> not complete things that are being done now at scale by many others...

So its kind of wrong to suggest that what they try to do is done by 'many' others at scale. That basically isn't the case.

SpaceX and RocketLab lab are really the only companies that really do these things. Companies like ULA, Arianespace are basically government entities with deep connection into old school military-industrial complexes with decades and decades of history.

And the launch rate of anybody accept maybe Soyuz and the Falcon 9 would be nowhere close to what Astra needed to be commercially successful.

So in reality, what Astra was claiming when they were raising money was literally unprecedented. They basically proposed mass manufacture and mass launch to decrees unit price, as if it was a car. This simply hasn't ever happened. SpaceX is now at a launch every couple days but they have 3 launch pads and re-usability.

So the claims they could achieve these things with the money they raised was quite far fetched. In reality, because their technical execution was so bad that they didn't even get to Step 1, building a reliable rocket that you could mass produce. They were launching very aggressively with rockets that didn't work and constantly evolved never finding any stability or consistence.

Because they couldn't make their rocket work, they stopped working on that rocket, and attempted to build a rocket that was 3-5x larger instead. And to do this program they realistically needed even more money.

> weird to see "we signed a big contract"

They never signed a big commercial contract outside of maybe their space engines. Their rockets were never reliable enough for anything but companies seeking a barging bin price with high risk or government launches designed for risky small launchers.

> and where does that money go?

I don't know anything about real estate. Practically speaking in rocket development, salary are the primary cost, followed buy tooling up factory. Given how many people they hired and much they seem to invest in their factory, its not really a mystery where the money went.

Most people do not believe that Astra was trying to scam people. Their two founders seem really convinced by what they were selling. The Chief Engineer clearly loved the rocket he developed.

> Is there a Federal prosecution in the works here? someone bought NFT crypto ? company rivals pulling strings?

Very unlikely. This is just one more start up betting on concept that was fundamentally flawed in a market that never materialized.

This is where I really do think Astra is kind of scamy, their market projections were wild. Many other rocket companies were doing the same thing at the time. So this was really a thing that was all over the industry.

If you want to learn more:

> When the Heavens Went on Sale: The Misfits and Geniuses Racing to Put Space Within Reach

This is a great book about many rocket startups. The journalist was deeply embedded in Astra and tells lots of good stories. Its also about RocketLab, Planet and Firefly.

Combine that with:

> Liftoff: Elon Musk and the Desperate Early Days that Launched SpaceX

And you get a pretty good understanding of the space industry since early 2000s.