Astra rocket “1 of 3” has been vertical position at the Pacific Spaceport Complex – Alaska. Today the team is going through “wet dress rehearsal” in which the liquid propellant will be added to the rocket, but not fired. See updates at http://darpalaunchchallenge.org
Astra Space is developing pump-fed, liquid bipropellant propulsion engines for DARPA and NASA. They have the DARPA goal of being able to launch and then relaunch with only few days in between.
The current vehicle, Rocket 3.0, is designed to have a payload capacity of approximately 100 kg to low earth orbit. The first Rocket 3.0 vehicle has completed a static fire test at Atwater. It is planned to launch from Alaska and reach orbit between 25 February 2020 and April 2020.
@Astra's rocket "1 of 3" is moved into vertical position at the Pacific Spaceport Complex – Alaska. Today the team is going through "wet dress rehearsal" in which the liquid propellant will be added to the rocket, but not fired. See updates at https://t.co/B6W9hM68YF pic.twitter.com/PfO3HaWiDA
— DARPA (@DARPA) February 27, 2020
SOURCES- Astra Space, DARPA
Written By Brian Wang, Nextbigfuture.com
Brian Wang is a Futurist Thought Leader and a popular Science blogger with 1 million readers per month. His blog Nextbigfuture.com is ranked #1 Science News Blog. It covers many disruptive technology and trends including Space, Robotics, Artificial Intelligence, Medicine, Anti-aging Biotechnology, and Nanotechnology.
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