Pacific Spaceport Complex - Alaska
Coordinates: 57 ° 26 ′ 9 ″ N , 152 ° 20 ′ 16 ″ W.
The Pacific Spaceport Complex - Alaska (PSCA; until 2015 Kodiak Launch Complex , KLC) is a commercial rocket launch site in Alaska . It is located on Kodiak Island south of Kodiak City . The Kodiak Launch Complex is owned by the Alaska Aerospace Development Corporation .
Infrastructure
The Kodiak Launch Complex covers an area of 15 km² and includes two launch complexes (Launch Pads) labeled LP-1 and LP-2 as well as a control center. A radar station is used to locate the missiles.
control center
The Range Control Center (RCC), in which administration, technology and operations are coordinated, is located about three kilometers from the two launch complexes, and thus outside the immediate danger zone. This building also houses the Launch Operations Control Center (LOCC) as the actual control center during a rocket launch.
Starting places
Launch Pad 1 (LP-1)
The first launch site is used to launch larger solid rocket rockets based on the Peacekeeper and Castor 120 rocket motors. Rockets based on the Minuteman rocket motors can also be launched from here. This launch site consists of an assembly hall for preparing the rockets and payloads as well as the launch table. There is a tower (Launch Service Structure) with a height of 53 m with swiveling and height-adjustable maintenance platforms. When closed, the maintenance platforms completely enclose the rocket and thus provide protection against environmental influences. At the start, they are swiveled into a position behind the launch tower so that they are not damaged by the jet of fire and the pressure waves of the rocket launch. So far there have been three orbital launches with rockets of the types Athena I , Minotaur IV HAPS and Minotaur IV + .
During a military suborbital launch on August 25, 2014, the launch complex suffered severe damage when the rocket deviated from course just four seconds after launch and had to be blown up. There were no injuries and the repair work took a year.
Launch Pad 2 (LP-2)
The second launch site is used to launch smaller rockets and consists of a simple launch table and a nearby movable assembly hall that can be rolled over the launch table. Thus, the rockets can be assembled and erected protected from the weather. There is no maintenance platform at the start table. So far, suborbital rockets of the types SR-19 M-57A , Castor-4B M-57A , Aries and STARS as well as the Astra test rockets Rocket-1 and Rocket-2 have been launched from here .
Launch Pad 3 (LP-3)
The LP-3 launch complex emerged in the late 2010s. It has several launch sites and is initially intended to be used for new small commercial units. A first orbital flight of both the Astra and the Vector-R rocket was planned for 2019. The latter did not take place due to the company's bankruptcy, the former was postponed to 2020.
use
So far, there has been a small number of suborbital launches for military tests by the Ballistic Missile Defense Organization (BMDO) as well as an orbital launch of an Athena I rocket, two orbital launches of the Minotaur IV and two tests of the Astra . From 2001 to 2008, STARS targeting missiles for missile defense tests were launched from the Kodiak Launch Center; In 2019 tests of the Israeli anti-missile defense system Arrow-3 took place .
Start list
| No. | Date ( UTC ) | rocket | Payload (s) | Launch site | Remarks |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Nov 6, 1998 | SR-19 M-57A | ait-1 | LP-2 | success |
| 2 | Sep 15 1999 | Castor-4B M-57A | ait-2 | LP-2 | success |
| 3 | 19 Mar 2001 | Aries | QRLV-1 | LP-2 | success |
| 4th | Sep 30 2001 | Athena I | Starshine 3 , PICOSat , PCSat 1 , Sapphire | LP-1 | success |
| 5 | Nov 9, 2001 | STARS | WCRRF | LP-2 | Failure |
| 6th | Apr 24, 2002 | Aries | QRLV-2 | LP-2 | success |
| 7th | Dec 15, 2004 | STARS | IFT-13C target | LP-2 | success |
| 8th | Feb 14, 2005 | STARS | IFT-14 target | LP-2 | success |
| 9 | Feb 23, 2006 | STARS | FT-04-01 target | LP-2 | success |
| 10 | Sep 1 2006 | STARS | FTG-02 target | LP-2 | success |
| 11 | May 25, 2007 | STARS | FTG-03 target | LP-2 | Failure |
| 12 | 28 Sep 2007 | STARS | FT-03a target | LP-2 | success |
| 13 | July 18, 2008 | STARS | FTX-03 target | LP-2 | success |
| 14th | Dec 5, 2008 | STARS | FTG-05 target | LP-2 | success |
| 15th | Nov 20, 2010 | Minotaur IV HAPS | STPSat 2 , Fastsat , Fastrac 1 , Fastrac 2 , FalconSat 5 , O / Oreos , RAX , NanoSail D2 | LP-1 | success |
| 16 | 27 Sep 2011 | Minotaur IV | TacSat 4 | LP-1 | success |
| 17th | 25 Aug 2014 | STARS V | Advanced Hypersonic Weapon | LP-1 | Failure |
| 18th | 11th July 2017 | THAAD | success | ||
| 19th | July 30, 2017 | THAAD | success | ||
| 20th | 20th July 2018 | Astra demonstrator | - | LP-2 | Failure |
| 21st | Nov 27, 2018 | Astra demonstrator | - | LP-2 | Failure |
| 22nd | July 2019 | Arrow-3 | success | ||
| 23 | July 2019 | Arrow-3 | success | ||
| 24 | July 2019 | Arrow-3 | success | ||
| 25th | 2nd-7th Aug 2020 | Astra | LP-3B | Planned |
Web links
- Alaska Aerospace Development Corporation: Kodiak Launch Complex (English)
- Kodiak in the Encyclopedia Astronautica (English)
- Arthur C. Waite, Alan T. DeLuna: Kodiak Launch Complex (KLC) -aka- Alaska Orbital Launch Complex (AOLC). History and Lessons. (English, 15 pages PDF; 2.0 MB)
Individual evidence
- ^ Doug Messier: Alaska Aerospace Corporation Renames Kodiak Launch Complex. April 15, 2015, accessed February 19, 2018 .
- ^ Alaska Aerospace Corporation: Pacific Spaceport Complex-Alaska (PSCA). Retrieved on February 19, 2018 : "PSCA ... occupies over 3,700 acres."
- ^ Alaska Aerospace Corporation: Range Control Center. Retrieved February 19, 2018 .
- ^ Alaska Aerospace Corporation: Launch Operations Control Center. Retrieved February 19, 2018 .
- ↑ Alaska Aerospace Corporation: Launch Service Structure and Launch Pad 1. Retrieved February 19, 2018 .
- ^ Richard Maurer, Laurel Andrews: Army rocket blown up during failed launch in Kodiak. Alaska Dispatch News, August 25, 2014, accessed August 27, 2014 .
- ↑ Doug Messier: Alaska Officials Rededicate Pacific Spaceport Complex. August 20, 2015, accessed February 19, 2018 .
- ^ Alaska Aerospace Corporation: Launch Pad 2
- ↑ Final Environmental Assessment - LP3 , April 19, 2016.
- ↑ Eric Berger: Vector co-founder says company overcoming challenges to reach the launch pad. Ars Technica, April 1, 2019, accessed on May 2, 2019 : “Then, before the end of the year, the company intends to fly its first orbital rocket, Vector-R B1003, from the Pacific Spaceport Complex in Alaska . "
- ↑ spiegel.de, July 30, 2019: Israel is rehearsing the case of war on Bear Island
- ↑ a b c Israel and US Successfully Test Advanced Arrow-3 Defense System. In: TV7. July 29, 2019, accessed August 1, 2019 .
- ↑ Stephen Clark: Astra ships next small satellite launcher to Alaska spaceport. Spaceflight Now, July 23, 2020, accessed on July 24, 2020 : "the mission's six-day launch window opens Aug. 2. Astra will have a launch opportunity between 3:30 pm and 7 pm EDT (1930 and 2300 GMT) each day. "