A Small Rocket Maker Is Running A Different Kind of Space Race, Bloomberg
“The 42-year-old CEO [Chris Kemp] spent almost five years at NASA, but he’s not a rocket scientist by training. He joined NASA in 2007 after running a string of internet startups, eventually becoming the space agency’s chief technology officer. Astra has operated in secrecy partly to avoid being pushed to set unrealistic deadlines. Most of its workers have online résumés that list their employer as “Stealth Space Company,” and there hasn’t been a website. At the former Alameda Naval Air Station, Astra took over a decrepit building used decades ago to test jet engines indoors, which has helped keep its secrecy intact. The facility has two long tunnels that send fire and scorching hot air up through exhaust towers and thick concrete walls capable of absorbing the explosive impacts of tests gone wrong. This setup has allowed Astra to conduct thousands of runs on its rocket engines without its neighbors noticing much of anything. It’s also meant Astra can put the engines through their paces on-site and make adjustments to the hardware quickly, instead of going to the Mojave Desert or an open field in Texas where other rocket makers typically run engine trials.”
“The 42-year-old CEO [Chris Kemp] spent almost five years at NASA, but he’s not a rocket scientist “
Mr. Kemp has in common with Mr. Musk that, at the outset, Mr. Musk was not a rocket scientist. Mr. Musk did not, as far as I know, have the benefits gained by five years inside NASA.
With all of these new rocket companies racing to serve the small satellite market, it almost looks like anyone can do it!
Snark aside, I have pointed out the rocket-building technology and knowledge isn’t exactly a well-kept secret. The number of individuals capable of designing and building large rockets seems suprisingly large.
It appears analogous to, say, ship building as the Great Explorations started. And as that era began with ships marginally suited for the sort of very long voyages needed to cross great oceans rather than hugging the coast, version more robust were built, much more suited to many months at sea.
A recent book claims that exploration is the chief driver of technology, or at least much of it. Are we witnessing something similar? The transition from capsules to Starship might be an example.
Interesting reuse of abandoned SF bay area facility built during the 20th century Cold War. I wonder what other such facilities that can be put to commercial use exception Santa Susana test facility. Though higher cost than Mojave or Texas, these people can work for a rocket startup but enjoy amenities of the bay area.
Well, there is a rather nice distillery and bar just down the street from Astra. That’s probably not what you meant by making more use of the facilities in what used to be Alameda NAS, but it is one of the amenities of the area.
LOX/ethanol propellants perhaps??
At the NSS Space Settlements Symposium last November, one of the speakers (sorry, I don’t remember his name) implied that there were 2 to 3 new launch companies that we had not yet heard of that would emerge in 2020. I wonder if this was one of them and if we will soon hear about others.