Many things are necessary for a successful rocket launch. It’s not just reliable engines, computers and sophisticated guidance algorithms. There’s also the launch pad, and, perhaps even more of an afterthought to the casual observer, the roads, bridges, pipelines, and electrical infrastructure needed to keep the spaceport running.
Brigadier General Kristin Panzenhagen, commander of the Space Force Eastern Division at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida, calls it “an unsexy thing that you can’t launch without.” Much of the ground infrastructure at Cape Canaveral and the military’s other launch site, Vandenberg Space Force Base in California, is outdated and in need of upgrades or expansion.
“Roads, bridges, even entrances to bases, gates, communication infrastructure, power, we are looking at overhauling and modernizing all of them because we are “We haven’t had any technological innovations for a very long time, at least 20 years, maybe more,” said Col. James Horn, deputy director for assured access to the Space Force’s Space Directorate. .
Obtaining Congressional funding for the development of new rockets and spacecraft, research into advanced technology, and military pay increases was generally easier than securing funding for military construction projects.
“It’s impossible to try to do all these renovations with just an annual budget,” Panzenhagen said in a presentation to the Florida National Space Club committee earlier this week.
Charging ahead
The Biden administration is requesting $1.3 billion over the next five years to upgrade infrastructure at Space Force bases in Florida and California. Panzenhagen said one of the first projects will be renovating the airfield at Cape Canaveral, where the military regularly transports satellites and other equipment to the launch site.
However, this funding alone will not be enough for Cape Canaveral and Vandenberg to fully meet the Space Force’s anticipated launch needs. Last year, there were 72 orbital launch attempts from Florida and 30 attempts from California.
“I “We would expect to see over 100 launches from the Cape this year,” Panzenhagen said, “and that will put a strain on a lot of employees, so we’re going to be smarter. We are in the process of getting it operational,” he said.
SpaceX will launch most of these missions, and demand for Falcon 9 launches will be driven by the expansion of the company’s Starlink broadband network. United Launch Alliance plans up to 16 rocket launches this year, all from Cape Canaveral, and Blue Origin plans to launch its first heavy-lift rocket, New Glenn, from Florida by the end of 2024. ” could be launched. SpaceX plans to launch about 50 missions from California next year. ; Firefly Aerospace may also operate some flights there.
The pace of launches has increased significantly at Cape Canaveral. In 2008, there were only seven launches from the Florida Spaceport. The pace of launches in Florida has steadily increased since SpaceX began launching Falcon 9 rockets in 2010.
“It’s not a hard limit, but I think if we don’t do anything, we can probably get around 150 launches a year at the Cape,” Horn told Ars in a recent interview. “And from Vandenberg it’s probably about 75 a year. All we’re doing is continuing to improve that ability to get out of the way. So when they say they need to go Every time, we say yes.”
Space Force provides security, weather forecasting, telemetry and safety monitoring services for all launches from Cape Canaveral and Vandenberg. The Florida and California launch sites are primarily responsible for ensuring the U.S. military has always-on capability to launch national security-critical satellites. However, the majority of launches from military ranges are commercial missions.
