Rocket Lab will launch from Va.
California firm selects Wallops over Cape Canaveral for U.S. pad
One of the small satellite launch providers the Space Coast was hoping to snag by the end of the year has chosen to go elsewhere.
California-based Rocket Lab will build its first U.S. launch pad for its Electron rocket at NASA’s Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia, the company said Wednesday. Wallops will be Rocket Lab’s second launch site — the first is a private one in New Zealand.
Space Florida, the state’s spaceport authority, has been eyeing Rocket Lab and two other companies for a potential Space Coast launch pad.
“I don’t know that we will get all three because there is a lot of competition, but I’d be disappointed if we don’t get at least one,” Dale Ketcham, vice president of government and external relations at Space Florida, told the Orlando Sentinel last month.
The other two are Texasbased Firefly Aerospace, which also serves the small satellite market; and California-based Virgin Orbit, the cargo component of Virgin Galactic.
The spaceport authority released a statement Wednesday saying it “remains in dialogue with a number of small launch providers for future launches and operations at the Cape Canaveral Spaceport.”
Rocket Lab had shortlisted Cape Canaveral, as well as Pacific Spaceport Complex — Alaska and Vandenberg Air Force Base in California, for its U.S. site. It ultimately chose Wallops thanks to “high flight frequency available from the site, as well as rapid construction timelines.”
Thanks to those, Rocket Lab is targeting its first Electron rocket U.S. launch for the third quarter of 2019.
The company will, however, maintain its agreement with Cape Canaveral to conduct launches from its existing pads as required, and it’s still eyeing additional U.S. launch sites in the future.
Rocket Lab’s launch complex at Wallops, in addition to its New Zealand launch pad, will bring its launch availability to more than 130 missions a year. The complex in Virginia, which will cost an estimated $20 million, will include a pad designed for the Electron rocket and an integration and assembly facility. From there, Rocket Lab expects to launch both U.S. government and commercial missions.
“We’ve worked closely with the experienced and welcoming teams from Virginia Space and the Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport at Wallops to design a pad and processes that will enable an agile and streamlined approach to small satellite launch on US soil,” said Rocket Lab founder and CEO Peter Beck in a press release.
In the meantime, Space Florida is trying to ensure the Cape has the right facilities for future launch providers.
In September, it signed a formal Right of Entry agreement with the United States Air Force for launch complex 20 at the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station. The agreement allows Space Florida to do the preliminary work needed to later secure a customer at launch pad 20.
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