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US Spaceports: features and photos

Flying into space every day is becoming easier and more accessible. For those who are willing to shell out fabulous sums in a few short minutes outside the atmosphere, the United States Federal Aviation Administration has issued a handy map on which all the US cosmodromes are affixed. The list of active federal sites is supplemented with information on private facilities intended for launching spacecraft.

Why do we need cosmodromes?

Starting platforms are used to launch orbital or suborbital vehicles into space. They provide integration of launch components, provide fuel, serve aircraft and install payloads on them. Spaceports enable vertical and horizontal takeoff and landing. From the starting point, the vehicle moves through an area called the launch area, which is usually equipped with tracking and telemetry acquisition equipment. It is necessary to monitor the vehicle until it is successfully brought into orbit or returned to Earth. These systems can also be used to search for reusable steps.

The Federal Office of Civil Aviation and Commercial Space Transportation of the United States licenses private launch sites in the country.

How many cosmodromes are in the US?

As of the end of 2015, there were 19 active pads in the United States, of which 8 are federal, 9 are commercial, managed by government agencies in partnership with private enterprises, and one belongs to the university. Of these, 4 are intended for launch into a near-earth orbit, 9 are used only for suborbital launches and 5 are universal.

In addition, there are 3 unlicensed objects from which launches of licensed or authorized vehicles can be conducted. Since companies owning these cosmodromes use their own production rockets, they do not need to get permission from the launch pad. These include:

  • Platform "Odyssey" of the program "Sea Launch", using missiles "Zenith 3SL";
  • Cosmodrome McGregor in Texas company SpaceX, where the tests Falcon 9R;
  • Site near Van Horn, Texas, the company Blue Origin.

The US cosmodromes that exist at the present time 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 spaceports in the Pacific Ocean are located on two launching sites. The first of these is the Sea Launch platform, which was originally a Norwegian-Russian-Ukrainian-American joint venture. After the bankruptcy of 2009, the private space rocket corporation Energia from Russia became its main owner. For some time, the United States used a platform to launch commercial satellites.

The second - the test site named after Reagan - is on the Marshall Islands. The launch pad is located on the atolls of Kwajalein and Aur, as well as the island of Wake. 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 is a commercial spaceport for SpaceX.

Start-up complexes of Alaska

In Alaska, there are also US spaceports. The Kodiak launch complex, which specializes in polar satellite orbiting, and the Poker Flat research site, owned by the University of Alaska Geophysical Institute, launches rockets with scientific equipment for conducting measurements in the upper atmosphere.

Starting complex "Kodiak"

"Kodiak" area of 1500 hectares is the only high-latitude launch complex of the United States. At latitude 54 on the island of Kodiak, 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 flights), a 17-story structure for assembling missiles and a clean room for the preparation of satellites. The complex is in the process of building the third stage, which will allow to produce incredibly fast launches - from delivery to the launch will not take more than 24 hours.

Starting platforms of California

In addition to the two airbases of the US Air Force "Vandenberg" and "Edwards", which are also used for experimental launches, California has two cosmodromes, California and Mohave. And they are really impressive! In 2004, the first successful privately financed space launch of SpaceShipOne took place from the Mojave. In California, also based "California Space Office", which had virtually no power and for this reason ceased to exist.

Spaceport "California"

At the Vandenberg airbase in Lompoc, California, since 1999, the oldest licensed commercial spaceport in the US, the name of which is the California spaceport. Moreover, it is the only fully commercialized facility in the country - it operates without state funding. The main launch site is the 8th space launch complex or SLC-8. It is able to provide both polar and ballistic trajectories using small accelerating blocks of the "Minotaur" class.

Aerocosmote "Mojave"

Built on the basis of the airfield of the Navy and the WWII artillery range, the Mohave aerospace port was one of the first test sites for private spacecraft. Starting with a missile 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-South-West

Here, each state of the United States with a cosmodrome. New Mexico, Texas and Oklahoma - they all have their starting platforms, 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 desert of Jordan del Muereto, New Mexico, is the site of the US space center America, the world's first specially built commercial launch pad and a base for private aerospace companies Virgin Galactic, SpaceX, UP Aerospace and Armadillo Aerospace. Certified by LEED, the object covers about 62 thousand square meters. M and includes two double height hangars with an area of 4400 sq. M. M and a flight control center. The spaceport can be reached by a charter from the nearby town of Trut-Or-Consicuances.

At the White Sands missile test site, they test all kinds of large and explosive things, and sometimes launch them into near space. In addition, it housed the world's first nuclear test site. But this is not a very interesting place.

Oklahoma Spaceport

Located in the midst of the Oklahoma wasteland, the spaceport has one of the longest runways in North America (4,115 m). Combined with an empty, non-flying airplane sky, it became the first in the US to not be subject to military and flight restrictions, which is ideal for the commercial use of vehicles with horizontal take-off and landing. Armadillo Aerospace is also based here, although its prototype of the lunar spacecraft is designed only for vertical take-off and landing. Among other things, there is even a 9-hole golf course.

Cosmodromes in Texas

In Texas, there is the launch pad of the private space enterprise of the head and founder of Amazon multibillionaire Jeff Bezosa Blue Origin. Now it is a test spaceport, but perhaps in the future it will be a suitable place for tourist trips to and from space.

And in McGregor, SpaceX built a launch pad for testing the Merlin 1D engine and the Falcon 9 and Grasshopper missiles .

Central and southern coast of the Atlantic

In Virginia, there are two launch sites - the Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport (MARS) and the NASA space center on Wallop's Island. MARS ships ships into space thanks to the tax credits "Zero gravity - zero taxes". NASA rockets are launched on Wallope. For example, on September 6, 2013, a probe for exploring the lunar atmosphere and the environment flew from here - for the first time outside of Florida, where the main US space center is located.

Located on the east coast of Virginia, the facility was built in 1945 for aerodynamic testing and as an orbital launch complex. More than 16,000 rockets have been launched since Wallops, including the early prototypes of the Mercury project and LADEE.

Under the direction of the Virginia Commercial Space Flight Administration, the MARS operates two launch sites: Pad 0A, which is licensed by the FAA to deliver payloads of up to 5 tons in weight to the low earth orbit, and Pad 0B, which allows the extraction of up to 3.8 tons of payload, which Is more suitable for small vehicles, such as the "Minotaur IV" or "Minuteman". In addition to the traditional solid fuel, it can launch liquid fuel and hybrid missiles.

From the MARS cosmodrome, the first launch of the Orbital Sciences autonomous cargo logistics spacecraft Cygnus was carried out aboard its Antares carrier rocket. Cygnus, rival of Dragon Capsule Elona Mask, 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 space center is located in the state of Florida. Hence the launch and coordination of the Apollo program in the 1960s and 1970s. And the shuttle program Space Shuttle in 1980-2000-ies. The "Space Coast" includes the John F. Kennedy Space Center, the Air Force Station and the US space center at Cape Canaveral.

After completing the shuttle program, the BBC station and the Kennedy Space Center were open to commercial ventures. Together, these facilities have three active pads and two active runways for horizontal launches between them.

Launch complexes 46 and 20 are the primary launch platforms of Cape Canaveral. The first of them is intended for the deployment of medium-range rockets Lockheed-Athena or Taurus, as well as ballistic missiles Trident II and Minuteman. The second complex is built for servicing small suborbital launchers LiteStar, Terrier, Orion and ASAS.

Cecil-Field Spaceport

In 2010, the US Federal Aviation Administration approved the creation of the Jacksonville Spaceport Cecil-Field at the site of the decommissioned base of naval aviation. The launch pad was licensed in 2010, and it already has the necessary means to support the horizontal launch of renewable vehicles. At the cosmodrome there are runways with a length of 3800, 2400 and 1200 m, additional taxiways and spaceport facilities are being developed. They must be completed by the end of the decade.

Today, flights to space are in a transitional phase. Scientific research and military tests continue to dominate, although commercial satellite launches are beginning to occupy an increasing part of the modern space-rocket industry. Space tourism from companies such as Virgin Galactic and, perhaps, Blue Origin promises a new future, true, at a price that is currently available to the few.

New US spaceports and programs like Space X, show how much there is still room for innovation.

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