Great behind the scenes view of Astra, thanks! This kind of transparency wins hearts and minds of the space community and Astra will get opportunities from the exposure. Factory will need investment to transition to higher volume.
People looking to utilize a multi million dollar launch vehicle to launch a multi million dollar payload do not need a youtube video to figure out what they want. The only thing this video will do is slightly increase their stock price temporarily as people who dont know what they are doing buy into a stock they just found out about
Very nice tour of Astra and a unique inside look at some of the operations. I love how open Astra is to doing these things and allowing you guys to come in and do them is great. Great work Thomas and team for a great video and keeping it within ITAR standards. Great video to awke up to before work.
Wonderful to see the behind the scenes of these smaller companies. You can see how SpaceX' model of working has flowed out into the community. Good stuff NSF!
What a great guy. Very knowledgeable. Very relaxed. And referred to some of the engineers by name. Just the guy you need if you want your rocket to become a reality. Fascinating video.
Great video keep it up... I noticed something obvious.... In the Semiconductor industry we build very large vacuum chambers (same style pressure vessels) with very large domes, unlike Astra we have them made with a metal spinning process, this would follow the Astra engineering principal of not machining away 90% of the material to build a part. Also you can "anneal" the part on the spinning lathe and hold incredible tolerances. If I had to guess that same part would cost only 5K... It was supersizing to watch the guy giving the tour talk about how important it is to make most everything out of sheet-metal then almost brag about how much these domes are machined away... Also those parts have a huge amount of stress in them from the machining process. I'm guessing this might not be ideal for a rocket that needs to withstand extreme high and low temperatures as well as crazy high pressures. I wish ASTRA the very very best and hope we can see a rocket go into orbit soon!
They machine away the material but then recycle it to be recast. The only additional cost is the transportation. He did mention a unique unspecified process they utilize and that they are working on cutting time and byproduct on future iterations. The reason they make them like that is to have integrity and be light weight. I will also root for them once I research who owns the company and who is backing it. Made in America only rep.
Many other rockets use spun domes. For example, the 3.5 meter diameter domes for the recently launched South Korean Nuri rocket were spun in-house. (There is a clip on KARI TV channel showing the process: "[KARI] 한국형발사체 산화제탱크, 스페이스X는 복합재로 가볍게 만들던데?" )
Casting and stampings are automotive high cadence production methods. All other ways are too expensive for Astra goals. For prototyping phase and market probing is good. But if their goal 1 rocket per week is to be fulfilled methods i mentioned are way to go. Still shame because no reuse. So yeah i m still sceptical this could be better option as Nevtron for example.
Fantastic tour of their shop. I love these next-gen space companies charging forward with smart and fast, in-house engineering. I hope we get multiple companies similar to SpaceX, to replace the corrupt Boeing's of the industry. Relegate those dinosaurs to history.
Astra isn’t doing manufacturing differently than Boeing. They’re just doing it better. And that’s exactly what they should be doing to make ultra-cheap expendable rockets. Not sure how that will scale to allow them to launch 13,000 of their own satellite constellations though!
i believe astra will be one of the great ones ... even bought a couple thousand shares a few weeks back in the mid 7's ... bought rocketlab as well .. another i think will reach their goals ... astra is currently in the 10's today ... if they reach space they could hit a triple ..... or more ... space is def the final frontier for investing
Man I thought I was doing good with a hundred shares of them and rocketlab. I can’t imagine having actual thousands, amazing bro. You’re going to be insanely rich in a decade
secure the camera behind s structure use mirrors to reflect to camera was used in early atomic testing to increase frame rate you spun the mirror. hopefully that can help.
Take the cost of designing and making a spinning mirror + camera setup to a $400 GoPro used once - no contest. As the man said, if the answer to the problem is getting too complicated, then think again.
Who funded/founded Astra? Loved the tour. Also gives you an appreciation for what musk is doing only in a parking lot with dust blowing around. Hats off to Astra for holding engineers responsible for cost effective designs. Sandy Muro(?) recent video explaining he and Elon's approach to engineering and design is similar to what Astra is doing.
Anyone invested into Astra stock? I think space industry going to scale higher and Astra will continue to get more funding. Hope LV007 is a success 🚀🚀🚀
I've been an investor since Holicity. I feel the company is a 50/50 deal. It could go to the moon, could go to zero, but $50k investment could go to $500k if everything works out and they start being used for LEO payloads commercially.
@@evilbred974 honestly I think it will replace Boeing potentially and can be 100$ a share in the future if they become successful and with the right amount of funding. Good luck!🍀
I'm over 70 I'm grown up and happy to be me. If anyone aspires to be someone else then they are a failure to themselves. Everyone is a champion in their own right, we all ran a race of billions, and we won. We were winners even before conception, whatever you do after your birthday is up to you. Some waste it all wanting to be someone else.
@@Jim.Thunda I like the positivity and motivation but new research seems to say that multiple "winners" make it to the destination but it is up to the egg to pick the real winner. That would make us winners at conception not before. ❤️🇺🇸
You know l was referring to a single winner. l had considered mentioning a multiple, but believed you would finger it out anyway, so l guess your also also happy to be U2. We are all winners, even more so if we have a brother or sister. I wasn't that lucky, l often wondered what it would be like to have a son or daughter.
Awesome episode ... great company ... wonderful to learn about scaling and engineering approaches to problems...... curious who their market is now and going forward... thanks for awesome content !
16:00 Interesting: longitudinal welds are stir-welded, because they are under greater stress, the rest is TIG-welded, because the process is much simpler. 19:40 The interstage is riveted. They do not like this, and will be switching to a different method in the future. (For comparison, Russian Soyuz is also TIG-welded/riveted -- seems to work OK.)
It's not that riveting doesn't work. It's that it's slow and expensive. Astra is going for low price and high cadence. Soyuz isn't exactly cutting-edge either. It's been around since the mid 60s... Earlier if you include the R-7 on which it's based.
@@d.jensen5153 It will be wonderful if Astra ever reaches the production rate of Soyuz, which in good years was launching 60+ times a year. I do not know how many riveters were employed in Soyuz production back in the day, but these days the riveting station for Soyuz seems to be crewed by two young ladies -- one with a pneumatic rivet-setter, and another helping her. They set about 500 rivets per hour. But I guess Astra does it in a different and a much slower way.
@@cogoid The holes don't magically appear in precisely the right locations, and already deburred and beveled. I can't speak to your "good years" but they average 10-15 rockets a year ever since your two young ladies were alive.
@@d.jensen5153 So far, Astra averaged one launch per year. If it is more difficult to manufacture than Soyuz, the problem is with the technique, not with the rivets per se.
@@cogoid Their CEO was quoted as aiming for "dozens if not hundreds of launches a year." They are a small California company just a few years old They are not the Soviet Empire, spending 30% of its GNP on war machines And it's 2022, not 1958. Oh, and, they're launching cubesats not nuclear warheads. It's not only proper but prudent to leverage new technologies and methodologies as they're able to afford the capital expenses involved. And that will be after they calm their anxious investors with a few good launches, and maybe even generate some _revenue._
1:58 Notice ''No food or drink in this area" I hope that cup was empty Bryson.😁 Is the severed arm at 24:17 purely decorative or does it serve a purpose?
Its called a "hush house" when the fix a jet engine they have to run it through it paces and similar to a rocket engine before they put it back in the fighter jet
A lot of weird things are blurred out. I understand rocket components being ITAR sensitive, but ceilings and windows? Parts of walls? Also, what is with the severed arms hanging from chains? 23:38
@@tedsteiner Well, careful; the act of designing, building, and flying rockets is automatically ITAR. They clearly followed the rules & it went thru a pre-release controlled review/approval.
Much better then some of the overhyped Astra PR (which has claimed it seems that they have succeeding in orbiting without orbiting in fact. This next launch sounds promising.
This guy is so well-spoken and so chill. A confidence builder for his company and the industry.
Indeed, he seems to be very confident!
Maybe he should apply to SpaceX! :-D
I mean, when you're being interviewed by space enthusiasts who are able to understand and ask intelligent questions, why wouldn't you be chill?
@@julianemery718 And yet not a single good question was asked. Thomas was a bit flat it seemed.
@@griffithd05 "Very cool"
Seemed unprofessional if you ask me. Edit although agreed he is well spoken but walking around with a coffee doesn't sit right with me.
Great behind the scenes view of Astra, thanks!
This kind of transparency wins hearts and minds of the space community and Astra will get opportunities from the exposure.
Factory will need investment to transition to higher volume.
People looking to utilize a multi million dollar launch vehicle to launch a multi million dollar payload do not need a youtube video to figure out what they want. The only thing this video will do is slightly increase their stock price temporarily as people who dont know what they are doing buy into a stock they just found out about
@@iamjadedhobo its a Win-Win scenario
Very nice tour of Astra and a unique inside look at some of the operations. I love how open Astra is to doing these things and allowing you guys to come in and do them is great. Great work Thomas and team for a great video and keeping it within ITAR standards. Great video to awke up to before work.
Awesome, Thanks 👍 "we did put a GoPro in there to see the startup sequence!" Lol 😂🤣
I love this more conversational style of interview!
Nice vid and tour of the factory. I didn't think "indoor" test stands for orbital rocket engines were a thing but that's a solid building for it.
Thomas is getting much more relaxed on these field trip interview videos. Nice to see everyones skills improve. 🙂
You must work for Astra. Well...it's a lil mind blowing for this simple girl but impresses
me none the less.
Thanks Bryson for the tour of Astra, and glad to see such a chill atmosphere to work in. Looking forward to many successful launches in the future.
Hey Thomas! Good to see ya. Thanks for the tour. I wish ASTRA the very very best and looking forward to more launches.
Good to see a rocket factory that actually has something in it
the other rocket factory has lawyers and mbas in it
The opposite of blue origin lol
Bryson is a great presenter and communicator! Not shy at all about diving into the technical stuff for us, what a treat.
Wonderful to see the behind the scenes of these smaller companies. You can see how SpaceX' model of working has flowed out into the community. Good stuff NSF!
Super-interesting update on one of the lesser-known space flight companies. I had no idea their operation was so large and advanced! Thank you!
Awesome behind the scenes! Thanks for sharing this and being very clear and concise! wishing y'all the best for the future!
Really super cool stuff here NSF Nice work Thomas, man it's getting serious; Great insights
This is spitting distance from my house, and it's great to see these unique facilities in the former NAS being well utilized.
Super informative tour. Super thanks Thomas and Bryson!
Love these tour videos, I like that companies are willing to show us how it is made.
What a great guy. Very knowledgeable. Very relaxed. And referred to some of the engineers by name. Just the guy you need if you want your rocket to become a reality. Fascinating video.
Cool! That was actually really interesting.
Great video keep it up...
I noticed something obvious....
In the Semiconductor industry we build very large vacuum chambers (same style pressure vessels) with very large domes, unlike Astra we have them made with a metal spinning process, this would follow the Astra engineering principal of not machining away 90% of the material to build a part. Also you can "anneal" the part on the spinning lathe and hold incredible tolerances. If I had to guess that same part would cost only 5K... It was supersizing to watch the guy giving the tour talk about how important it is to make most everything out of sheet-metal then almost brag about how much these domes are machined away... Also those parts have a huge amount of stress in them from the machining process. I'm guessing this might not be ideal for a rocket that needs to withstand extreme high and low temperatures as well as crazy high pressures.
I wish ASTRA the very very best and hope we can see a rocket go into orbit soon!
I don’t think the process you describe would lead to lightweight parts.
They machine away the material but then recycle it to be recast. The only additional cost is the transportation. He did mention a unique unspecified process they utilize and that they are working on cutting time and byproduct on future iterations. The reason they make them like that is to have integrity and be light weight. I will also root for them once I research who owns the company and who is backing it. Made in America only rep.
Many other rockets use spun domes. For example, the 3.5 meter diameter domes for the recently launched South Korean Nuri rocket were spun in-house. (There is a clip on KARI TV channel showing the process: "[KARI] 한국형발사체 산화제탱크, 스페이스X는 복합재로 가볍게 만들던데?" )
Quiet surprised that 3D printing is never mentioned. (Inless I missed it, of course.)
Casting and stampings are automotive high cadence production methods. All other ways are too expensive for Astra goals. For prototyping phase and market probing is good. But if their goal 1 rocket per week is to be fulfilled methods i mentioned are way to go. Still shame because no reuse. So yeah i m still sceptical this could be better option as Nevtron for example.
Learned a lot, love these types of walkthroughs! Keep up the good work.
Love Matt and the team at ASTRA. How cool for us in Alameda :)
Fantastic tour of their shop. I love these next-gen space companies charging forward with smart and fast, in-house engineering. I hope we get multiple companies similar to SpaceX, to replace the corrupt Boeing's of the industry. Relegate those dinosaurs to history.
Astra isn’t doing manufacturing differently than Boeing. They’re just doing it better. And that’s exactly what they should be doing to make ultra-cheap expendable rockets. Not sure how that will scale to allow them to launch 13,000 of their own satellite constellations though!
i believe astra will be one of the great ones ... even bought a couple thousand shares a few weeks back in the mid 7's ... bought rocketlab as well .. another i think will reach their goals ... astra is currently in the 10's today ... if they reach space they could hit a triple ..... or more ... space is def the final frontier for investing
Man I thought I was doing good with a hundred shares of them and rocketlab. I can’t imagine having actual thousands, amazing bro. You’re going to be insanely rich in a decade
@@UghIHateTheseThings lol hoping sooner ... in a decade ill be near 60
Very cool. I must say the riveted sections look very vintage, kind of has a charm to it.
Totally cool tour. Thanks Thomas
Astra : We should blur this wrench as well just in case.
It was space grade wrench!
ITAR wrench
Absolutely fascinating made me homesick I retired 12 years ago
Howdy NSF! Thanks for all of the effort you guys put in to share this stuff with us.
Thomas - you probably won't see this, but excellent work, really thoughtful questions. So much goodness in this vid.
secure the camera behind s structure use mirrors to reflect to camera was used in early atomic testing to increase frame rate you spun the mirror. hopefully that can help.
Take the cost of designing and making a spinning mirror + camera setup to a $400 GoPro used once - no contest. As the man said, if the answer to the problem is getting too complicated, then think again.
@@smacksman Especially no hard optics problems etc. No brainer. Quick and dirty.
Who funded/founded Astra? Loved the tour. Also gives you an appreciation for what musk is doing only in a parking lot with dust blowing around.
Hats off to Astra for holding engineers responsible for cost effective designs. Sandy Muro(?) recent video explaining he and Elon's approach to engineering and design is similar to what Astra is doing.
kemp and adam london founded astra
Thanks for doing this!
Thanks guys! ☺
LOL at the hammer-and-sickle micrometer shirt at 9:36
All these clever people, we rarely get the chance to meet. Thanks to Astra and to you chaps. 🚀🇬🇧
Great tour & interview! (I think Thomas has found his first aerospace company job)
Anyone invested into Astra stock? I think space industry going to scale higher and Astra will continue to get more funding. Hope LV007 is a success 🚀🚀🚀
I've been an investor since Holicity. I feel the company is a 50/50 deal. It could go to the moon, could go to zero, but $50k investment could go to $500k if everything works out and they start being used for LEO payloads commercially.
@@evilbred974 honestly I think it will replace Boeing potentially and can be 100$ a share in the future if they become successful and with the right amount of funding. Good luck!🍀
@@Mottbox nice man! 🚀 🚀 🚀
@@Mottbox I think long term astra is a great play 🍀
@@Namnamnam93 Man, I have just shy of 5000 shares, so I certainly hope you're right :P
Great! Thk you guys!
Hope you'll cover next attempt ;)
I may be nearly 68 years old, but when I grow up, I want to be Bryson Gentile.
I'm over 70 I'm grown up and happy to be me.
If anyone aspires to be someone else then they are a failure to themselves.
Everyone is a champion in their own right, we all ran a race of billions, and we won.
We were winners even before conception, whatever you do after your birthday is up to you.
Some waste it all wanting to be someone else.
@@Jim.Thunda I like the positivity and motivation but new research seems to say that multiple "winners" make it to the destination but it is up to the egg to pick the real winner. That would make us winners at conception not before. ❤️🇺🇸
You know l was referring to a single winner.
l had considered mentioning a multiple, but believed you would finger it out anyway, so l guess your also also happy to be U2.
We are all winners, even more so if we have a brother or sister.
I wasn't that lucky, l often wondered what it would be like to have a son or daughter.
Really cool video! Thanks for doing it!
"Very cool".
Outstanding!
Awesome episode ... great company ... wonderful to learn about scaling and engineering approaches to problems...... curious who their market is now and going forward... thanks for awesome content !
Let's go Thomas!! 🔥🚀
Very nice! It's good to see how they do it. I invested in Astra a while back and I think I'll buy more later.
Very cool, very interesting.
Thanks for the tour - seems like a good outfit!
Nice! More field trips pleeeease!
very cool
wow that last scene was like being in a james bond movie :)
Congrats on the success of LV0007!
Very cool!
Having your workstations in the same room as your machine shop sounds like a complete and utter workplace nightmare.
15:57 what ITAR secrets could the roof hold? :)
Standard industrial overhead cranes :D
That Bryson knows what he is talking about. Nice to get all the info from one person.
16:00 Interesting: longitudinal welds are stir-welded, because they are under greater stress, the rest is TIG-welded, because the process is much simpler.
19:40 The interstage is riveted. They do not like this, and will be switching to a different method in the future.
(For comparison, Russian Soyuz is also TIG-welded/riveted -- seems to work OK.)
It's not that riveting doesn't work. It's that it's slow and expensive. Astra is going for low price and high cadence. Soyuz isn't exactly cutting-edge either. It's been around since the mid 60s... Earlier if you include the R-7 on which it's based.
@@d.jensen5153 It will be wonderful if Astra ever reaches the production rate of Soyuz, which in good years was launching 60+ times a year.
I do not know how many riveters were employed in Soyuz production back in the day, but these days the riveting station for Soyuz seems to be crewed by two young ladies -- one with a pneumatic rivet-setter, and another helping her. They set about 500 rivets per hour. But I guess Astra does it in a different and a much slower way.
@@cogoid The holes don't magically appear in precisely the right locations, and already deburred and beveled. I can't speak to your "good years" but they average 10-15 rockets a year ever since your two young ladies were alive.
@@d.jensen5153 So far, Astra averaged one launch per year. If it is more difficult to manufacture than Soyuz, the problem is with the technique, not with the rivets per se.
@@cogoid Their CEO was quoted as aiming for "dozens if not hundreds of launches a year." They are a small California company just a few years old They are not the Soviet Empire, spending 30% of its GNP on war machines And it's 2022, not 1958. Oh, and, they're launching cubesats not nuclear warheads. It's not only proper but prudent to leverage new technologies and methodologies as they're able to afford the capital expenses involved. And that will be after they calm their anxious investors with a few good launches, and maybe even generate some _revenue._
1:58 Notice ''No food or drink in this area"
I hope that cup was empty Bryson.😁
Is the severed arm at 24:17 purely decorative or does it serve a purpose?
Very interesting. Thank you.
Excelente video...!
Amazing!!!
very cool!
Its called a "hush house" when the fix a jet engine they have to run it through it paces and similar to a rocket engine before they put it back in the fighter jet
Love getting here early! 😁
Truly the bleeding edge of the commercial space industry.
Awesome
California vibes, I like it
Why are some rocket engines blurred under ITAR rules, but others like at Firefly they just show everything?
It could also be for IP reasons and they want to have some company secrets kept safe :)
A lot of weird things are blurred out. I understand rocket components being ITAR sensitive, but ceilings and windows? Parts of walls? Also, what is with the severed arms hanging from chains? 23:38
The video got real once they made it to the engine test facility. 🇺🇸
Sweet !
Surprised by the CNCd domes instead of just stamping them. They seem so bulky like this.
That’s so cool Trevor Lawrence decided to become an engineer
There is should be more rocket factory tour videos.
Smart: "Software's a really important piece of how we scale the business."
Really surprised that an ITAR controlled facility has been posted on the public internet, given the hassle I had with ITAR during my aviation career.
SpaceX is building rockets out in the open next to a public road......
They had this cleared for public release, hence all the blurred shots being either ITAR or proprietary.
@@TheJttv Yeah but none of that is ITAR
@@tedsteiner Well, careful; the act of designing, building, and flying rockets is automatically ITAR. They clearly followed the rules & it went thru a pre-release controlled review/approval.
Much better then some of the overhyped Astra PR (which has claimed it seems that they have succeeding in orbiting without orbiting in fact. This next launch sounds promising.
I like Chris Kemp, wish Astra all the best.
Gotcha.
Gotcha.
Gotcha.
Great public infro - will buy shares if I can
The editor deserves a drink. So much blurring!
Astra FTW
LV0008 looks nice
they getting a massive press for the sheet metal then?
Bonus points for saying "damped" (a couple of times) instead of "dampened".
18:42 Why did you blur Thomas there, i think we are allowed to look at him :D
Would have been nice if you had fixed the sound in post. It was difficult to listen to.
Very cool to see the manufacturing process. I will hold this stock. It's a bargain right now!
Will there be a part 2?
Sucks you had to blurr/censor some stuff out. Would of been cool to see all of it. But the stuff we could see was pretty awesome
What a guide. I'm sold.
I'd like to also see the Elon's SpaceX factory tour at this level of quality. Unfortunately, it was much worse 😅
Proud owner of 4.52 stocks, generating a quite astonishing revenue of 13,45%.
So, Jeff next? ;)
When are these guys moving to Texas?
23:35 Hello random hand
27:00 "proprietary" Yeah! National defence levels of "proprietary".
HELP ME WITH THIS , 11:56 he said having a body without paints provides conductive but what is its use??
So, Very Cool! 😂
Great video but a rather abrupt end. I assume there's not going to be a part 2? 😅
Simple scales :)
1:57 - "NOTICE - NO FOOD OR DRINK IN THIS AREA"