Decidedly, the LV0010 launcher does not keep its promises. Astra’s last mission, which consisted of deliver weather satellites of NASA in orbit ended in failure. The second stage booster shut down 10 minutes after launch.
Another failure for Astra
The objective of the collaboration between NASA and Astra was to place six meteorological satellites, the Tropics CubeSat, in orbit, designed to help the American space agency better anticipate and monitor the development of tropical storms. Unfortunately for the young shoot, it’s a second failure in just a few months. Astra explained in a tweet that “Upper stage propulsion shut down prematurely and we were unable to deliver the payloads to orbit”.
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The company says more information will be released soon, after a full review of the data. Nevertheless, NASA tries to relativize and give Astra a chance. For Thomas Zuburchen, associate administrator of the science division within the space agency, “Although today’s launch with Astra did not go as planned, the mission offered a great opportunity to test a new kind of launch”.
A disturbing series?
The teams are disappointed, of course, but these are ordinary steps in the daily life of NASA and its partners. Indeed, Thomas Zuburchen is convinced that “Innovation is necessary for us to be at the forefront, and sometimes that means failures like this”. A few months ago, Astra’s last mission also ended in failure, with the loss of four CubeSats, including three from partner universities. This first failure was attributed to two separate problems: a wiring error and a software defect.
RocketLab, SpaceX, BlueOrigin, all private companies in the space sector have already been confronted with this situation. We remember in particular the failures of SpaceX with its first three Falcon 1 launches from 2006 to 2008. However, some experts believe that Astra’s failing streak is starting to look like a real deal. Of the last seven orbital launch attempts, five have ended in failure, with various and varied problems each time (software flaws, engine failures, etc.).