2020-02-10 Bloomberg Businessweek

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PHOTOGRAPH BY JASON HENRY FOR BLOOMBERG BUSINESSWEEK; DATA: SPACEX, ROCKET LAB, ASTRA

The40-foot-long,4-foot-widerocketloomedover

thequietsuburbofAlameda,Calif.,onthemorn-

ingofJan.18,nearthePotteryBarnOutlet.A hand-

fulofengineersandmetalwrenchersgottowork

early,settinguptherocketandconnectingit toa

messofelectronicsandtubes.Thedevicestoodup

straight,withthehelpofsomeblackmetalscaffold-

ing.Itsbottomthirdgleamedaluminum;therest,

actor-teethwhite.Overthecourseoftheday,the

teampumpedinvariousgasesandliquidstopre-

paretherocket’svalves,chambers,andothercom-

ponentsfora crucialtest.

Shortlyaftermidnight,therocketwasreadyfor

anexercisecalleda coldflow,meanttoensurethat

itspropellanttankscanhandleliquidfuel.Oncethe

teamhadfilledtherocket,takentheneededmea-

surements,andcheckedforleaks,theysimplyevacu-

atedthemachinebyreleasinghugevolumesofliquid

nitrogenintotheair.Thethingaboutliquidnitro-

genis thatit mustbekeptsupercoldtoremainliq-

uid.It boiledinstantlyoncontactwiththeoutside

air,creatinga billowingwhite cloudthatstretched

outmorethan 200 yards.Withtheteam’sfloodlights

beamingdownonthetestsite,thisoddfogmonster

easilycouldhavebeenseenbyanyonelivinginthe

housesascloseas2,000feetaway.Soon,though,

therocketwastruckedofftowarditsnexttempo-

raryhome,a spaceportinKodiak,Alaska.

UntilspeakingwithBloombergBusinessweek,

Astra,the3-year-oldrocketstartupbehindthetest,

hadoperatedinsecret,nitrogencloudsaside.The

company’sfounderssaytheywanttobetheFedEx

Corp.ofspace.They’reaimingtocreatesmall,cheap

rocketsthatcanbemass-producedtofacilitatedaily

spaceflights,deliveringsatellitesintolow-Earthorbit

foraslittleas$1 millionperlaunch.If Astra’splanned

KodiakflightsucceedsonFeb.21,it willhaveput

a rocketintoorbitata record-settingpace.Chief

ExecutiveOfficerChrisKempsayshe’sfocusedless

on this one launch than on the logistics of creating

many more rockets. “We have taken a much broader

look at how we scale the business,” he says.

Going fast in the aerospace business is a rarity and

doesn’t usually work out so well. But the U.S. govern-

ment has made speedy rocket launches something

of a national priority, and Astra is a Department of

Defense darling right now. The Pentagon’s R&D arm,

the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, or

Darpa, made Astra one of three finalists in a contest

called the Launch Challenge. The terms: Whichever

startup could send up two rockets from different loca-

tions with different payloads within a few weeks of

each other would win $12 million.

Astra is the only finalist still in the running. Virgin

Orbit LLC, part of billionaire Richard Branson’s

BloombergBusinessweek February10, 2020

Thesatellitehaulers

SpaceX’sFalcon 9

Payload 50,265lb.

Costperlaunch $62m

Height 230 feet

RocketLab’sElectron

Payload 331 to 496 lb.

Costperlaunch $7.5m

Height 56 feet

Astra

Payload 165 to 450 lb.

Costperlaunch $2.5m

Height 40 feet

 An Astra rocket

undergoes testing in

Alameda

TECHNOLOGY