Astra Space Inc (ASTR) 2022 Q4 法說會逐字稿

Good day, and welcome to the Astra's Fourth Quarter Fiscal 2022 Financial Results Conference Call. Today's call is being recorded. I would now like to turn the conference over to Andrew Hsiung, VP of Strategic Finance, Capital Markets.

美好的一天，歡迎來到 Astra 2022 財年第四季度財務業績電話會議。今天的通話正在錄音中。我現在想將會議轉交給資本市場戰略財務副總裁 Andrew Hsiung。

Thank you, operator. Good afternoon, everyone, and thank you for joining us for Astra's Fourth Quarter and Fiscal Year 2022 Results Call. After the market closed, we released our financial results. The press release is available on the SEC's website and our Investor Relations website at investor.astra.com. A supplemental presentation related to our results can also be found on the Investor Relations section of our website. This teleconference is also being broadcast over the Internet and will be archived and available on our Investor Relations website.

謝謝你，運營商。大家下午好，感謝您加入我們的 Astra 第四季度和 2022 財年業績電話會議。收市後，我們發布了財務業績。該新聞稿可在 SEC 網站和我們的投資者關係網站 investor.astra.com 上查閱。與我們的結果相關的補充介紹也可以在我們網站的投資者關係部分找到。該電話會議也在互聯網上播出，並將存檔並在我們的投資者關係網站上提供。

During our call today, we will reference non-GAAP financial measures, which we believe to be useful to investors as our management team uses these non-GAAP financial measures to plan, monitor and evaluate our financial performance. These non-GAAP financial measures exclude certain items and should not be considered as a substitute for comparable GAAP financial measures. Astra's methods of computing these non-GAAP financial measures may differ from similar non-GAAP financial measures used by other companies. A description of items, along with the reconciliation of our non-GAAP financial measures to the most comparable GAAP financial measures can be found in our results release.

在我們今天的電話會議中，我們將參考非 GAAP 財務指標，我們認為這對投資者有用，因為我們的管理團隊使用這些非 GAAP 財務指標來計劃、監控和評估我們的財務業績。這些非 GAAP 財務措施不包括某些項目，不應被視為可比的 GAAP 財務措施的替代品。 Astra 計算這些非 GAAP 財務指標的方法可能不同於其他公司使用的類似非 GAAP 財務指標。在我們的結果發布中可以找到項目的描述，以及我們的非 GAAP 財務措施與最具可比性的 GAAP 財務措施的調節。

Today's call will also contain forward-looking statements. These forward-looking statements refer to future events, including Astra's future financial outlook. When used in this call, the words anticipate, could, enable, estimate, intend, expect, believe, potential, will, should, project and similar expressions as they relate to Astra are as such, a forward-looking statement. These forward-looking statements are subject to a number of risks and uncertainties. And as a result, Astra's actual future results and performance may differ materially from those discussed in this call.

今天的電話會議還將包含前瞻性陳述。這些前瞻性陳述涉及未來事件，包括 Astra 的未來財務展望。當在本次電話會議中使用預期、可能、啟用、估計、打算、期望、相信、潛在、將、應該、項目和與 Astra 相關的類似表達時，它們本身就是一個前瞻性陳述。這些前瞻性陳述受許多風險和不確定因素的影響。因此，Astra 未來的實際結果和表現可能與本次電話會議中討論的結果和表現存在重大差異。

We encourage you to review our filings with the SEC in which we describe the factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from our current expectations, including those updated risk factors included in our annual report on Form 10-K.

我們鼓勵您查看我們向美國證券交易委員會提交的文件，其中我們描述了可能導致實際結果與我們當前預期存在重大差異的因素，包括我們 10-K 表格年度報告中包含的更新風險因素。

Finally, I would like to remind everyone that this call will be recorded and will also be made available for replay via a link available on the Investor Relations section of our website.

最後，我想提醒大家，這次電話會議將被錄音，也可以通過我們網站投資者關係部分的鏈接進行重播。

With that, I'll turn the call over to Chris Kemp, Astra's founder, Chairman and CEO. Chris?

有了這個，我將把電話轉給 Astra 的創始人、董事長兼首席執行官克里斯坎普。克里斯？

Thanks, Andrew. Good afternoon, everyone, and thank you for joining us. Joining me on the call today are Axel Martinez, our Chief Financial Officer; and Martin Attiq, our Chief Business Officer. During today's call, we will review our operational and financial results for the fourth quarter, discuss our key accomplishments during 2022, review guidance for Q1 and provide an update on our launch services and space products businesses.

謝謝，安德魯。大家下午好，感謝您加入我們。今天和我一起參加電話會議的是我們的首席財務官 Axel Martinez；和我們的首席商務官 Martin Attiq。在今天的電話會議上，我們將回顧我們第四季度的運營和財務業績，討論我們在 2022 年取得的主要成就，回顧第一季度的指導方針，並提供我們發射服務和太空產品業務的最新情況。

First, I'd like to recap our key accomplishments in 2022 for our 2 core businesses: Launch Services and Space Products. 2022 was a productive year for our Launch Services business. We successfully deployed 22 satellites into Earth orbit in March of 2022 for 3 different customers. This success followed Astra becoming the fastest privately funded U.S. company to place a satellite into orbit in November 2021, just 5 years after we were founded in 2016. Astra also became the first company to launch under the Part 450 FAA license framework.

首先，我想回顧一下我們在 2022 年的兩大核心業務取得的主要成就：發射服務和太空產品。 2022 年是我們發射服務業務富有成效的一年。 2022 年 3 月，我們為 3 個不同的客戶成功將 22 顆衛星部署到地球軌道。在取得這一成功之前，Astra 於 2021 年 11 月成為最快將衛星送入軌道的私人資助美國公司，距我們於 2016 年成立僅 5 年。Astra 還成為第一家根據 Part 450 FAA 許可框架發射衛星的公司。

Astra's manufacturing facilities achieved a Rocket 3 production rate of approximately 1 rocket per month from January through July of 2022, and we conducted 2 Rocket 3 launches within 33 days. After the TROPICS-1 mission Mishap, NASA agreed to modify its contract with Astra to launch future payloads on our new Rocket 4 vehicle. Based on customer and market feedback, we stopped launching Rocket 3s and focused on accelerating the introduction of a higher-capacity 600-kilogram version of Rocket 4 that can be mass produced on our new Rocket 4 production line that we expect will be capable of producing up to 1 rocket per day.

從 2022 年 1 月到 2022 年 7 月，Astra 的製造設施實現了 Rocket 3 每月約 1 枚火箭的生產率，我們在 33 天內進行了 2 次 Rocket 3 發射。在 TROPICS-1 任務 Mishap 之後，NASA 同意修改與 Astra 的合同，以在我們的新型 Rocket 4 運載器上發射未來的有效載荷。根據客戶和市場反饋，我們停止推出 Rocket 3s，並專注於加快推出更大容量的 600 公斤版本的 Rocket 4，該版本可以在我們預計能夠生產的新 Rocket 4 生產線上量產每天最多 1 枚火箭彈。

We continue to anticipate commencing test flights for Rocket 4 later this year. Perhaps the highlight of 2022 was significant customer traction of our Space Products business. We announced 278 committed orders as of today, March 30, including customer contracts with Airbus OneWeb Satellites, Astrascale, Maxar Technologies and LeoStella among others representing approximately $77 million of contract value, the majority of which is expected to be delivered in 2023 and 2024.

我們繼續期待今年晚些時候開始 Rocket 4 的試飛。也許 2022 年的亮點是我們的太空產品業務對客戶的巨大吸引力。截至今日，即 3 月 30 日，我們宣布了 278 份承諾訂單，其中包括與 Airbus OneWeb Satellites、Astrascale、Maxar Technologies 和 LeoStella 等公司簽訂的客戶合同，合同價值約為 7700 萬美元，其中大部分預計將在 2023 年和 2024 年交付。

We successfully delivered on 3 customer programs of the Astra Spacecraft Engine. We took important steps to scale the production of Astra Spacecraft Engines with the build-out of a new dedicated production facility in Silicon Valley. And we expect the facility will eventually support production of up to 500 units per year with our production ramp beginning in Q2 of 2023.

我們成功交付了 Astra Spacecraft Engine 的 3 個客戶項目。我們採取了重要步驟，通過在矽谷建立新的專用生產設施來擴大 Astra Spacecraft Engines 的生產規模。我們預計該設施最終將支持每年生產多達 500 台，我們的生產將從 2023 年第二季度開始。

Since our inception, we have taken a long-term view on the growth of the commercial space industry. In 2022, we saw the number of satellites launched increase by 31%. Global launch trade increased 27%, and the overall space economy grew by 8% to $464 billion. Each of those benchmarks validates the trajectory of the industry that we anticipated, and which have guided our strategy, product road maps and investments. Our strategy to become the leading provider of launch services and space products required long-term investments in our Rocket and Space Product production lines in 2022.

自成立以來，我們就以長遠的眼光看待商業航天業的發展。 2022 年，我們看到發射的衛星數量增加了 31%。全球發射貿易增長了 27%，整體太空經濟增長了 8%，達到 4640 億美元。這些基準中的每一個都驗證了我們預期的行業軌跡，並指導了我們的戰略、產品路線圖和投資。我們成為發射服務和太空產品領先供應商的戰略要求在 2022 年對我們的火箭和太空產品生產線進行長期投資。

And in 2022 and early 2023, in spite of the challenges, we stayed the course and completed the build-out of our new Rocket 4 and spacecraft engine production lines and invested heavily in the people and equipment needed to increase the quality and reliability of our products and services.

在 2022 年和 2023 年初，儘管面臨挑戰，我們堅持不懈地完成了我們新的 Rocket 4 和航天器發動機生產線的擴建，並大力投資於提高我們產品質量和可靠性所需的人員和設備產品和服務。

Our team is laser-focused on 2 key goals: in launch services demonstrating a reliable and scalable launch capability. Astra is 1 of only 5 privately funded U.S. companies that has conducted successful orbital launches and successfully delivered satellites into lower orbit.

我們的團隊專注於 2 個關鍵目標：在發射服務中展示可靠且可擴展的發射能力。 Astra 是美國僅有的 5 家成功進行軌道發射並成功將衛星送入低軌道的公司之一。

Based on the data and experience gathered from our missions in 2022, by investing in mass-produced rockets and via automation of key manufacturing and launch operations processes, we plan to lead the market in lowest cost launch. We have designed our Launch System 2 with the expectation that it could service up to 80% of the addressable satellite market.

根據我們在 2022 年的任務中收集的數據和經驗，通過投資大規模生產的火箭以及關鍵製造和發射操作流程的自動化，我們計劃在最低成本發射方面引領市場。我們設計了 Launch System 2，期望它能夠服務高達 80% 的可尋址衛星市場。

Two, space products. Scale production. We've moved into a new 60,000 square foot Astra Spacecraft Engine facility in Silicon Valley toward the end of March.With the expected annual capacity of almost 500 units, this facility is designed to allow us to service our customers' needs as well as future demand.

二、航天產品。規模生產。 3 月底，我們搬進了位於矽谷的一個新的 60,000 平方英尺的 Astra Spacecraft Engine 工廠。該工廠的預期年產能將近 500 台，旨在讓我們能夠滿足客戶的需求以及未來要求。

Astra's mission of improving life and earth from space has never been more relevant than it is today. We continue to believe that frequent reliable, dedicated launches and scaled production of space products are the keys to accelerating the growth of the space economy. In 2022, Astra launched its first customer satellites and sold spacecraft engines that will power a number of new constellations of small satellites in low Earth orbit.

Astra 從太空改善生活和地球的使命從未像今天這樣重要。我們仍然認為，頻繁可靠、專用的發射和太空產品的規模化生產是加速太空經濟增長的關鍵。 2022 年，Astra 發射了第一顆客戶衛星並出售了航天器發動機，這些發動機將為低地球軌道上的許多新的小型衛星群提供動力。

We are proud of the team for accomplishing these milestones. We are also humbled by our failures, and we've learned a tremendous amount from them. I look forward to providing you with frequent updates as we progress towards our first flight of Rocket 4 later this year and begin to ramp up production of our spacecraft engines in Q2. Now I'd like to provide an update on the progress we've made on the development of Launch System 2.

我們為實現這些里程碑的團隊感到自豪。我們也為我們的失敗感到謙卑，我們從中學到了很多東西。隨著我們在今年晚些時候進行 Rocket 4 的首次飛行並在第二季度開始提高我們的航天器發動機的產量，我期待著為您提供頻繁的更新。現在我想介紹一下我們在 Launch System 2 開發方面取得的最新進展。

Our launch services customers include satellite operators, manufacturers and government agencies, Rocket 4 is now targeting deliveries of up to 600 kilograms to mid-inclination low Earth orbit. As indicated previously, we continue to expect test flights for Rocket 4 to begin in the latter part of 2023 and continue to remain on track with our key development milestones leading up to our first flight. Since the last earnings call, we've completed the qualification of our new upper stage engine, completed a full flight duration run of our new first-stage engine, completed the qualification of key manufacturing processes for the new Rocket 4 propellant tanks, including completing tank burst tests.

我們的發射服務客戶包括衛星運營商、製造商和政府機構，Rocket 4 現在的目標是向中傾角低地球軌道運送重達 600 公斤的貨物。如前所述，我們繼續預計 Rocket 4 的試飛將於 2023 年下半年開始，並繼續保持在我們的關鍵發展里程碑的軌道上，直到我們的第一次飛行。自上次財報電話會議以來，我們已經完成了新上級發動機的鑑定，完成了新一級發動機的全飛行持續時間運行，完成了新 Rocket 4 推進劑箱關鍵製造工藝的鑑定，包括完成坦克爆破試驗。

Finally, we released our payload users guide for Rocket 4, which allows our customers to better understand the capabilities of our system and the features of our launch service. We've made substantial progress towards completion of the Rocket 4 production line. In the past few months, we've also provided details around our quality control lab and our first-stage engine mission duty cycle, among other updates. After over 6 months of rigorous testing and analysis, we received a formal closure letter from the FAA concluding our TROPICS-1 investigation on March 1. You can find additional details on Astra's website.

最後，我們發布了 Rocket 4 有效載荷用戶指南，讓我們的客戶更好地了解我們系統的功能和發射服務的特點。我們在完成 Rocket 4 生產線方面取得了實質性進展。在過去的幾個月裡，我們還提供了有關我們的質量控制實驗室和我們的第一階段發動機任務工作週期的詳細信息，以及其他更新。經過 6 個多月的嚴格測試和分析，我們於 3 月 1 日收到了美國聯邦航空局 (FAA) 的正式結案函，結束了我們對 TROPICS-1 的調查。您可以在 Astra 的網站上找到更多詳細信息。

Rocket 4 incorporates key architectural decisions that we believe address the causes of the TROPICS-1 Mishap, while building on the heritage of flight-proven elements of the Rocket 3 series. I'll now provide an update on our Space Products business. As I mentioned earlier, we finalized the build-out of our new dedicated Spacecraft Engine manufacturing facility this month. We believe the facility and our earlier investments in our production capabilities will allow us to eventually deliver up to 500 spacecraft engines per year.

Rocket 4 結合了我們認為解決 TROPICS-1 事故原因的關鍵架構決策，同時建立在 Rocket 3 系列經過飛行驗證的元素的傳統之上。我現在將提供有關我們太空產品業務的最新信息。正如我之前提到的，我們本月完成了新的專用航天器發動機製造工廠的擴建。我們相信，該設施和我們早期對生產能力的投資將使我們最終能夠每年交付多達 500 台航天器發動機。

Specifically, as it relates to updates on our space products business, we announced 278 cumulative orders of the Astra Spacecraft engine as of March 30, 2023. This includes 264 new orders since we closed the Apollo Fusion acquisition on July 1, 2021. As we've previously discussed, orders are typically delivered to customers approximately 1 year from the contract signing. However, actual schedules may vary from customer to customer.

具體而言，由於涉及我們太空產品業務的更新，截至 2023 年 3 月 30 日，我們宣布了 278 份 Astra Spacecraft 發動機的累計訂單。這包括自我們於 2021 年 7 月 1 日完成對 Apollo Fusion 收購以來的 264 份新訂單。由於我們之前討論過，訂單通常在合同簽訂後大約 1 年交付給客戶。但是，實際時間表可能因客戶而異。

This brings our total contracted value to approximately $77 million, the majority of which is expected to be delivered in 2023 and 2024. We delivered on the third full customer program of the Astra Spacecraft Engine in Q4 of 2022. We believe that the Astra Spacecraft Engine is the leading electric satellite propulsion offering in the market today. We thank our existing customers for their belief and trust in Astra to deliver critical satellite components for their important missions. We also continue to maintain dialogue with prospective customers, and we believe we'll continue to see increasing demand for this product.

這使我們的合同總價值達到約 7700 萬美元，其中大部分預計將在 2023 年和 2024 年交付。我們在 2022 年第四季度交付了 Astra 航天器發動機的第三個完整客戶計劃。我們相信 Astra 航天器發動機是當今市場上領先的電動衛星推進產品。我們感謝現有客戶對 Astra 的信任和信任，相信他們會為他們的重要任務提供關鍵的衛星組件。我們還繼續與潛在客戶保持對話，我們相信我們將繼續看到對該產品的需求不斷增加。

Finally, given the feedback we've received from our customers and shareholders, I want to specifically outline how we've responded to deliver reliable products and services to our customers. Specifically, we've made the following investments, process changes and organizational changes to maximize the reliability of both our launch services and our space products businesses.

最後，考慮到我們從客戶和股東那裡收到的反饋，我想具體概述一下我們是如何應對的，以便為我們的客戶提供可靠的產品和服務。具體來說，我們進行了以下投資、流程變更和組織變更，以最大限度地提高我們的發射服務和太空產品業務的可靠性。

We appointed Doug Kunzman, the former launch and test lead for Blue Origin's successful New Sheppard first flight to lead launch and test operations. We set a new tone at the top, on the criticality of reliability, added reliability as a core Astra value, revised and implemented more rigorous Astra development processes and include explicit requirements for failure mode analysis, design reviews and test likely fly reviews. We've established a new top-level mission assurance organization led by Andrew Griggs as a member of the Astra management team that includes distinct teams focused on reliability, quality engineering, safety, quality control and supplier quality.

我們任命 Doug Kunzman 領導發射和測試操作，他是 Blue Origin 成功的 New Sheppard 首飛的前發射和測試負責人。我們在高層樹立了新的基調，即可靠性的重要性，將可靠性作為 Astra 的核心價值，修訂並實施了更嚴格的 Astra 開發流程，並包括對故障模式分析、設計審查和測試可能飛行審查的明確要求。我們已經建立了一個新的頂級任務保證組織，由 Andrew Griggs 作為 Astra 管理團隊的成員領導，該組織包括專注於可靠性、質量工程、安全、質量控制和供應商質量的不同團隊。

And finally, we've invested in state-of-the-art equipment to give our engineers new tools to measure quality in our engineering and manufacturing processes, including a Nikon CT scanner, Nordstrom 2D X-ray scanners, a Renishaw direct computer-controlled co-ordinate measuring machine, or CMM, a Brown & Sharp Manual CMM, Mitutoyo Vision Measuring System and FLIR thermal imaging cameras, a [throw-arm] and many other new tools. With that, I'd like to turn it over to Axel to review our financials and guidance for the year. Axel?

最後，我們投資了最先進的設備，為我們的工程師提供新工具來衡量我們工程和製造過程中的質量，包括尼康 CT 掃描儀、Nordstrom 二維 X 射線掃描儀、雷尼紹直接計算機-受控坐標測量機或 CMM、Brown & Sharp 手動 CMM、Mitutoyo 視覺測量系統和 FLIR 熱像儀、[投擲臂] 和許多其他新工具。有了這個，我想把它交給 Axel 來審查我們今年的財務和指導。阿克塞爾？

Thank you, Chris, and good afternoon, everyone. I will now review our results for the fourth quarter of 2022. As a reminder, all nonrevenue financial figures we will discuss today are adjusted, unless we state them as a GAAP measure. You will find a reconciliation from GAAP to non-GAAP results in today's press release. In Q4 of 2022, we delivered on one new customer program for the Astra Spacecraft Engine. The program was a legacy contract from Apollo Fusion. The value of the contract was [$3.5 billion].

謝謝克里斯，大家下午好。我現在將回顧我們 2022 年第四季度的業績。提醒一下，我們今天討論的所有非收入財務數據都經過調整，除非我們將它們聲明為 GAAP 衡量標準。您將在今天的新聞稿中找到從 GAAP 到非 GAAP 結果的調節。 2022 年第四季度，我們為 Astra Spacecraft Engine 交付了一項新的客戶計劃。該計劃是 Apollo Fusion 的遺留合同。合同價值為 [35 億美元]。

And after significant analysis, we concluded that it should be recognized as other income rather than revenue and its related expenses to be included in R&D expenses. For that reason, we did not recognize any revenue during the quarter. Nevertheless, the full benefit of this contract is recognized in our income statement in Q4 as other income. If we were to sign this contract today, we would recognize $3.5 million of revenue and $1.8 million of cost of goods sold, leading to a gross margin of approximately 49%.

經過大量分析，我們認為應將其確認為其他收益，而不是將收入及其相關費用計入研發費用。因此，我們在本季度沒有確認任何收入。儘管如此，該合同的全部收益在我們第四季度的損益表中確認為其他收入。如果我們今天簽署這份合同，我們將確認 350 萬美元的收入和 180 萬美元的銷售成本，從而使毛利率約為 49%。

GAAP operating expenses totaled $50.3 million in Q4 compared to $201.4 million last quarter. As a reminder, $133.4 million of GAAP operating expenses in Q3 were attributed to onetime items. GAAP operating expenses in Q4 included the following: R&D expenses of $29.1 million, encompassing our continued investments in our core businesses, plus costs related to our spacecraft engine customer delivery; sales and marketing expenses of $3.9 million, reflecting investments in ongoing sales efforts for launch services and our Astra Spacecraft Engine; and G&A expenses of $24.5 million, including ongoing investments in key systems and technologies, among others. Our G&A expenses in Q4 contained stock-based compensation related to departure of certain executives during the quarter. Excluding stock-based compensation, G&A expenses will have decreased quarter-over-quarter, primarily resulting from a reduction in consulting and legal spend.

第四季度 GAAP 運營費用總計 5030 萬美元，而上一季度為 2.014 億美元。提醒一下，第三季度 1.334 億美元的 GAAP 運營費用歸因於一次性項目。第四季度的 GAAP 運營費用包括： 研發費用 2910 萬美元，包括我們對核心業務的持續投資，以及與我們的航天器發動機客戶交付相關的成本； 390 萬美元的銷售和營銷費用，反映了對發射服務和我們的 Astra 航天器引擎的持續銷售工作的投資； G&A 費用為 2450 萬美元，包括對關鍵系統和技術的持續投資等。我們在第四季度的 G&A 費用包含與本季度某些高管離職相關的基於股票的補償。不包括基於股票的薪酬，G&A 費用將環比下降，這主要是由於諮詢和法律支出的減少。

Now let's talk about all of the onetime items during Q4 2022. During the fourth quarter, we recorded $5.3 million of onetime adjustments, including $3.8 million of severance costs related to the reduction in force implemented in November 2022. Given these onetime items on a GAAP basis, our third quarter net loss was $44.3 million. On a non-GAAP basis, fourth quarter adjusted net loss was $37.3 million. Q4 adjusted EBITDA was a loss of $36.6 million, a $4.8 million improvement compared to last quarter. Fourth quarter capital expenditures were $7.6 million and primarily related to the continued investments in the development of Launch System 2.0 and the delivery of our Astra Spacecraft Engines.

現在讓我們談談 2022 年第四季度的所有一次性項目。在第四季度，我們記錄了 530 萬美元的一次性調整，包括與 2022 年 11 月實施的裁員相關的 380 萬美元遣散費。考慮到 GAAP 上的這些一次性項目基礎上，我們第三季度的淨虧損為 4430 萬美元。按非美國通用會計準則計算，第四季度調整後淨虧損為 3730 萬美元。第四季度調整後的 EBITDA 虧損 3660 萬美元，比上一季度減少 480 萬美元。第四季度資本支出為 760 萬美元，主要與繼續投資開發發射系統 2.0 和交付我們的 Astra 航天器發動機有關。

We expect the majority of capital expenditures related to our Space Products business to be completed in Q1 2023. We ended the quarter with cash, cash equivalents and marketable securities of $102.8 million and no debt outstanding. In addition, we also continue to evaluate various sources of capital as we carefully manage our financial runway.

我們預計與我們的太空產品業務相關的大部分資本支出將在 2023 年第一季度完成。我們在本季度末擁有 1.028 億美元的現金、現金等價物和有價證券，並且沒有未償債務。此外，在我們謹慎管理財務跑道的同時，我們還繼續評估各種資本來源。

Now regarding our NASDAQ listing status. We published a piece on the Astra website on March 16. As noted, on March 13, Astra submitted an application to NASDAQ for an additional 180-day period to comply with the $1 minimum bid price requirement. Based on our discussion with representatives of NASDAQ, we expect to hear back from NASDAQ on or around April 5, and we're not aware of any reason why our application will not be approved. We continue to actively monitor our listing status and are prepared to take the actions that are reasonably necessary to preserve our listing.

現在關於我們的納斯達克上市地位。我們於 3 月 16 日在 Astra 網站上發布了一篇文章。如前所述，3 月 13 日，Astra 向納斯達克提交了額外 180 天期限的申請，以符合 1 美元的最低出價要求。根據我們與納斯達克代表的討論，我們預計會在 4 月 5 日左右收到納斯達克的回复，我們不知道我們的申請不會被批准的任何原因。我們繼續積極監控我們的上市狀態，並準備採取合理必要的行動來維持我們的上市。

Next, I'll provide an outlook for our first quarter ending March 31. As previously mentioned, we continue to focus our operating plan on the delivery of Astra Spacecraft Engines and the successful first flight of Rocket 4. In Q4, we made decisions to optimize our operating plan to increase our financial runway amidst market volatility. Going forward, our goal is to reduce G&A expenses, including consultants, IT system and other administrative spend to focus all of our resources on our top 2 priorities, launch services and space products.

接下來，我將對截至 3 月 31 日的第一季度進行展望。如前所述，我們繼續將運營計劃的重點放在 Astra Spacecraft Engines 的交付和 Rocket 4 的成功首飛上。在第四季度，我們決定優化我們的運營計劃，以在市場波動中增加我們的財務跑道。展望未來，我們的目標是減少 G&A 費用，包括顧問、IT 系統和其他行政支出，以將我們所有的資源集中在我們的前 2 個優先事項、發射服務和太空產品上。

As a reminder, our first quarter guidance and all guidance is subject to various important cautionary factors, including the risks and uncertainties set forth in our annual report on Form 10-K as well as a decision to discontinue the production of launch vehicles supported by Launch System 1.0. There is also risk associated with macroeconomic factors, a dynamic share across many companies and industries.

提醒一下，我們的第一季度指導和所有指導都受到各種重要的警示因素的影響，包括我們在 10-K 表格年度報告中提出的風險和不確定性，以及停止生產 Launch 支持的運載火箭的決定系統 1.0。也存在與宏觀經濟因素相關的風險，這是許多公司和行業的動態份額。

Now we will provide future guidance. In the first quarter of 2023, we currently expect adjusted EBITDA loss to be between $37 million and $41 million, basic shares outstanding to be between 269 million and 271 million shares, capital expenditures to be between $6 million and $8 million. On the spacecraft engine, you should expect a gradual ramp-up in shipments beginning in Q2 of this year, as we have just finalized this month the build-out of our dedicated spacecraft engine production facility. As of today, we have 278 cumulative committed orders for Astra Spacecraft Engines, and we continue to see strong customer demand for our spacecraft engines.

現在我們將提供未來的指導。在 2023 年第一季度，我們目前預計調整後的 EBITDA 虧損在 3700 萬至 4100 萬美元之間，已發行基本股在 2.69 億至 2.71 億股之間，資本支出在 600 萬至 800 萬美元之間。在航天器發動機方面，您應該預計從今年第二季度開始出貨量將逐漸增加，因為我們本月剛剛完成了專用航天器發動機生產設施的擴建。截至今天，我們已累計獲得 278 個 Astra 航天器發動機訂單，我們繼續看到客戶對我們航天器發動機的強勁需求。

We are very excited by the momentum we are experiencing in the development of our new launch system and the continued commercial success of our spacecraft engine business. We believe that 2023 will be a transformative year for Astra, and we look forward to sharing our progress throughout the year. I will now turn the call back over to Chris.

我們對新發射系統開發的勢頭以及航天器發動機業務的持續商業成功感到非常興奮。我們相信 2023 年將是 Astra 變革的一年，我們期待著分享我們在這一年中取得的進展。我現在將把電話轉回給克里斯。

Thanks, Axel. Astra is well positioned to deliver Astra Spacecraft Engines for our customers, and I look forward to sharing details of our first flight of Rocket 4, which we expect later this year. Also, please join us for the live stream of Astra's Second Annual SpaceTech Day on Tuesday, April 25, 2023. We'll share updates on Launch System 2, the Astra Spacecraft Engine and more at astra.com/livestream. And with that, operator, please open the call for questions.

謝謝，阿克塞爾。 Astra 有能力為我們的客戶提供 Astra 航天器發動機，我期待著分享我們 Rocket 4 首次飛行的詳細信息，我們預計將在今年晚些時候進行。此外，請參加我們於 2023 年 4 月 25 日星期二舉行的 Astra 第二屆年度太空技術日直播。我們將在 astra.com/livestream 上分享有關 Launch System 2、Astra Spacecraft Engine 等的更新。有了這個，接線員，請打開問題電話。

(Operator Instructions). We'll take our first question from Mariana Perez Mora with Bank of America.

（操作員說明）。我們將接受來自美國銀行的 Mariana Perez Mora 的第一個問題。

So in your prepared remarks, you mentioned the current environment, right? Last year has been really tough from a valuation perspective for the space industry in general. And some companies have recently announced they are actually struggling to get the financing to continue the development efforts. How are you thinking about the $100-plus million you have on cash in the balance sheet and this kind of like free cash flow that you are burning at about like $40 million plus every quarter? How should we think about the CapEx coming down or free cash flow usage trends from here and financing options?

所以在你準備好的發言中，你提到了現在的環境，對吧？從整個航天工業的估值角度來看，去年真的很艱難。一些公司最近宣布他們實際上正在努力獲得融資以繼續開發工作。你如何看待你資產負債表上的 100 多萬美元現金，以及你每季度消耗大約 4000 萬美元以上的自由現金流？我們應該如何考慮資本支出下降或自由現金流使用趨勢以及融資方案？

Mariana, this is Axel Martinez, the CFO here at Astra. Yes. So of course, look, we always continue to evaluate financing options and are actively -- always discussing with different providers. We don't have anything to report right now. From our perspective, as we mentioned in our opening remarks, there's a focus on our part, both to make sure we continue to optimize our cost structure. We're going to be focusing on our administrative expenses because we want to make sure that we allocate as much of our capital to our 2 core priorities, the launch services business and our space products business.

Mariana，我是 Astra 的首席財務官 Axel Martinez。是的。所以，當然，看，我們總是繼續評估融資方案，並積極地——總是與不同的供應商討論。我們現在沒有任何要報告的。從我們的角度來看，正如我們在開場白中提到的那樣，我們的重點是確保我們繼續優化成本結構。我們將專注於管理費用，因為我們希望確保將盡可能多的資金分配給我們的 2 個核心優先事項，即發射服務業務和我們的太空產品業務。

We're very excited about the momentum we have right now. We think there's a great traction with our space customers. There's great action with our development. And so we think that the market will work like that. And we agree with you that it's been a tough environment. But the focus that we took at the end of last year, we're seeing it pay off. We're seeing great momentum, as you heard from Chris earlier about all the different things we've been doing. And so we're excited about what 2023 looks like for Astra.

我們對目前的勢頭感到非常興奮。我們認為我們的太空客戶有很大的吸引力。我們的發展有很大的作為。所以我們認為市場會那樣運作。我們同意你的看法，這是一個艱難的環境。但我們在去年年底採取的重點，我們看到它得到回報。我們看到了巨大的發展勢頭，正如你之前從克里斯那裡聽到的關於我們一直在做的所有不同的事情。因此，我們對 Astra 的 2023 年前景感到興奮。

And when you think about -- you mentioned in the prepared remarks that the investment on space products or CapEx related to that should be over after first quarter. How should we think about the CapEx cadence for the launch business?

當你考慮時——你在準備好的評論中提到，對太空產品或與之相關的資本支出的投資應該在第一季度之後結束。我們應該如何考慮發射業務的資本支出節奏？

Yes. So we -- as you know, we provided guidance for CapEx for Q1, and we'll continue to do so on a quarterly basis. And you are correct that for our spacecraft engine business, our -- in CapEx, our investments are not coming to an end because we moved into our new facility, and we're very excited about it. And going forward, we'll continue to provide guidance on CapEx.

是的。所以我們 - 正如你所知，我們為第一季度的資本支出提供了指導，我們將繼續每季度這樣做一次。你是對的，對於我們的航天器發動機業務，我們的 - 在資本支出方面，我們的投資並沒有結束，因為我們搬進了我們的新設施，我們對此感到非常興奮。展望未來，我們將繼續提供有關資本支出的指導。

And probably last one from my end. How do we think about timing on the ramp to the 500 units per year that you expect to produce in the new facility for the engines?

可能是我的最後一個。我們如何考慮您希望在新工廠中每年生產 500 台發動機的時間？

Yes, that's a great question. We're not providing guidance on the future deliveries. We have noted that we've sold about 278 engines today. And the majority of those engines will be delivered this year and next year. And typically, engines are delivered about a year from when we sign the contracts. And a lot of those contracts, as we've indicated previously, came in, in the last half of last year. And I think that's all we've shared publicly.

是的，這是一個很好的問題。我們不提供有關未來交付的指導。我們注意到，我們今天已售出約 278 台發動機。其中大部分發動機將在今年和明年交付。通常，發動機會在我們簽訂合同後大約一年內交付。正如我們之前指出的那樣，很多合同是在去年下半年簽訂的。我認為這就是我們公開分享的全部內容。

I think the investments that we've made in CapEx both in the Rocket production line and in the spacecraft engine production facility, were critical for meeting these customer contracts that we have and bringing the cost of these products down to where we can compete in the market where we want to compete, which is kind of with a scaled launch services product. And at the scale that we've indicated, we want to produce the Rocket -- the spacecraft engines.

我認為我們在火箭生產線和航天器發動機生產設施中對資本支出的投資對於滿足我們擁有的這些客戶合同以及將這些產品的成本降低到我們可以競爭的水平至關重要我們想要競爭的市場，這是一種規模化的發射服務產品。按照我們已經指出的規模，我們想要生產火箭——航天器發動機。

We'll take our next question from Edison Yu with Deutsche Bank.

我們將接受德意志銀行 Edison Yu 的下一個問題。

Wanted to ask on launch first. I know you used targeting the first flight for Rocket 4 later this year. Assuming that goes well, how should we think about the phasing of launches after that? Do you have a plan to kind of start completing the manifest? Do you need to do a couple of more successful tests? What's that cadence sort of look like?

想先問發射。我知道你曾在今年晚些時候瞄準 Rocket 4 的首次飛行。假設一切順利，我們應該如何考慮之後的發射階段？你有計劃開始完成清單嗎？你需要做幾個更成功的測試嗎？這種節奏是什麼樣的？

Yes. Thanks, Edison. I appreciate it. I think that the way we're thinking about the first flight is we would certainly love to be the first company to ever fly a rocket and have it be flawless the first time. And we're also -- we've been humbled by the challenges that both Astra and organizations across the world have faced over the last year with the Rocket program. So we are planning on building an alpha and a bravo test flight and learning as much as we can from those.

是的。謝謝，愛迪生。我很感激。我認為我們考慮首次飛行的方式是，我們當然希望成為第一家試飛火箭並且第一次就完美無缺的公司。我們也——我們對 Astra 和世界各地的組織在過去一年中在 Rocket 計劃中所面臨的挑戰感到謙卑。因此，我們計劃進行 alpha 和 bravo 試飛，並儘可能多地從中學習。

And then as we have a number of customers that we have launched contracts with, we obviously want to get back to servicing those launch services contracts as soon as we can. And we think that demonstrating reliability will unlock a lot of potential given the new 600-kilogram capacity and the price point where we'll be offering that service. And -- but again, I want to underscore the investments we've made are to ensure that we can scale production, and we can ensure the reliability of this new Rocket 4 and Launch System 2 has received the right amount of attention and the right amount of investment given the cost of capital, both now and in the future.

然後，由於我們有許多客戶與我們簽訂了合同，我們顯然希望盡快恢復為這些發射服務合同提供服務。我們認為，鑑於新的 600 公斤容量和我們將提供該服務的價格點，展示可靠性將釋放很多潛力。而且 - 但我想再次強調，我們所做的投資是為了確保我們能夠擴大生產規模，我們能夠確保這種新的 Rocket 4 和 Launch System 2 的可靠性得到了適當的關注和正確的給定資本成本的投資額，包括現在和未來。

And we've been as thoughtful as we can be as a management team at striking that balance and giving the team enough time to build the best possible product and achieve success as quickly as possible.

作為一個管理團隊，我們一直在盡可能地深思熟慮，以取得這種平衡，並為團隊提供足夠的時間來構建盡可能最好的產品並儘快取得成功。

Understood. On the space engine side, on the propulsion side, very decently sized backlog order book. I'm wondering what's the latest on getting into some of these mega constellations? And I'm mainly alluding to OneWeb Gen 2. Obviously, you have that relationship with the [NG] already. Any updates there? Any timing that we should be on the lookout for, if you can get some pretty major content on that constellation?

明白了。在空間引擎方面，在推進方面，積壓的訂單數量非常可觀。我想知道進入這些巨型星座的最新消息是什麼？我主要指的是 OneWeb Gen 2。顯然，您已經與 [NG] 建立了這種關係。那裡有更新嗎？如果您能獲得有關該星座的一些非常重要的內容，我們應該注意的任何時間？

Edison, this is Martin. As you know, we've worked with a number of customers and constellations, and we have signed up a number of them, and we continue to work with our existing customers who have larger programs that they have in mind to execute against those programs and execute contracts against those programs. We don't have anything to announce today. And believe me, like when we do have something to announce, we'll let you know.

愛迪生，這是馬丁。如您所知，我們已經與許多客戶和星座合作，我們已經與其中一些簽約，我們將繼續與我們現有的客戶合作，他們有更大的計劃，他們打算針對這些計劃執行和針對這些程序執行合同。我們今天沒有什麼要宣布的。相信我，就像當我們確實有什麼要宣布的時候，我們會讓你知道。

But we are very excited by, as Chris and Axel alluded to, not only the strength of the backlog, but also the strength of the pipeline that's behind it and the customer discussions we're having that we're trying to convert to contracts is also very exciting. But we don't have anything to announce in any of the mega constellations that are out there.

但我們感到非常興奮，正如 Chris 和 Axel 所暗示的那樣，不僅是積壓的實力，還有其背後的管道實力以及我們正在嘗試轉換為合同的客戶討論是也很精彩。但是我們在現有的任何巨型星座中都沒有什麼要宣布的。

And in terms of the capacity that you're planning for, do you need a mega constellation to run full capacity? Or do you think you can fill that up with the -- I guess without hitting a bigger one?

就您計劃的容量而言，您是否需要巨型星座才能滿負荷運行？或者你認為你可以用 - 我想沒有打更大的東西來填補它？

Certainly, a mega constellation would be great, and I think we'd be delighted to support those programs. We don't need those programs in order to support the capacity that we're trying to build out in Sunnyvale given the pipeline that we have.

當然，巨型星座會很棒，我想我們會很高興支持這些項目。考慮到我們擁有的管道，我們不需要這些計劃來支持我們試圖在桑尼維爾建立的能力。

Yes. Maybe Edison, if you're asking about -- Go ahead.

是的。也許愛迪生，如果你問的是 - 去吧。

No, you go ahead.

不，你繼續。

No. If you're asking about launch services, I think that we see the demand and the number of launches continue to increase. And also the companies that are out trying to build new capabilities like Astra has recognized this is a challenging thing to get going. And we're -- we believe that 600 kilograms is a sweet spot because it will allow us, as we said earlier, to address at least 80% of the overall addressable market for satellites.

不，如果你問的是發射服務，我認為我們看到需求和發射數量繼續增加。像 Astra 這樣正在嘗試構建新功能的公司也已經認識到，這是一項具有挑戰性的事情。而且我們 - 我們認為 600 公斤是一個最佳點，因為正如我們之前所說，它將使我們能夠解決至少 80% 的衛星整體可尋址市場。

And we have a lot of visibility into that market because we see the satellites that folks are building with Astra Spacecraft Engines. We want to be able to service those customers not only from our space products business, but from our launch services business in the future. And what all those customers tell us is that price is really important, and we need to get the price per launch down. And we need to get the price per kilogram down as much as possible given the low price per launch.

我們對這個市場有很多了解，因為我們看到人們正在用 Astra Spacecraft Engines 建造衛星。我們希望不僅能夠通過我們的空間產品業務為這些客戶提供服務，而且能夠在未來通過我們的發射服務業務為這些客戶提供服務。所有這些客戶告訴我們的是，價格真的很重要，我們需要降低每次發布的價格。考慮到每次發射的低價格，我們需要盡可能降低每公斤的價格。

And that is why we have made the investments that we've made in the new Rocket 4 production line. And I hope you're all able to come out and see us at Spacetech Day on April 25 because you'll see that. You'll see the Rocket 4 production line, and you'll see the investments we've made to scale production of the launch vehicle. And 600 kilograms, when you look at it, is that -- if you look at the -- even a rocket launch every single day would be about 4 Falcon 9s worth the rideshare missions.

這就是為什麼我們對新的 Rocket 4 生產線進行了投資。我希望你們都能在 4 月 25 日的太空技術日上來看我們，因為你們會看到的。你會看到 Rocket 4 生產線，你會看到我們為擴大運載火箭生產所做的投資。而 600 公斤，當你看它時，如果你看一下 - 即使每天發射一次火箭，也相當於 4 架獵鷹 9 號飛機完成拼車任務。

And we're seeing SpaceX increase the number of rideshare missions year-over-year because of the increasing demand for access to low Earth orbit. And we're -- we've always believed in low Earth orbit. We've always believed in a vibrant space economy that has a large both U.S. and international set of capabilities being deployed, and that continues year-over-year to prove itself out. The market just continues to get bigger. So we're working really hard because we have customers to deliver for and a large market to serve.

由於對進入低地球軌道的需求不斷增加，我們看到 SpaceX 的拼車任務數量逐年增加。我們 - 我們一直相信近地軌道。我們一直相信一個充滿活力的太空經濟，它擁有大量美國和國際正在部署的能力，並且年復一年地繼續證明自己。市場只會繼續變大。因此，我們非常努力地工作，因為我們要為客戶提供服務，要服務的市場很大。

Okay. Last one for me. I'm curious if you entertained any thoughts or thought about monetizing or separating out the propulsion your space engine business. Obviously, it's a much different profile. You just mentioned the almost 50% gross margin even at these low volumes. Do we have any appetite to try to separate that out [and on the top of] it in the future? Just curious if any color there.

好的。最後一個給我。我很好奇您是否有任何關於貨幣化或分離您的太空引擎業務的想法或想法。顯然，這是一個非常不同的配置文件。你剛剛提到即使在這些低銷量下也有近 50% 的毛利率。我們是否有興趣在未來嘗試將其分離出來 [並置於其之上]？只是好奇那裡是否有顏色。

We think it's a great business, and we continue to leverage the investments we've made at Astra to deliver parts from the machine shop that we built to make rocket parts. I think there's a lot of complementary opportunities in the market. A lot of the customers who are buying spacecraft engines are interested in buying launches from us or have bought launches from us, and we remain fully committed to that business.

我們認為這是一項偉大的業務，我們將繼續利用我們在 Astra 所做的投資，從我們建造的用於製造火箭零件的機械車間交付零件。我認為市場上有很多互補的機會。許多購買航天器發動機的客戶有興趣從我們這裡購買發射裝置或已經從我們這裡購買發射裝置，我們仍然完全致力於該業務。

And there are no further questions at this time. I would like to turn the call back over to Chris Kemp, Founder, Chairman and CEO, for closing remarks.

目前沒有其他問題。我想將電話轉回給創始人、董事長兼首席執行官 Chris Kemp，以作結束語。

I really want to thank everyone for joining today. And again, I want to invite everyone who's listening to this to tune in to Spacetech Day. We have a lot of hard work that our team is excited to share with you all on April 25, and if you're interested in coming out in person, please reach out to us. If we can accommodate you, we'll do our best. Otherwise, we'll have a live stream at astra.com/livestream. And we look forward to coming back and chatting with you again at the end of Q1. Thank you.

我真的要感謝大家今天的加入。再一次，我想邀請所有收聽此內容的人收聽太空技術日。我們的團隊很高興在 4 月 25 日與大家分享我們的辛勤工作，如果您有興趣親自出席，請與我們聯繫。如果我們能容納你，我們會盡力而為。否則，我們將在 astra.com/livestream 進行直播。我們期待在第一季度末再次回來與您聊天。謝謝。

And that concludes today's presentation. Thank you for your participation, and you may now disconnect.

今天的演講到此結束。感謝您的參與，您現在可以斷開連接。