The Future of Astra, with Chris Kemp (Astra)
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- Опубліковано 21 лип 2024
- This week’s Pathfinder podcast features Chris Kemp, the founder and CEO of Astra, the publicly-traded launch company based out of Alameda, CA that went public via SPAC in the summer 2021.
Since then, Astra's valuation has seen a dramatic decline, plummeting from a peak of approximately $4B to a mere $67M today. Chris paints a vivid picture of two contrasting narratives. On one hand, there's a satellite propulsion business, acquired through the purchase of startup Apollo Fusion, with a 278-engine backlog valued between $70M and $83M (based on an average selling price of $250-300K). This business has a distant, yet potential opportunity to secure contracts that could significantly change its trajectory. In contrast, the launch business is in jeopardy as capital evaporates. Astra's Rocket 4 must not only launch successfully but also prove its consistency to secure significant commercial deals.
Many of our listeners are well-acquainted with Astra's struggles, given the numerous reports on the company's launch failures and recent wave of departures. Today, our conversation with Chris primarily focused on the future of Astra and how to think about what upside case may remain for the business. We chat:
- Rocket 3 vs Rocket 4: why Rocket 3 failed and the lessons applied to Rocket 4
- The status of commercial and government contracts
- The state of financing for launch companies
- Valuing Astra’s satellite propulsion business
- Key lessons learned as CEO
- What does the future hold for Astra?
And much more…
• Chapters •
00:00 - Introduction
00:56 - Current state of Astra
03:04 - Origins of the business model
07:26 - Key challenges today
11:49 - Rocket 4's specs
16:13 - Contracts with NASA/Space Force
17:09 - Improving reliability from Rocket 3 to 4
21:30 - Rocket 4 engines
24:24 - Importance of strategic partnerships
29:07 - Astra's manufacturing facility
30:03 - What would you have done differently?
33:25 - Bull-case for the prop business
39:15 - Current financial health
41:27 - Team construction and retention
44:10 - What is the investment case for Astra today?
47:03 - Lessons learned as CEO
49:57 - Conclusion
• Show notes •
Astra website - astra.com/
Chris’s socials - / kemp
John Walker's "A Rocket a Day Keeps the High Costs Away" - www.astronautix.com/a/arocketa...
Mo's socials - / itsmoislam
Payload’s socials - / payloadspace / / payloadspace
Pathfinder archive - Watch: / @payloadspace Pathfinder archive - Listen: pod.payloadspace.com/episodes
• About us •
Pathfinder is brought to you by Payload, a modern space media brand built from the ground up for a new age of space exploration and commercialization. We deliver need-to-know news and insights daily to 15,000+ commercial, civil, and military space leaders. Payload is read by decision-makers at every leading new space company, along with c-suite leaders at all of the aerospace & defense primes. We’re also read on Capitol Hill, in the Pentagon, and at space agencies around the world. Payload began as a weekly email sent to a few friends and coworkers.
Today, we’re a team distributed across four time zones and two continents, publishing three media properties across multiple platforms: 1) Payload, our flagship daily newsletter, sends M-F @ 9am Eastern (newsletter.payloadspace.com/) 2) Pathfinder publishes weekly on Tuesday mornings (pod.payloadspace.com) 3) Polaris, our weekly policy publication, hits inboxes Tuesday (polaris.payloadspace.com/) 4) Parallax, our weekly space science briefing, hits inboxes Thursday (parallax.payloadspace.com/) - Наука та технологія
7:45 … excellent lesson for any startup. Beautiful explanation.
Great interview! Lots of straight forward insight
Nothing with Kemp is straight forward. He’s a straight liar. At literally every turn. Dude thinks he’s waaaaaaay smarter than he actually is. Fucking IT guys.
not sure it's wise to bring so much of the manufacturing in house like they did, were they really having trouble getting aluminum tube mfg outsourced?? you can make such things cheaply in alameda california??
Good interview! Go Astra!
I believe in you Chris! Let's go with your dream without selling stocks.Beyond the infinite universe
“Just a fraction of $2 billion”… its market cap is $72 million 😂. Some very, very hard lessons for the Astra team. They made some god awful mistakes. Chris has trimmed his lofty vision to something resembling reality. I just hope it’s not too late. If they can ramp their engine sales + successfully leverage their investment in infrastructure, maybe investors will grant them one more chance. I like Chris, he is smart & has integrity - I wish the Astra team good luck!
why would you post a 'laugh w/ tears'? some people's children...
Very good interviewer!
Hope Astra can turn things around.
Is it me or did Chris seem less natural/comfortable than most of his previous experiences. The way he spoke was different 🤔
he laid off 25% workforce. Nice to see he's bothered by that and possibility of other peoples livelihoods on the line. Humanistic CEO
Obviously he has to be careful what he says being a public company, and has no script. But also I HATE interviews done on Airpods, the noise cancellation removes a lot from tone of voice. Very much sounded like GPT rattling off junk info through lyrebird or something
Have they’ve had one successful launch? I’d hate to be a customer knowing your payload will explode, or go sideways.
yes, they've had two
And Kemp took performance bonuses off that “successful” rocket 3. While shareholders and his company are worth 99.95% less than when he went public. He’s a liar and a fraud.
This guy is not seeing reality. Scaling up works , yes, but it’s so hard to do that. Rather just scale up a bigger rocket and always make more$$. the cost of the rocket materials/manufacturing is always a small percentage of the total cost. The cost of personnel is much larger. If two different teams of the same size were making different sized rockets, the team with the bigger rocket will always make more. SpaceX rideshare and space tugs are also bringing down the cost. No space for rocket 4.0 sorry
Thank you for this interview. Can see the emotion and how much of himself Chris has put into Astra. I'm still hold. Tapped out but still buying. Sure hope they can make it work
He can’t convince himself …
Go high I never exited almost lost all
Buy the dip!
astra stock goes down 90% everyday
no it doesn't
Great! I'm buying more
Pour le moment mon pire investissement..pru 2 Cours actuel. 0.20 On attend un miracle 😅
On en rachète ? C'est si bas...
@@Subaquaplane j’y pense ….
Shareholder lawsuit! Kemp stole our money!
I think Astra Space will eventually be big.
Bk bk bk
FUBAR
A🦾S🌎T🌒R🪐A
Lstra has no future.