Astra, the space exploration company known for its ambitious plans to launch a series of large rockets on the brink of achieving its goal, announced in May 2019 that the company was acquiring Apollo Fusion. The acquisition of Apollo Fusion, which is an aerospace and technology development company, has been seen by many at the time as an indication of Astra gearing up to provide more affordable access to space for commercial customers. However, recent events in 2020 have seen delays and desertion from the company, raising doubts over the future of the Apollo Fusion acquisition.
In February 2020, Astra announced that it had submitted an official request to the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) for the authority to launch a communications satellite, known as an Earth Departure stage, from the Palmer Station in Alaska. This Earth Departure stage was to be used as part of the Apollo Fusion acquisition. However, the request was met with a denial from the FCC due to potential interference with other payloads in the area. Without the FCC approval, Astra’s plan for a mission to launch a commercial payload into Low Earth Orbit has been put on an indefinite halt.
The announcement of the denial from the FCC was soon followed by a report from the Wall Street Journal stating that several of the Apollo Fusion engineers had left the company and were dismissed from their posts due to the delays with the satellite launch. Furthermore, in April 2020, it was reported that four of the ten senior scientists that Apollo Fusion had hired in the previous months had left because of the long delays in launching the satellite.
These events and reports have led to many speculating the Apollo Fusion acquisition to be a failure. Without the ability to launch a satellite, Astra’s ambitions of providing more affordable access to space become unattainable. Furthermore, it is reported that the departure of the Apollo Fusion engineers further hampered Astra’s attempt to regain approval from the FCC, leading to more delays and abandonment.
In light of all these developments, it is hard to deny the fact that the Apollo Fusion acquisition of Astra has not delivered the success the company was hoping for. However, Astra has stated that they remain confident that they will overcome the challenges and successfully launch the satellite. Whether or not this will happen remains to be seen in the coming months.