SHAKEOUT: Astra, low on cash, defaults on loan.

Astra had been working to raise additional funding. The company said in a separate Oct. 23 SEC filing that it had signed a non-binding term sheet with JMCM Holdings LLC to be the lead investor in a loan of up to $25 million. The funds, Astra said, would be used to pay off the August loan and for “general corporate purposes.”

In the new SEC filing, Astra said it is in “continued discussions” with other investors about financing, but could not guarantee it could close any deal, or that the terms of any funding would be the same as what it disclosed in October.

In an Aug. 14 earnings call, Astra executives said they were working to identify strategic investors for both its Astra Spacecraft Engines spacecraft propulsion business as well as its Rocket 4 launch vehicle in development. The company had laid off a quarter of its workforce between the beginning of July and early August and shifted others from rocket to satellite propulsion work, delaying work on Rocket 4.

Always sad to see in such an exciting industry but with so many startups the shakeouts are inevitable.