$Holicity(HOL)$ Leveraging automation, software, and simplicity！
“We have a mantra at Astra: Simple Scales. Which is a simple idea. But the more complicated you make something, the harder it is to manufacture. The harder it is to operate. Typically, the more things that can go wrong with it, the harder it is for people to understand and communicate.”
“The rocket we’re making today will probably be the most complicated rocket we ever make. Because what we’re trying to do is continuously take things away from it. Do we need those baffles in there? Do we need that sensor? And with every generation, as we understand things more, we’re able to simplify.”
This goal of simplicity starts with manufacturing, in which Astra is working to avoid 3D printing technology if at all possible — a difference between Astra and many other launch companies.
Once the vehicles are manufactured, Astra wants to simplify the launch process, too. This is where automation will play a crucial role “Only five people accompany the entire spaceport in the field. And then we run everything from mission control, and there’s only five people in mission control. The idea is for Astra [is that] mission control will go away. There will not be a room of screens and people on consoles. We’re moving to a model where the concept of mission control goes away. It’s all software-driven.”
Astra is also currently running their own Autonomous Flight Safety System (AFTS), similar to the AFTS systems employed by SpaceX and Rocket Lab, in a mode which shadows the active, more traditional Flight Termination System.
“We have an Astra Autonomous Flight Safety System. It is not active in the current flights, but we are in the process of certifying it. So it’s actually, it’s in shadow mode. But it’s flying on the Rocket 3 series.”
The entire build, test, and fly system is being optimized using a new software solution named AstraOS, a project for which Astra hopes to announce a new leader and many job listings in the near future.
“If you think about the company, it fundamentally has to be efficient. Just like a rocket. You don’t have any extra mass for structures because if it’s not fuel and it’s not payload then it’s rocket. And rocket is overhead. So you don’t want any overhead in a rocket.”
“AstraOS is our financial systems. It’s our systems that help engineers do their product development. It’s our program management systems. It’s all the core software that runs the business. So it’s the operating system of Astra.”
The system will be tied in to every single step of the process from raw materials to launch. “We built it on the foundation of an accounting system. So every time we have a part on the rocket, we understand what it costs. We understand how much labor goes into putting it together. We understand what the lead time on it was for the raw material. We understand how many hours it spent on a machine. We understand what that machine cost. We understand what the depreciation of that machine is and how that contributes, too.”
“AstraOS is that underlying software fabric that makes data accessible to folks that are making decisions to help us make the right decisions. And it powers, like, every bit of data from every sensor ever recorded on any test in the entire history of Astra is accessible to every engineer in real time.”
“All that data is what streams on to people’s screens during launches. And it’s what powers every test. It’s what powers every launch. And it’s all based on a proprietary Astra platform. And that’s AstraOS.”
