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Do n’t count outAstra Spacejust yet . The company , which was taken private again in the first place this yearfor a splinter of its former economic value , has land a new contract with the Defense Innovation Unit ( DIU ) to plunk for the evolution of a next - gen launching system for time - sore space missionary work .
The contract bridge , which the DIU grant under its Novel Responsive Space Delivery ( NRSD ) course of study , has a maximum value of $ 44 million . The money ( however much of it is in reality send off ) will go toward the remain development of Astra ’s Launch System 2 , design to execute rapid , ultra - low - cost launch .
The novel funding is a augury that not everyone has suffer faith in Astra , a startup that went public in 2021 at a $ 2.1 billion rating with lofty ambitions of pile producing small , cheap rockets able of executing hundreds of missions per class . But the company burn through immediate payment as it struggled to materialize those statements , notching several failed launches ( and two successful ones ) before announcing the pivot to the 600 - kilogram payload content Rocket 4 .
The party spent a number of month search — and failing to secure — enough financing to stay afloat on the public markets . The saga culminated in March when the company herald that the board hadaccepted an offer from carbon monoxide gas - founder Chris Kemp and Adam Londonto purchase the remaining Astra stock at a price of just $ 0.50 per share . Astra ceased trading on the Nasdaq in July .
DIU was plain swayed by Astra ’s proposal , however , and the novel declaration could help see Rocket 4 achieve orbit for the first clock time . The finish of that launching , according to a written document liberate by DIU last summertime , would be to exhibit one or more of these potentiality : delivery through distance from one reach to another ; an orbital rejoinder from space to a accurate location on Earth ; or through a specific ambit or trajectory in space . solution should be flight - ready within 24 calendar month , the document states .
in good order now , Astra is in an initial stage of the contract to further rarify its concept of operation , but if a image is selected , the company could progress to additional phases for one or more mission demonstration . afterward phases could include demonstration with even gravid payloads delivered with increase truth or trying to utilise the vehicle to support clip - sensitive operations , like disaster reply .
DIU has already issued two awards under the NRSD program , to the Spaceport Company for its project mobile sea - based launch platform , and to Stoke Space , which is also aiming to make period - to - point space cargo delivery a reality .
