Logo on company vehicles
Astra is an international space agency.
Background
The company specialises in studying organic matter of extraterrestrial origins. It often contracts civilian scientists from around the globe to assist with its investigations.
History
Events of First Contact (2039)
- SPIN-OFF: The following information stems from a spin-off expansion or third party Creator DLC and is considered to be non-canon in the main Armaverse timeline.
On June 25th, 2039, Astra hired a team of specialists from Scotland and the Czech Republic to investigate a friendly fire incident that had occurred during a military training exercise in the country of Livonia.
The incident, which happened one week prior on the 19th, had peculiar circumstances surrounding its events and the lead up to the accident. The Livonian government had also secretly contacted Astra and reported that a strange "root"-like object had appeared inside a sinkhole at the site, possibly of extraterrestrial origins. The site was already quarantined and prepared for Astra's team to carry out their investigation.
The first team consisted of only two scientists and their support crew. They also brought along several specimen collection drones to examine/harvest samples if organic matter was indeed confirmed at the site. Eight days later on July 3rd, the team arrived on site and began combing the area for signs of alien lifeforms.
However, contact with the team was temporarily lost for several hours which extended well into the next day. When the science team was able to re-establish communications with Astra they outright confirmed the company's suspicions; not only did alien life exist, but they were searching for the "roots" which had sprouted all across the region.
The million-year old "roots", which the company believed were merely the "rootcap" of a much larger subterranean network, now became the company's top priority - a second team were immediately dispatched to the country. They were ferried to the site by the Russian military, who had actually helped the first team in preventing a possible calamity from occurring overnight.
Post-First Contact
- SPIN-OFF: The following information stems from a spin-off expansion or third party Creator DLC and is considered to be non-canon in the main Armaverse timeline.
Six weeks pass following humanity's first contact with "The Visitors". While the rest of the world struggles to understand the motivation behind their arrival to Earth, Astra has announced that it has entered into a partnership with Vantland Industries to kickstart an ambitious space expedition project, dubbed "Acaronar".
| « | Dubbed the 'journey to end all journeys', Acaronar will see a series of miniscule, waferlike robotic probes sent deep into space at a velocity one quarter the speed of light. The spacecraft themselves, designed by Vantland Industries, weigh as little as a gram and boast a series of special sensors, which will send information back to Earth. Astra announces the commencement of the Acaronar project
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"Acaronar" is scheduled to depart on the anniversary of the alien arrival in the summer of 2040 according to the project's lead engineer, Katya Rosing.
It will involve a swarm of miniature robotic probes which will be dispatched to Proxima Centauri and return photographs of planets orbiting within the system as early as the 2060s. These probes will be launched by a laser array spanning almost 10 kilometres and hovering in low orbit, employing almost 70 gigawatts of power in the process.
A parallel project titled "Eter" will also be commencing at the same time as "Acaronar" but with a different objective. Rather than travelling to Proxima Centauri, "Eter" will be tracing the path of "The Visitors" back to the Sagittarius constellation. Using the medium of neutrinos, a message - composed by the United Nations One Voice council - will be beamed to a fixed point in the system and (hopefully) receive a reply from "The Visitors".
Both "Eter" and "Acaronar" had been previously considered long before first contact, though they were cancelled due to soaring costs and overall lack of interest from the international community. The revitalisation of both projects is largely attributed to the fact that almost every nation on the planet is now contributing to funding them. With the backing of the world's superpowers, Astra is prominently at the forefront of humanity's attempts to reach out to alien life.
But only time will tell if the projects will bring about a positive outcome for humanity...
Trivia
- Astra was first introduced as a company in the series following the release of ArmA 3's Contact expansion pack.
- Given the company's focus and background, it's not entirely certain as to whether it exists in the main Armaverse timeline as no official material references to its existence (outside of the expansion's non-canon campaign).
