WASHINGTON – As Eastern Florida launches in Florida, companies and government agencies are looking at ways to add capacity, primarily through incremental improvements.
In a panel discussion at the 47th Spaceport Summit on February 23, Brig. Genl. Stephen G. Purdy Jr., commander of the 45th Space Wing and director of the Eastern Range, said the series has supported 32 launches in the past twelve months. The launches came from 55 launch efforts that went ‘after countdown’.
However, there were 297 requested launch opportunities during the period, of which the series approved 225. “Each of them is obviously a lot of work and a lot of coordination with a lot of partners,” he said. “There is a lot of work going on just to get the launch dates, and it will continue to increase as we reach the expected launch rates in the future.”
The expected launch figures he referred to come from a study by The Aerospace Corporation that predicts an increase in commercial launch activities from the Cape Canaveral Space Force Station and the neighboring Kennedy Space Center over the next few years. “We have more than 60 launches a year,” said Bob Cabana, director of KSC.
One innovation is the adoption of autonomous flight safety systems on launch vehicles that eliminate the need for tracking and communication systems, which can take days to reconfigure from one launch attempt to the next. “We were able to close from 72 to 96 hours from a distance to support multiple launches in one day,” said Wayne Monteith, co-administrator of commercial space transportation at the Federal Aviation Administration and a former commander of the 45th Space Wing.
SpaceX uses autonomous flight safety systems for the launch of Falcon 9, which has made it possible to plan launches carefully. The company tried two Falcon 9 launches of Space Launch Complex 40 and Launch Complex 39A twice on the same day, but weather or technical problems with the rocket prevented both launchers from occurring.
‘We came very close’ to two launches in one day, said Hans Koenigsmann, senior adviser on building and flight reliability at SpaceX, including an effort in February, where two launches were less than four and a half hours apart. is planned. ‘It will happen in the near future that we will launch two vehicles from two booklets on the same day. It will only increase from there. ”
Purdy said the series set a deadline for October 2025 for other vehicle operators to adopt autonomous aviation safety systems. That transition will free up a “not insignificant amount of staff and equipment” currently used for launch launches.
Other changes are more incremental. Both the Eastern Range and launch companies are studying the weather requirements and looking for small changes that reduce the likelihood of conditions such as lightning scrubbing a launch.
“We have several projects underway to tackle the weather demand,” Purdy said, such as reducing the radius of a lightning strike site to less than four kilometers.
“We are investing in the technical infrastructure to make the rocket robust against lightning,” said Scott Henderson, vice president of testing and flight operations and director of Blue Origin in Florida. “The idea is that you can launch a rocket when a plane takes off from Orlando’s airport.”
However, more complicated launches lead to more weather restrictions. Koenigsmann said many SpaceX launches have instant launch windows, with no room for error in case of bad weather. Crew launches also require good weather along the runway to orbit in the event of an abortion, and most SpaceX launches involve a booster landing at sea where weather can be a problem.
Purdy said his weather team is working with SpaceX and others planning the landings of the ocean to better understand the weather conditions at sea. This includes taking climatological data along the east coast to see which areas are more favorable to wind and sea conditions for a landing.
Other adjustments involve procedures. According to Purdy, each of the 297 requests for a launch date received in the past year took a number of hours to process. “The review process is currently one of our biggest pain points,” he said. “An automation process in this people-centered approach is something we want to work with the FAA and our other mission partners.”
The FAA’s Office of Commercial Space Transport has taken steps to support higher launch rates through more streamlined regulations, which were released last fall and will formally go into effect later this month. This is necessary, Monteith said, because the number of licensed launches is growing much faster than the number of people in his office. “If we do not plan and adapt in advance, we will become the limiting factor for the growth and success of the US commercial space industry,” he said.
Orbital launches on the Eastern Range today are mainly carried out by two companies, SpaceX and United Launch Alliance. However, several more companies are building new launch facilities or have announced plans to launch from Cape Canaveral, including Blue Origin, Firefly Aerospace and Relativity. This will complicate launch coordination.
Henderson noted that Blue Origin’s Launch Complex 36, which will host the launch of New Glenn, will not be available until late 2022, near SpaceX’s Landing Zone 1, where some Falcon 9 and Falcon Heavy boosters will land. Blue Origin must clear LC-36 during a SpaceX landing, while SpaceX Landing must clear Zone 1 during a new Glenn launch.
“As we add more launch providers, it’s going to be more dynamic,” he said. “We’ll have to figure out a way to do that.”
Koenigsmann was not worried. “I just do not see anyone else doing the level of launches now” compared to SpaceX, he said, expressing optimism that SpaceX and other solutions could be found for future scheduling issues. ‘After all, we land on ships, right? How difficult can it be. ”