New Scientist - USA (2019-10-05)

(Antfer) #1
12 | New Scientist | 5 October 2019

To turn
trash

This simple banana peel
inspired a bold idea:

MALFUNCTIONS during rocket
tests at one of the world’s most
isolated spaceports last year
required remediation work
that included sending more
than 200 tonnes of soil for
decontamination, New Scientist
has learned. The tests, conducted
by the firm Astra Space, took place
in Alaska, and until now it had
seemed that the rockets had
failed to launch.
Rocket tests are often the
subject of viral internet videos,
thanks to firms like SpaceX. But
not every fledgling space company
is like that. Astra has no website or
social media presence. It does have
a profile on LinkedIn – but there it

calls itself Stealth Space Company.
Founded in 2005, Astra spent
years working on aerospace
projects with funding from NASA
and the US Pentagon. Then, in
2016, it began developing a rocket.
In July, Astra applied for
permission to attempt its
first orbital launch, with an
experimental US Air Force satellite
on board. It has yet to do this, but if
it can demonstrate a successful
suborbital launch, the firm could
unlock funds from contracts with
NASA, the US Army and Air Force.
Astra chose the most private
spaceport in the US for its tests:
the Pacific Spaceport Complex –
Alaska (PSCA) on Kodiak Island.

It is a sleepy place that shares its
land with wild berries and bison.
A request under the Alaska Public
Records Act showed that Astra and
the PSCA signed a confidentiality
agreement in October 2016.

On 20 July 2018, Astra carried out
its first test. The US Federal Aviation
Administration (FAA) quickly said
it was a “mishap”, a word that has
been used to describe catastrophic
accidents, including the explosion
of a SpaceX capsule. But it was

unclear exactly what happened.
Craig Campbell, then president
of Alaska Aerospace, the public
corporation that runs the
spaceport, told Space News at
the time: “there was no material
damage to our facilities as a
result of this launch”.
We now know more. In its first
public statement, Astra told New
Scientist that it had anticipated an
engine failure during the rocket’s
maiden voyage, that the flight
ended earlier than hoped for,
and that the rocket came down
within the spaceport. Minutes
from a 2018 meeting of Alaska
Aerospace’s board of directors
say that this episode damaged

News


“The spaceport was
damaged twice in 2018,
with 232 tonnes of soil
removed for treatment”

Space flight

Mark Harris

Rocket tests in Alaska go awry


Remote spaceport damaged by rocket malfunctions on Astra Space test flights

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