ELaNA 41

ELaNa, or Educational Launch of Nanosatellites, is a NASA program to help students become and stay interested in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics).

The payload for the flight includes 5 small satellites:

• BAMA-1 - University of Alabama, Tuscaloosa, Alabama
• INCA - New Mexico State University, Las Cruces, New Mexico
• QubeSat - University of California, Berkeley
• R5-S1 - NASA's Johnson Space Center, Houston, Texas

BAMA-1 is a technology demonstration mission that will conduct a flight demonstration of a drag sail module by rapidly deorbiting the satellite.

The INCA satellite from the New Mexico State University will study the latitude and time dependencies of the neutron spectrum in low-Earth orbit for the first time to improve current space weather models and mitigate threats to space and airborne assets.

QubeSat also known as quantum CubeSat, created by a team of students from UC Berkeley will test a new type of gyroscope based on quantum mechanical interactions in imperfect diamonds.

Only one of the satellites is not from a university, NASA’s R5-S1, a technology demonstration from Johnson Space Center.

Image: BAMA-1 Credit: University of Alabama

Meet Rocket 3, Astra's entry to the dedicated, small satellite launch market.

Capable of lifting 500-630 kg to low Earth orbit and taking up to 335 kg to sun-synchronous orbit, Rocket 3 is made up of two stages.

The first stage uses 5 Delphin engines while the second stage uses a single Aether engine. Both stages use RP-1 kerosene and liquid oxygen.

The entire rocket is designed for rapid deployment and only needs about 1 week of launch site preparation. Rocket 3 can be launched from any location and does not require a preexisting spaceport or launch range.

The entire rocket and all of its ground systems are delivered in shipping containers to the launch location making it especially versatile and able to launch in Alaska or Florida.

Through Astra’s Rocket 3 lineage, there have been 4 variations starting with Rocket 3.0.

The first Rocket 3, "1 of 3" or "Rocket 3.0", was to be launched in late February and early March of 2020 as part of the DARPA Launch challenge. On March 23rd, 2020 Rocket 3.0 was destroyed by fire during launch preparations while Astra was detanking fuel during a pre-launch countdown dress rehearsal. No payloads were on-board at the time of the incident.

A second launch attempt took place on September 12th, 2020 using the second Rocket 3 vehicle, Rocket 3.1. The launch failed during first stage flight, when Rocket 3.1 experienced an anomaly and fell back to Earth shortly after, and exploded on impact.

On December 15th, 2020, Astra launched its third Rocket 3 vehicle, Rocket 3.2. The rocket successfully passed the Kármán Line and reached its target orbital altitude of 390 kilometers, a first for Astra. However, due to issues with the upper stage's fuel mixture, the rocket failed to achieve orbit.

On August 28th, 2021, Astra launched its fourth Rocket 3 vehicle, Rocket 3.3 (serial number LV0006). The flight carried an instrumentation payload for the United States Space Force under the Space Test Program. Shortly after liftoff, a single engine failure caused the vehicle to drift horizontally off the launch pad before ascending vertically. The vehicle deviated from its licensed trajectory and range safety terminated the flight at approximately T+02:28. The rocket reached a peak altitude of 50 km (31 mi) before crashing into the ocean downrange of the launch site.

On November 20th, 2021 Astra's Rocket 3.3 vehicle (serial number LV0007) successfully reached orbit after launching from Pacific Spaceport Complex – Alaska carrying the demonstration payload STP-27AD2 (COSPAR 2021-108A, SATCAT 49494) for the United States Space Force.

On February 10th 2022, Astra Rocket 3.3 (serial number LV0008) experienced an anomaly post-launch, during stage separation. After two previous scrubbed launch attempts, ignition and launch of LV0008 occurred nominally. First stage separation failed, and second-stage ignition occurred erratically. The anomaly caused the second stage to spin out of control, and the payload was lost.

Astra is currently developing an upgraded variant of Rocket 3 called Rocket 4. This upgraded design contains new higher performance first stage engines and a payload capacity of several hundred kilograms to low Earth orbit. The first Rocket 4 launch is expected in 2022.

In September 2020, Astra submitted a proposal to the Air Force's AFWERX program titled, "Responsive Launch Enabled by Astra's Rocket 5.0". Rocket 5 will be a variant of the Rocket 3 dedicated to suborbital point-to-point delivery, featuring a modified second stage between the Rocket 3's first and upper stages.

Image: John Kraus for Astra

This storied launchpad had its first launch in 1987 and was originally used for tests of the Trident II missile between 1987 and 1989. Following the completion of the Trident's land-based tests, the complex was deactivated.

In 1997, Space Florida began operations at the site and was opened for commercial space operations. Lockheed Martin launched an Athena II and an Athena I from the pad in 1998 and 1999 respectively.

In March 2010, the USAF 45th Space Wing issued Real Property Licenses to Space Florida for Launch Complexes 36 and 46 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station.

On July 1, 2010, the Federal Aviation Administration approved a Launch Site Operator's License for commercial launches at Launch Complex 46.

In July 2015, the U.S. Air Force and Orbital ATK announced a Minotaur IV launched from SLC-46 that would be used for the ORS-5 mission in 2017.

On July 2, 2019, NASA launched a repurposed Peacekeeper missile from SLC-46, carrying the Orion spacecraft for the Ascent Abort-2 mission.

Astra began launching from SLC-46 in January of 2022. They are planning for a launch cadence of once a month for 2 years.

Photo: John Kraus for Astra