cfourcorvette

Last week I had the unique opportunity to tour Astra’s factories. The tours were amazing but the part I loved the most was meeting and talking with the team at Astra. Wishing the team the best + I look forward to seeing test flight alpha + more spacecraft engines going to orbit.

This might be one of the best photos I’ve taken on an iPhone

Some photos of the Golden Gate Bridge I took today

Feels great to be back in San Francisco

Guess the weather in San Francisco decided that it wanted to be summer for the days I’m there 😭

@Zemusooo *2026 🦦. It’s also about time electron gets an actual competitor but since rocket four is up to 1 ton it is also competing with alpha. It's going to be interesting to see what happens once Rocket Four starts flying.

Astra comeback 2027 I want to believe

rocket lab continues to mog all other small sat launcher

The test tank is also Visible on google earth historical imagery.

Rocket 4 stage two testing? In may 2023. This was before they moved people from rocket four development to ASE production. Since they never mentioned this back then wonder what other R4 hardware they have tested since then. Photo is from the article in the replies.

Astra has now outlived Arca very unfortunate for the water aerospike lovers

Less than a week till my trip to San Francisco!

Astra’s about page now has customers that they work with and they mention DARPA 👀. Seems like these are current customers as ones they have worked with in the past aren’t listed. So both the DIU and and maybe DARPA are interested in rocket four. astra.com/about

If astra is now starting tvc tests we could see the engines be qualified for flight sometime in the next 4 months. Which would be a good set up for a test flight in the later part of Q3.

Based on this photo from yesterday taken by Sentinel Two and comparing the plume interactions from this video(youtu.be/ubpKSt2R7J0?si…) it seems like @Astra is testing TVC on their first stage engine. Hopefully, we get a video of the tests sometime this week.

@Foximus05 Yeah that’s the only type of mission that would make sense and I’m sure it would be. As of recently it seems like Australia is the new spot for a launch site that far south.

@CadeArmy Maaaaaaaybe if its DoD missions but also getting everything out there is a logistical hell. Theres a reason they mainly launch solids out there

I forgot that the original plan for the Astra tropics launches was to launch from Kwajalein Atoll in the Marshall Islands. Wonder if that is still a potential spot for rocket four especially for any point to point missions.

@chet_wiltshire @relativityspace Congrats can’t wait to see all the amazing things you do there! GLHF!

First day at #RelativitySpace

@Robotbeat The last notable thing I’ve seen from Phantom was them doing a stage two hot fire which was almost 3 years ago. Astra has actually made it to orbit and will probably launch dozens of rocket fours before Phantom gets a single rocket ready to fly.

Phantom Space and Astra exist in the same Schrödinger twilight state.

Announced today: Ursa Major’s latest variant of the flight-proven, production rate Hadley liquid rocket engine, H13, has successfully completed initial hot fires following design and manufacturing processes improvements. The H13 is our mission-upgraded, hypersonic-ready engine built for diverse applications, now offering increased reusability and streamlined production.   “Hadley is Ursa Major’s foundational engine that has already flown hypersonic several times,” said Christopher Spagnoletti, CEO at Ursa Major. “With new materials and manufacturing, H13 can be reused more than twice as many times as previous variants, driving down the cost per flight while supporting new test objectives and mission profiles.”   Read the full press release for more: ursamajor.com/media/press-re…

I also believe in keeping Gateway alive while also having a lunar base. I hope that having both will be a big enough reason for congress to want to continue to have a constant human presence on the moon even after the first few missions.

I believe @rookisaacman wanting SLS to increase its cadence could lead to SLS becoming more financially feasible to scale to where it will carry humans to the moon four or more times a year for the next 10+ years.