Astronomy Prints 🌌: Astra's Rocket 4 launch plans

09/18/2025

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Astra plans mid-2026 first launch of Rocket 4

By Jeff Foust

In a presentation at the World Space Business Week conference Sept. 17, Chris Kemp, chief executive of Astra, said the company was on track for a first launch of Rocket 4 in summer 2026 from Cape Canaveral, Florida.

Astra announced plans for Rocket 4 in 2022 and at one point projected a first flight of the vehicle in 2023. Development, though, was hindered by problems with Astra's smaller Rocket 3.3 vehicle, which was retired in mid-2022 after several failures, as well as financial issues that culminated in the company going private in July 2024.

Kemp highlighted progress Astra is making on Rocket 4, such as tests of a new engine the company developed for the vehicle's first stage that produces 42,000 pounds of thrust. Two of those engines will power the first stage, while the upper stage will use a single Hadley engine produced by Ursa Major.

Stratospheric pseudo-satellites nearing commercial role in hybrid space networks

Stratospheric pseudo-satellites are shedding their reputation as fringe experiments as governments and industry step up demand, according to executives closing in on commercial services for their high-altitude platform stations.

Defense and security agencies propel demand for Earth-observation data

Defense and security applications provided almost half of the revenue generated by Earth-observation satellites in 2024, Novaspace principal Annekatrien Debien said at the Summit on Earth Observation Business. While commercial and civil demand for satellite data continues to expand, "the main catalyst remains rising geopolitical tension, which has revealed the strategic importance of space-based capabilities in securing national sovereignty and ensuring strategic autonomy," Debien said Sept. 18.

Arianespace examines options to increase Ariane 6 launch rate

Speaking with reporters Sept. 16 at the World Space Business Week conference, Arianespace Chief Executive David Cavaillolès said the company is considering scenarios where new satellite constellations could create enough demand to justify expanded launch capacity.

Educating customers may be half the battle for nascent hyperspectral sector

A significant challenge for hyperspectral satellite operators is alerting potential customers to promising applications, according to speakers at the Summit on Earth Observation Business. Hyperspectral datasets can reveal atmospheric greenhouse gases, identify stores of lithium and other high-value minerals, measure nitrogen in agricultural fields and pinpoint the telltale signs of biological, nuclear and chemical weapons.

Listen to the latest episode of the CEO Series on Space Minds by SpaceNews

For our CEO Series of Space Minds, we're at World Space Business Week in Paris. In today's episode, SpaceNews' Mike Gruss talks with BlackSky CEO Brian O'Toole. The conversation dives into BlackSky's latest contract award with the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency, the growing role of AI in geospatial intelligence and the race to deliver near real-time imagery from space. O'Toole also shares his views on sovereign space capabilities, commercial opportunities beyond defense and how the next generation of satellites is reshaping the future of intelligence.

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