Astra stock soars after first successful rocket launch
New York (CNN Business)Astra, a startup building small rockets that launch out of rural Alaska, notched its first successful test flight on Friday night, putting a dummy satellite into orbit. The flight sent the company's stock price on a tear — soaring more than 30% at one point after trading hours opened Monday morning.
Astra is one of dozens of companies that plan to use lightweight rockets to make frequent trips to space to drop off satellites. Astra, Rocket Lab and California-based Virgin Orbit are among the only startups that have now proven their rockets can get the job done.
While SpaceX's Falcon rockets — which are used to haul large satellites, batches of satellites or NASA astronauts into orbit — stand at more than 200 feet tall, or roughly the height of four of Astra's rockets stacked on top of each other, Astra is looking to compete elsewhere. The idea behind companies such as Astra is to create smaller rockets that haul less mass into space, but can be built quickly and cheaply and launched agilely.
Footage of Friday's launch, captured at the company's launch site in Kodiak, Alaska, shows the rocket roaring to life and making a clean swoop up into the night sky. It was the fourth attempt by the company to fire a rocket into orbit, and the success put Astra within the ranks of a small handful of private space exploration companies that have managed to safely put a rocket into orbit.
When asked in a company Q&A posted online how Astra plans to stand out in such a crowded industry, Adam London, Astra's founder and chief technology officer, said that "rockets are typically artisanal, crafted objects. You make one at a time, and they're very complicated. But when you really get into it, they don't need to be that complicated, particularly when you're not flying people or critical national assets, and they don't absolutely, positively have to work 100% of the time."
In other words, Astra plans to mass produce rockets to make them cheaper, but it doesn't put too much emphasis on having a pristine success rate.
"I just want to say how incredibly appreciative I am of our shareholders, our customers, for their patience with us," CEO Chris Kemp told reporters Monday morning. "And, of course, for the entire team here who's just worked so hard over the past couple of years, launch after launch, just continuing to put energy and passion into this."
The rocket company is one of numerous space companies that chose to make its stock market debut via SPAC — or special purpose acquisition company — in recent months. Many of those companies, including Astra (ASTR), took that leap despite not having proven their technological chops at the time of their stock market listing.
But Friday's long-awaited successful test launch appeared to rally investors.
Its market value shot up to more than $3 billion, a significant markup over the $2.1 billion valuation the company was given when it announced its SPAC plans in February.
It also marked a recovery for the stock after it took a significant hit in the wake of Astra's last launch attempt in August. Rather than climbing skyward, the company's 43-foot-tall rocket hovered sideways off its launch pad before attempting to right itself, at which point it climbed about 30 miles into the air only to cut its engine power and plunge back into the ocean.
Kemp told reporters that Friday's success was not without its challenges, not least of which was combating freezing temperatures in Kodiak.
The satellite that launched Friday isn't designed to do anything useful, rather it was simply designed to simulate the weight of a real satellite. But Kemp said the company is now ready to focus on fine-tuning its rocket design, scaling up production and offering its services to paying customers.
首次成功发射火箭后,Astra 股价飙升
纽约(CNN 商业)Astra 是一家制造从阿拉斯加农村发射的小型火箭的初创公司,于周五晚上首次成功试飞,将一颗虚拟卫星送入轨道。这次飞行使该公司的股价大跌——在周一早上开盘后一度飙升了 30% 以上。
Astra 是数十家计划使用轻型火箭频繁前往太空发射卫星的公司之一。 Astra、Rocket Lab 和总部位于加利福尼亚的 Virgin Orbit 是仅有的几家已经证明他们的火箭可以完成工作的初创公司。
虽然 SpaceX 的猎鹰火箭(用于将大型卫星、成批卫星或 NASA 宇航员送入轨道)的高度超过 200 英尺,大约相当于 Astra 的四枚火箭相互堆叠的高度,但 Astra 正在寻求在别处竞争。像 Astra 这样的公司背后的想法是制造更小的火箭,将更少的质量送入太空,但可以快速、廉价地建造和灵活发射。
周五发射的镜头是在公司位于阿拉斯加科迪亚克的发射场拍摄的,显示火箭咆哮着生机勃勃,并干净利落地飞向夜空。这是该公司第四次尝试将火箭送入轨道,这一成功使 Astra 跻身少数已成功将火箭安全送入轨道的私人太空探索公司的行列。
当被问及 Astra 计划如何在如此拥挤的行业中脱颖而出的在线问答公司中,Astra 的创始人兼首席技术官 Adam London 说:“火箭通常是手工制作的物品。你一次制造一个,它们非常复杂。但是当你真正进入它时,它们不需要那么复杂,特别是当你没有飞行人员或重要的国家资产时,而且它们并不绝对,肯定必须 100% 工作时间。”
换句话说,阿斯特拉计划大规模生产火箭以降低成本,但它并没有过多强调具有原始的成功率。
“我只想说,我非常感谢我们的股东和客户对我们的耐心,”首席执行官 Chris Kemp 周一早上告诉记者。 “而且,当然,对于在过去几年里辛勤工作的整个团队来说,一次又一次的推出,只是继续将能量和热情投入其中。”
这家火箭公司是最近几个月选择通过 SPAC(或特殊目的收购公司)在股票市场首次亮相的众多航天公司之一。包括 Astra (ASTR) 在内的许多公司尽管在股票上市时尚未证明其技术实力,但还是实现了这一飞跃。
但周五期待已久的试射成功似乎鼓舞了投资者。
其市值飙升至超过 30 亿美元,比该公司在 2 月份宣布其 SPAC 计划时给出的 21 亿美元估值大幅上涨。
在 Astra 于 8 月份进行最后一次发射尝试后,该股遭受了重大打击,这也标志着该股的复苏。该公司 43 英尺高的火箭并没有向天空爬升,而是在尝试调整自身之前从发射台的侧面盘旋,此时它爬升了大约 30 英里,只是为了切断发动机动力并重新坠入大海。
肯普告诉记者,周五的成功并非没有挑战,尤其是在科迪亚克与寒冷的气温作斗争。
周五发射的卫星并不是为了做任何有用的事情而设计的,它只是为了模拟真实卫星的重量而设计的。但肯普表示,该公司现在准备专注于微调其火箭设计、扩大生产并向付费客户提供服务。