschewing labor-intensive processes such as carbon composite layups, Astra has focused on proven and cost-efficient metallic structures. Rocket 3 consists of a first stage powered by five Delphin electric-pump-fed engines and an upper stage propelled by a single pressure-fed Aether engine. The fairing can accommodate an ESPA Grande class spacecraft. The useable volume of the cylindrical portion of the fairing measures 64 inches in diameter and is 54 inches tall.

Astra has launched three orbital class rockets in an attempt to reach orbit. So far, all of these launches have failed to achieve orbit, with Rocket 3.2, just barely missing orbit by about 500 m/s. Its second stage safely re-entered before completing one full rotation of Earth.

1. Rocket 3.0 : loss of the vehicle during ground testing due to a stuck open valve while detanking the vehicle.
2. Rocket 3.1 : FTS activated 21s into flight due to a software issue in the guidance system.
3. Rocket 3.2 : Rocket 3.2 failed to achieve orbit by ~500 m/s due to a wrong mixture of fuel and oxidizer on the second stage.
4. Rocket 3.3 : Astra Space, Inc. conducted a test launch of its launch vehicle, LV0006. The launch vehicle lifted off at 3:35PM PT on Saturday, August 28, 2021. One of the five main engines shut down less than one second after liftoff, causing the vehicle to slowly lift off the pad before resuming its trajectory. After approximately two minutes and thirty seconds of flight, the range issued an all engine-shutdown command, ending the flight. The vehicle achieved an altitude of approximately 50 kilometers, before safely returning to Earth. “We regret that we were unable to accomplish all mission objectives for the U.S. Space Force; however, we captured a tremendous amount of data from this test flight,” said Chris Kemp, Founder, Chairman and CEO of Astra. “We will incorporate learnings from this test into future launch vehicles, including LV0007, which is currently in production.”

Future rocket variants currently in development include Rocket 4 (an upgraded version of Rocket 3) and Rocket 5 (a suborbital point-to-point delivery variant of Rocket 3). On August 9, 2021 Astra Space, Inc. announced the award of the Orbital Services Program (OSP)-4 Indefinite Delivery/Indefinite Quantity (IDIQ) contract from the Rocket Systems Launch Program (RSLP) of the Space Force. OSP-4 allows for the rapid acquisition of launch services to meet mission requirements for payloads greater than 400 pounds, enabling launch to any orbit within 12-24 months from task order award. Astra’s inclusion in this contract preserves, stimulates and enhances the small launch industrial base and yields the Space Force a more diverse vendor pool in support of the nation’s defense. “We need this IDIQ contract to continue to introduce speed, agility, and flexibility into the launch enterprise and continue to cultivate a resilient and affordable launch market.” said Lt. Col. Justin Beltz, chief of Launch Enterprise’s Small Launch and Targets division.

Dr. Adam London, Astra Founder and CTO, said 27 August 2021 "We built a complete launch system for our first rocket, which we had ready about a year after we started. That allowed us to deploy the whole system and fly the first stage of an orbital-class rocket as quickly as possible. We met our minimum requirements and the learnings allowed us to make some improvements, and we flew Rocket 2, which was better at the end of 2018. In those first two years we realized we were building a rocket that wasn’t quite large enough, so we took all our learnings and built Rocket 3. Rocket 3 is a bigger rocket with an improved ground segment, and was built in a little over a year. We entered it in the DARPA challenge and flew two times last year. This year we’ve made some more upgrades based on the learnings from those flights, which we expect to increase performance and improve the system reliability. ... Our next objective is monthly, then weekly, and finally daily space delivery. It’s a little nuts."