The lineup of rocket companies looking to launch from the Space Coast in Florida will get a new player in January.
Astra Space Inc., founded in 2016 with hardware designed to put small satellites into orbit, has lined up its first business from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station beginning in January.
The company based in Alameda, California, has worked with the U.S. Space Force to gear up for missions from Space Launch Complex 46, which was previously used in the 1980s for Trident II missile tests, the late 1990s for Lockheed Martin Athena rockets and more recently the Ascent Abort-2 mission for the Orion capsule to be used in Artemis missions to the moon.
“This historic launch site has been prepared for a new commercial launch partner in less than a year, which is a tremendous milestone for our combined team, and illustrates how [Space Launch Delta 45] sets the pace for access to space,” said Brigadier Gen. Stephen Purdy, commander of SLD 45, previously known as the 45th Space Wing when it was part of the Air Force, and director of the Eastern Range.
Space Florida, the state’s aerospace economic development agency, signed a contract with Astra to begin commercial launches from the pad.
“LC46 was a pad that sat quietly for some time, but like the rest of the Cape the cadence is picking up. And there will be more to come,” said Space Florida executive Dale Ketcham.
Astra joins United Launch Alliance and SpaceX among the expanding list of companies taking off from the Space Coast. Blue Origin also plans launches from the Cape in the future.
“SLD 45, Space Florida, and Astra have moved at a rapid speed to demonstrate critical and responsive launch capabilities,” Purdy said. “We are excited to welcome Astra to Cape Canaveral Space Force Station.”
Astra already has a spaceport in Alaska, where it has been testing versions of its liquid-fueled rocket. It was able to reach orbit for the first time in November with a demonstration payload for the Space Force.
The Cape Canaveral base presence and planned January mission is slated to show the company’s ability to launch small satellites into orbit as part of NASA’s Venture Class Launch Services Demonstration 2 contract. The $3.9 million contract was one of three handed out by NASA a year ago, with others going to Relativity Space Inc. of Long Beach, California, and Firefly Black LLC of Cedar Park, Texas.
In March, NASA also awarded Astra Space a contract with a proposed bid of $7.95 million to place six so-called “cubesats” into orbit that will help track hurricane activity. Cubesats are small satellites measuring most often about 4 inches across and deep, although they can be larger.
That contract calls for three launches to support the TROPICS mission, which stands for Time-Resolved Observations of Precipitation structure and storm Intensity with a Constellation of Smallsats.
The cubesats need to be placed into three different orbits during a 120-day window before July 31, 2022. The program will be run out of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s Lincoln Laboratory in collaboration with NASA’s Science directorate.
The satellites will measure temperature, humidity and precipitation with much quicker storm pass over time — less than an hour — than what is currently available to forecasters.
Principal investigator William Blackwell with MIT told team members at Astra earlier in 2021 that hurricanes and other tropical systems are “notoriously difficult to observe and yet vitally important to our everyday lives. … We’re thrilled to be able to field this mission and work with [Astra] to get us up where we need to go to make the measurements that we need.”
The company has yet to announce from which launch facility it will fly those missions.
