Flying into space every day is becoming easier and more affordable. For those who are ready to lay out fabulous sums in a few short minutes spent outside the atmosphere, the United States Federal Aviation Administration has issued a convenient card on which all US spaceports are printed. The list of existing federal sites has been supplemented with information on private facilities designed to launch spacecraft.
What are cosmodromes for?
Launch pads are used to launch orbital or suborbital vehicles into space. They provide integration of launch components, provide fuel, service aircraft and establish a payload on them. Cosmodromes provide an opportunity to make vertical and horizontal take-off and landing. From the launch site, the vehicle moves through an area called the launch zone, which is usually equipped with tracking and telemetry equipment. It is necessary for monitoring a vehicle until it is successfully launched into orbit or returned to Earth. These systems can also be used to search for reusable steps.
The United States Federal Aviation and Commercial Space Administration licenses the country's private launch sites.
How many spaceports in the US?
At the end of 2015, there were 19 active launch sites in the United States, of which 8 were federal, 9 were commercial, operated by government agencies in partnership with private enterprises, and one was owned by the university. Of these, 4 are intended to be launched into near-Earth orbit, 9 are used only for suborbital launches, and 5 are universal.
In addition, there are 3 unlicensed facilities from which launches of licensed or authorized vehicles can be carried out. Since the companies owning these spaceports use their own rockets, they are not required to obtain permission for the launch pad. These include:
- the Odyssey platform of the Sea Launch program using Zenit 3SL missiles;
- SpaceX McGregor in Texas, where Falcon 9R is being tested;
- site near Van Gorn, Texas, Blue Origin.
The US spaceports that currently exist can be divided into three large groups. They are located on the Pacific coast, in the south-south-west, as well as on the central and southern Atlantic coast of the country.
Pacific group
US cosmodromes in the Pacific are located at two launch sites. The first of these is the Sea Launch platform, which was originally a joint Norwegian-Russian-Ukrainian-American platform. After the bankruptcy of 2009, the private space rocket corporation Energia from Russia became its main owner. For some time, the US used the platform to launch commercial satellites.
The second - the Reagan test site - is located on the Marshall Islands. The launch pad is located on the Kwajalein and Aur Atolls, as well as Wake Island. It is used as a testing ground for ballistic missiles, missile defense systems, space and meteorological research programs, as well as for tracking the work of satellites. On the island of Omelek, there is a commercial spaceport for SpaceX.
Alaska Launch Complexes
Alaska also has US space centers. The Kodiak launch complex, which specializes in bringing satellites into polar orbit, and the Poker Flat research site, owned by the University of Alaska Geophysical Institute, launch rockets with scientific equipment for measurements in the upper atmosphere.
Launch complex "Kodiak"
Kodiak with an area of 1,500 hectares is the only high-latitude launch complex in the United States. At 54th latitude on Kodiak Island, Narrow is located - the cape of the US space center, which specializes in polar launches used to launch satellites into orbit. The best-of-its-kind facility includes two sites (one for orbital flights and one for suborbital ones), a 17-story building for assembling rockets and a clean room for preparing satellites. The complex is under construction of the third stage, which will allow for incredibly fast launches - no more than 24 hours will pass from delivery to launch.
California Launch Pads
In addition to the two US Air Force bases Vandenberg and Edwards, which are also used for experimental launches, there are two space centers in California, California and the Mojave. And they are really impressive! In 2004, the first successful private-sponsored space launch of the SpaceShipOne was launched from the Mojave. The California Space Agency was also based in California, which had virtually no power, and for this reason ceased to exist.
Spaceport California
The Vandenberg Air Force Base in Lompoc, California, has been operating the oldest licensed commercial spaceport in the United States since 1999, with the name California Spaceport. Moreover, this is the only fully commercialized facility in the country - it works without government funding. The main launch site is the 8th space launch complex or SLC-8. It is capable of providing both polar and ballistic trajectories using small accelerating blocks of the Minotaur class.
The aerospace port "Mojave"
Built on the basis of the Navy airfield and the artillery range of the Second World War, the Mojave aerospace port was one of the first test sites for private spacecraft. Starting with a rocket program in the early 1990s, it became the base for the biggest names in the history of commercial suborbital and orbital flights, including SpaceShipOne, which received the Ansari X prize in 2004, XCOR Aerospace, Masten Space Systems and Orbital Science Corp.
South southwest
Here is every US state with a spaceport. New Mexico, Texas, and Oklahoma all have their own launch sites, with New Mexico dominating. On the "Charming Land" (the official nickname of the state) built the spaceport "America", which sometimes sends tourists into space.
Spaceport "America"
The New Mexico State Jordan del Muerto Desert is the home of the US Space Center, America, the world's first custom-built commercial launch pad and base for private aerospace companies Virgin Galactic, SpaceX, UP Aerospace, and Armadillo Aerospace. Certified by the LEED system, the facility covers about 62 thousand square meters. m and includes two double-height hangars with an area of 4400 square meters. m and flight control center. The spaceport can be reached by charter from the neighboring town of Trut-a-Consicuenes.
At the White Sands rocket range they test all kinds of large and explosive things, and sometimes they launch them into outer space. In addition, the world's first nuclear testing ground was located here. But this is not a very interesting place.
Spaceport Oklahoma
Located in the midst of the Oklahoma Heath, the spaceport has one of the longest runways in North America (4115 m). In combination with an empty sky without flying airplanes, it was the first in the United States to which military and flight restrictions do not apply, which is ideal for the commercial use of vehicles with horizontal take-off and landing. Armadillo Aerospace is also based here, although its prototype lunar spacecraft is designed only for vertical take-off and landing. Among other things, there is even a 9-hole golf course.
Spaceports in Texas
Texas is home to the launch site of Amazon's multibillionaire chief and founder Jeff Bezos Blue Origin, a private space enterprise. Now it is a test spaceport, but perhaps in the future it will become a suitable place for tourist trips into space and vice versa.
And at McGregor, SpaceX built a launch pad for testing the Merlin 1D engine and Falcon 9 and Grasshopper rockets .
Central and South Atlantic
Virginia has two launch sites - the Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport (MARS) and the NASA Spaceport on Wallops Island. MARS sends ships into space thanks to the “Zero Gravity - Zero Taxes” tax breaks. NASA launches at Wallops For example, on September 6, 2013, a probe flew from here to study the lunar atmosphere and the environment - for the first time outside of Florida, where the main US cosmodrome is located.
Located on the east coast of Virginia, the facility was built in 1945 for aerodynamic testing and as an orbital launch complex. Since then, more than 16,000 missiles have been launched from Wallops, including early prototypes of the Mercury project and LADEE.
Under the direction of the Virginia Commercial Space Administration, MARS operates two launch sites: Pad 0A, which is licensed by the FAA to deliver payloads weighing up to 5 tons to low Earth orbit, and Pad 0B, which allows up to 3.8 tons of payload, which more suitable for small vehicles such as the Minotaur IV or the Minuteman. In addition to traditional solid fuel, it allows the launch of liquid-fuel and hybrid rockets.
The first launch of the autonomous cargo logistics spacecraft Cygnus of Orbital Sciences Corporation on board its Antares launch vehicle was launched from the MARS Cosmodrome. Cygnus, Elon Musk's competitor to the Dragon Capsule, successfully took off on September 18, 2013. Four days later, he reached the ISS, docked and delivered 980 kg of supplies.
Cape Canaveral
The main US spaceport is located in Florida. From here, the Apollo program was launched and coordinated in the 1960s and 1970s. and under the Space Shuttle shuttle program in the 1980–2000s. The Space Coast includes NASA John F. Kennedy Space Center, the Air Force Station, and the United States Spaceport at Cape Canaveral.
Following the completion of the shuttle program, the Air Force station and the Kennedy Space Center were open for commercial endeavors. Together, these facilities have three active launch pads and two active runways for horizontal launches between them.
Launchers 46 and 20 are the primary launching platforms of Cape Canaveral. The first of them is designed to accommodate Lockheed-Athena or Taurus missiles, as well as Trident II and Minuteman ballistic missiles. The second complex is built to service the small suborbital launch systems LiteStar, Terrier, Orion and ASAS.
Cecil Field Spaceport
In 2010, the US Federal Aviation Administration approved the creation of the Cecil Field Jacksonville spaceport at the site of the decommissioned naval aviation base. The launch pad was licensed in 2010, and it already has the necessary means of supporting horizontally launched renewable vehicles. The cosmodrome has runways 3800, 2400 and 1200 m long, additional taxiways and spaceport facilities are being developed. They should be completed by the end of the decade.
Today, space flights are in transition. Research and military trials continue to dominate, although launches of commercial satellites are beginning to occupy an increasingly large part of the modern rocket and space industry. Space tourism from companies like Virgin Galactic and possibly Blue Origin promises a new future, albeit at a price that is currently affordable to few.
New US spaceports and programs like Space X show how much more room there is for innovation.