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Post by JHam on Jun 6, 2021 14:01:30 GMT
They are creating their own core operating system. Chris said they’ll post about 50 new job openings in the next month or two, and will be announcing a “pretty exciting leader” in the next week or two.
Anyone interested in this company should definitely watch this webcast. Especially from 0:01:10 onward.
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Post by magnus123 on Jun 7, 2021 18:35:34 GMT
The interview with Chris Kemp is wonderful.
Massive warrant buying today. Above 2.60 for a moment. The stock is also moving.
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Post by JHam on Jun 7, 2021 22:52:13 GMT
The interview with Chris Kemp is wonderful. Massive warrant buying today. Above 2.60 for a moment. The stock is also moving. YES! Such a great day for my warrants. Almost back in the green!
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Post by JHam on Jun 8, 2021 4:11:27 GMT
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Post by JHam on Jun 8, 2021 4:15:21 GMT
Also this big announcement today: astra.com/press-releases/astra-acquires-apollo-fusion-to-reach-new-orbits/?swcfpc=1ASTRA ACQUIRES APOLLO FUSION TO REACH NEW ORBITS ALAMEDA, Calif. — June 7. Astra, the fastest privately funded company in history to reach space, announced today its planned acquisition of Apollo Fusion in a transaction valued up to $145 million. Apollo Fusion manufactures a leading electric propulsion engine. This acquisition allows Astra to provide launch and space services beyond low Earth orbit (LEO), to medium Earth orbit, geosynchronous, and lunar orbits.
“In addition to increasing Astra’s total addressable market for launch services, the acquisition of Apollo Fusion accelerates Astra’s ability to efficiently deliver and operate spacecraft beyond low Earth orbit,” said Astra Founder, Chairman, and CEO Chris Kemp.
“Scale is what makes innovation matter,” said Reid Hoffman, partner at Greylock and lead investor in Apollo Fusion. “I’m excited that Apollo Fusion will be a key enabler of Astra’s hyperscale space platform.”
Under the agreement, Astra is acquiring Apollo Fusion for a purchase price of $50 million: $30 million in stock and $20 million in cash. Additionally, there is potential for earn-outs of up to $95 million: $10 million in employee incentive stock, $10 million in cash for reaching technical milestones, and $75 million ($60 million in stock, $15 million in cash) for reaching revenue milestones. PJT Partners is acting as financial advisor to Astra in connection with this series of transactions.
“Propulsion systems open new destinations,” said Apollo Fusion Founder and CEO Mike Cassidy. “Our team is excited to combine the flexibility of in-space propulsion with the world’s most responsive launch provider.”
In addition to Cassidy, the acquisition brings a team with experience from companies such as Google, Tesla, and SpaceX, with individuals who have developed, designed and manufactured hardware flying on over 2,000 satellites in orbit today.
This transaction will close after Astra’s business combination with Holicity (NASDAQ: HOL) is completed, and is expected to be accretive to revenue starting this year.
From the merger PR:
Astra announced the acquisition of Apollo Fusion, which will allow it to expand their TAM, reach mid-Earth, geosynchronous, and lunar orbits, and accelerate its ability to offer Space Services. The deal is accretive to revenue in the first year.
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Post by magnus123 on Jun 8, 2021 9:03:19 GMT
The interview with Chris Kemp is wonderful. Massive warrant buying today. Above 2.60 for a moment. The stock is also moving. YES! Such a great day for my warrants. Almost back in the green! I expected nothing for the warrants for the rest of this year. This can be now a surprising upside potential for my portfolio for 2021 with the sector heating up.
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Post by JHam on Jun 8, 2021 9:36:31 GMT
YES! Such a great day for my warrants. Almost back in the green! I expected nothing for the warrants for the rest of this year. This can be now a surprising upside potential for my portfolio for 2021 with the sector heating up. Really? Why is that? Do you own any or just $HOL? They are on fire right now. Up another 30% pre-market.
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Post by magnus123 on Jun 8, 2021 9:51:39 GMT
I expected nothing for the warrants for the rest of this year. This can be now a surprising upside potential for my portfolio for 2021 with the sector heating up. Really? Why is that? Do you own any or just $HOL? They are on fire right now. Up another 30% pre-market. I always said that I'm holding only HOLUW (a lot!), but I was skeptical that we will see any upside in 2021. That's why I'm so happy about this move now, because it can boost my performance in a very significant way. I actually increased my position yesterday.
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Post by magnus123 on Jun 8, 2021 9:52:35 GMT
Avg of $2.50
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Post by JHam on Jun 8, 2021 10:01:15 GMT
Really? Why is that? Do you own any or just $HOL? They are on fire right now. Up another 30% pre-market. I always said that I'm holding only HOLUW (a lot!), but I was skeptical that we will see any upside in 2021. That's why I'm so happy about this move now, because it can boost my performance in a very significant way. I actually increased my position yesterday. Obviously you need to say it a lot more Nice timing increasing your position. I already own more HOLUW than I should. If it keeps going higher I may sell some and roll it into HOL. So you were skeptical about HOL in general, not just HOLUW?
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Post by captsmith77 on Jun 8, 2021 13:26:58 GMT
Picked up a bunch of shares pre-market. Like the prospects here.
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Post by magnus123 on Jun 8, 2021 19:42:32 GMT
I always said that I'm holding only HOLUW (a lot!), but I was skeptical that we will see any upside in 2021. That's why I'm so happy about this move now, because it can boost my performance in a very significant way. I actually increased my position yesterday. Obviously you need to say it a lot more Nice timing increasing your position. I already own more HOLUW than I should. If it keeps going higher I may sell some and roll it into HOL. So you were skeptical about HOL in general, not just HOLUW? I think that we talked about it in private conversation. Not sure. Well, it's only a 10% increase to my position, but I'm still happy about it.
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Post by JHam on Jun 9, 2021 3:09:29 GMT
Obviously you need to say it a lot more Nice timing increasing your position. I already own more HOLUW than I should. If it keeps going higher I may sell some and roll it into HOL. So you were skeptical about HOL in general, not just HOLUW? I think that we talked about it in private conversation. Not sure. Well, it's only a 10% increase to my position, but I'm still happy about it. Excellent. I am going to hold onto my warrants and not buy any HOL for now.
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Post by JHam on Jun 9, 2021 3:10:05 GMT
As expected, ASTRA to start trading on the Nasdaq on July 1st:
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Post by captsmith77 on Jun 9, 2021 6:59:59 GMT
Made a nice quick profit, but will reenter if it should pull back. It may not though, if it has continued momentum, but either way it was a good trade and worth keeping an eye on given the potential here.
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Post by captsmith77 on Jun 10, 2021 14:13:22 GMT
Buying again.... GLTA
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Post by JHam on Jun 14, 2021 1:28:44 GMT
Recap of Chris Kemp's YouTube interview with NSF: www.nasaspaceflight.com/2021/06/astra-ceo-chris-kemp-previews-rocket-4-0-daily-launches-and-a-smarter-planet/(I like this excerpt): Setting Astra apart from competition
Kemp described how he sees Astra’s role as a smallsat launch provider compared to other small offerings as well as large rockets.
“I think there are some just fantastic companies out there that are building massive rockets that will have the ability take large amounts of cargo up into space. These are very large rockets, getting larger in a lot of cases. And we think that’s a critical piece of infrastructure when you’re going to Mars, putting large amounts of things in one place in space.”
“But what we’re seeing is, we’re seeing hundreds of companies that have all formed over the past five, ten years. They all have different satellites. They’re all very small. They all want to go to different places in space, typically from different places on Earth, all on different schedules.”
“So you can think of Astra of just filling in that gap in the market where we can access anywhere in space, on any schedule, from anywhere on Earth.”
In order to make this offering at low cost, Kemp says reusability will not play a part at Astra. “The way to optimize the economics of a high-volume, low-cost system like the one that we’re building is to not attempt to reuse the system.”
“If it costs millions of dollars to make the rocket, you totally want to reuse it, and so I can see why companies like Rocket Lab — when they have a Ferrari, carbon fiber, expensive thing — totally don’t want to throw that away. So I see why they’re going down that path. But for Astra, where our target is to make the entire rocket for a couple hundred thousand dollars, it just doesn’t make any sense for us.”
In addition to Rocket Lab, which was the first of a new wave of commercial small launch providers to achieve orbit, Kemp compared Astra’s costs to that of Virgin Orbit, which achieved orbit for the first time in January 2021.
“How do we go and operate a system globally from as many spaceports as possible? How do we manufacture, some day, thousands of rockets a year and truly democratize access to space? And so who’s competing with us on that front? It’s not clear. We have Virgin Orbit, with a vehicle that they sell for $12 million. That’s three times more expensive. Carbon fiber. You need to deploy a 747 every time you fly it. With twelve shipping containers behind it. That’s our competitor.”
Astra recently won a launch contract from NASA for the TROPICS mission, in which Astra beat not only Rocket Lab and Virgin Orbit, but also SpaceX’s Starship system. Kemp says the team was both surprised and humbled to be competing, and winning, against Starship.
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Post by JHam on Jun 14, 2021 1:51:02 GMT
Wow! I just found this interview/profile of Chris Kemp. It solidifies the idea that some of us have talked about, that Astra and QUIK would be a perfect match for each other. You have to subscribe to view this, but I'll paste the important part: www.bizjournals.com/sanjose/news/2013/12/02/silicon-valley-40-under-40-chris-c.htmlSilicon Valley 40 under 40: Chris C. Kemp, NebulaChris C. Kemp
Founder and Chief Strategy Officer, Nebula
Age: 36
Born: Buffalo, N.Y.
Chris C. Kemp became NASA’s first-ever Chief Technology Officer in 2010 after co-founding OpenStack and building NASA's Security Operations Center of NASA Ames Research Center.
His work assembling and leading a team of NASA contractors to leverage the web as a platform and take the lead in open, transparent and participatory space exploration and government led to the Nebula Cloud Computing Pilot and the founding of Nebula.
Kemp's work at NASA wasn't his first big achievement. By age 21 Kemp had already founded and sold his first business, Netran, a company that launched an online grocery shopping service for food giant Kroger. In 2002, the entrepreneurial bug bit him again and he launched Escapia, a company he conceived of after trying to rent a beach house on the Internet.... ...Favorite stress release: Doing something exhilarating outdoors
Superpower you'd like to have: Teleportation
Something about you that would surprise others: I grew up in the South
Biggest whoops: Not giving angel investors and early employees the opportunity to have more ownership in my company
Favorite causes: Open-source software and hardware, democratizing large-scale computing and access to space
Pets: None
College alma mater: University of Alabama, Huntsville (next to Space Camp!) – but left to found first start-up, Netran.
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Post by JHam on Jun 14, 2021 1:56:00 GMT
Wow! I just found this interview/profile of Chris Kemp. It solidifies the idea that some of us have talked about, that Astra and QUIK would be a perfect match for each other. You have to subscribe to view this, but I'll paste the important part: www.bizjournals.com/sanjose/news/2013/12/02/silicon-valley-40-under-40-chris-c.htmlSilicon Valley 40 under 40: Chris C. Kemp, NebulaChris C. Kemp
Founder and Chief Strategy Officer, Nebula
Age: 36
Born: Buffalo, N.Y.
Chris C. Kemp became NASA’s first-ever Chief Technology Officer in 2010 after co-founding OpenStack and building NASA's Security Operations Center of NASA Ames Research Center.
His work assembling and leading a team of NASA contractors to leverage the web as a platform and take the lead in open, transparent and participatory space exploration and government led to the Nebula Cloud Computing Pilot and the founding of Nebula.
Kemp's work at NASA wasn't his first big achievement. By age 21 Kemp had already founded and sold his first business, Netran, a company that launched an online grocery shopping service for food giant Kroger. In 2002, the entrepreneurial bug bit him again and he launched Escapia, a company he conceived of after trying to rent a beach house on the Internet.... ...Favorite stress release: Doing something exhilarating outdoors
Superpower you'd like to have: Teleportation
Something about you that would surprise others: I grew up in the South
Biggest whoops: Not giving angel investors and early employees the opportunity to have more ownership in my company
Favorite causes: Open-source software and hardware, democratizing large-scale computing and access to space
Pets: None
College alma mater: University of Alabama, Huntsville (next to Space Camp!) – but left to found first start-up, Netran.This is from 2013 by the way, which shows just how long Chris Kemp has been pounding the table about open source.
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Post by JHam on Jun 14, 2021 2:04:27 GMT
Wow! I just found this interview/profile of Chris Kemp. It solidifies the idea that some of us have talked about, that Astra and QUIK would be a perfect match for each other. You have to subscribe to view this, but I'll paste the important part: www.bizjournals.com/sanjose/news/2013/12/02/silicon-valley-40-under-40-chris-c.htmlSilicon Valley 40 under 40: Chris C. Kemp, NebulaChris C. Kemp
Founder and Chief Strategy Officer, Nebula
Age: 36
Born: Buffalo, N.Y.
Chris C. Kemp became NASA’s first-ever Chief Technology Officer in 2010 after co-founding OpenStack and building NASA's Security Operations Center of NASA Ames Research Center.
His work assembling and leading a team of NASA contractors to leverage the web as a platform and take the lead in open, transparent and participatory space exploration and government led to the Nebula Cloud Computing Pilot and the founding of Nebula.
Kemp's work at NASA wasn't his first big achievement. By age 21 Kemp had already founded and sold his first business, Netran, a company that launched an online grocery shopping service for food giant Kroger. In 2002, the entrepreneurial bug bit him again and he launched Escapia, a company he conceived of after trying to rent a beach house on the Internet.... ...Favorite stress release: Doing something exhilarating outdoors
Superpower you'd like to have: Teleportation
Something about you that would surprise others: I grew up in the South
Biggest whoops: Not giving angel investors and early employees the opportunity to have more ownership in my company
Favorite causes: Open-source software and hardware, democratizing large-scale computing and access to space
Pets: None
College alma mater: University of Alabama, Huntsville (next to Space Camp!) – but left to found first start-up, Netran.This is from 2013 by the way, which shows just how long Chris Kemp has been pounding the table about open source. My bad, even earlier... fcw.com/articles/2010/05/06/kemp-nasa-open-source.aspxOpen source is NASA's next frontierNew CTO lays out his vision for the future
By Sean GallagherMay 06, 2010
The challenges to government's adoption and participation in open-source communities is often thought to be a simple culture clash, but in reality it goes deeper than that, according to NASA's newly-appointed chief technology officer.
“The issues that we need to tackle are not only cuture, but beyond culture,” said Chris Kemp, formerly chief information officer at NASA's Ames Research Center in Moffett Field, Calif. “And I think we need new policy and support from the administration and Congress to help us tackle" them.
Kemp spoke May 5 as part of panel at the Open Government & Innovations 2010 conference, held in Washington D.C. That was the same day that NASA announced his promotion to agency CTO, a new position created to foster information technology innovation within NASA. Kemp will oversee the agency's enterprise architecture division and be responsible for the introduction of new and emerging technologies into the agency's IT planning.
And open source is a key element of Kemp's strategy. “We're actually creating a new Open Source Office under our Open Government Initiative under the Chief Technology Officer's office,” he said. “We're really taking this seriously, and we've never had this sort of visibility and interest from headquarters before.”
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