Don't count Astra Space out quite yet. The company, taken private again earlier this year for a sliver of its former value, just snatched a new contract with the Defense Innovation Unit to support the development of a next-gen launch system for time-sensitive space missions.

The maximum contract value under the agency's Novel Responsive Space Delivery program is $44 million. All of the money-whatever amount is actually devoted-will be devoted to further development of Astra's Launch System 2, designed for rapid, ultra-low-cost launch.

That new funding is a sign that not everyone has lost faith in Astra, a startup that went public in 2021 at a $2.1 billion valuation, holding ambitions to mass-produce small, cheap rockets that can execute hundreds of missions per year. But the company burned through cash trying to make those statements a reality, having several launches fail (along with two that were successful) before the 600-kilogram payload capacity Rocket 4, and the pivot announcement.

The company spent several months searching for-and failing to find-sufficient funding to keep it afloat in public markets. The melodrama ended last March when the company said that the board had agreed to accept an offer from co-founders Chris Kemp and Adam London to buy all the remaining shares of Astra stock for only $0.50 per share. Astra stopped trading on the Nasdaq in July.

The company was obviously thrilled by the offer by Astra, but may what DIU needs to finally launch Rocket 4 into space is a new deal. According to a document released by DIU last summer, the aim of that launch was to prove one or more of three capabilities: delivery through space from one orbit to another, orbital return from space to a precise location on Earth, or through a specific orbit or trajectory in space. Solutions are to be flight-ready within 24 months, the document states. Astra is currently in the early phase of a contract to refine its concept of operations, but if a prototype is selected, the company could progress to additional phases for one or more mission demonstrations. Later phases could include demonstrations with even larger payloads delivered with increased accuracy or trying to use the vehicle to support time-sensitive operations, like disaster response.

DIU has already granted two under the NRSD program namely to the Spaceport Company for a planned mobile sea-based launch platform, and to Stoke Space where also point-to-point space cargo delivery is being pursued.