Rocket 3.1 launches from Kodiak, Alaska. Astra / John Kraus
Rocket builder Astra is preparing to go public in the second quarter, taking on a crowded field of competitors while aiming for daily deliveries to space by 2025.
CEO Chris Kemp spoke to CNBC this month about the company's plans for its upcoming cash infusion.
Once Astra closes its merger with Holicity , a special purpose acquisition company, the venture expects it will have as much as $500 million in capital on hand.
That includes a $30 million funding round, previously unreported by media, that the rocket builder closed prior to announcing its SPAC deal.
Astra, based in Alameda, California, raised the smaller round to help it "go faster" while the merger awaits regulatory approval, with Holicity's sponsor Pendrell Corporation and existing investors such as Marc Benioff contributing.
"We're actually building a space platform – in much the same way that when Amazon started, they weren't marketing themselves as a delivery truck company or a warehouse company," Kemp said. "We're really trying to solve the problem that our customers have, which is they want to put stuff in space quickly."
Financial backing aside, Astra is entering a field packed with competitors.
For starters, its 40-foot-tall rocket puts it in the sub-sector of small launch vehicles – a category of the space industry that analysts and executives estimate has in excess of 100 startups in various stages of development. All those ventures are looking to compete with the small rocket leader Rocket Lab.
Astra's rocket is advertised as capable of carrying up to 100 kilograms to low Earth orbit, for as little as $2.5 million for a dedicated launch. Kemp expects that price point to drop as Astra accelerates to a weekly launch rate in 2023 and beyond.
"The plan is fully funded to 2025 to get to daily space delivery," he said.
It's a formidable goal. "You're talking about nearly a launch a day," said Ken Herbert, an analyst with Canaccord Genuity.
"Is it possible theoretically? Yes. But, in basically four years, is one company going to be able to support that kind of schedule? It's ambitious – nobody's ever done it."
"It doesn't mean it's impossible, but everything's got to go right, even COVID-19 aside," said Herbert. "And there are other factors in play – if you have an anomaly with any one of these launches than everything else is going to get [delayed]"
The latest in space-themed SPAC offerings CEO Chris Kemp speaks via video conference from Astra's headquarters in Alameda, California. CNBC
Astra became the latest private rocket builder to reach space for the first time in December, after its Rocket 3.2 vehicle launched from Alaska.
Although the rocket did not reach orbit on that mission, Astra's leadership viewed the launch as clearing the final hurdles needed to begin commercial service later this year.