There’s a Traffic Jam Forming at U.S. Rocket Launchpads
The nation’s busiest spaceports are fielding record demand, spurring new efforts to develop launch sites in landlocked states and even at sea
A traffic jam is forming at U.S. rocket-launch sites.
Elon Musk’s SpaceX and other rocket companies are planning to increase flights in the years ahead as they ferry their own satellites or payloads for other customers to space.
The problem: Only three sites in Florida and California handle most U.S. rocket launches, and those locations are expected to become increasingly congested as companies and regulators schedule more missions.
Last year marked a record in U.S. spaceflight with 145 launches reaching orbit, or five times as many as 2017, according to data from astrophysicist Jonathan McDowell, who closely tracks space activities. SpaceX—the world’s top rocket launcher—conducted 134 of that total.
Government officials and industry executives fear that backed-up launch sites would restrict payloads from getting to space in a timely manner. A significant weather event or an accident could put one of the major spaceports out of commission for months or even years, said George Nield, the former top space official at the Federal Aviation Administration.
“We’re so dependent on space, to put all your eggs in one basket is a risky strategy,” he said.
Operators of smaller and nascent spaceports, including those in landlocked states and at sea, are jockeying for new business, but face their own set of expansion hurdles.
‘Ready to move’
For decades, rocket launches were relatively rare and there was little appetite for creating new sites. The most prominent locations then and currently are tied to military bases and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration’s Kennedy Space Center.
Multiple spaceport operators are now trying to take advantage of the crunch forming at the main sites. The Pacific Spaceport Complex, located on Alaska’s Kodiak Island, has never seen more than three rocket launches in a year.
Still, it is seeking federal clearance to launch up to 25 times annually, and its forecast for flights five years out is already starting to fill up, said John Oberst, the chief executive of Alaska Aerospace Corp., which oversees the Kodiak spaceport. The facility is looking to coax smaller rocket companies affected by congestion to its launchpads, Oberst said.
Launches can’t just occur anywhere. Rockets are typically sent up from coastal areas, where vehicles soar over water and avoid the risks of flying above populated areas.
Developing new launch facilities along coastal areas is difficult, as locals often worry about disruptions and noise. A proposal to develop a new launch site along the coast in southeast Georgia unraveled a couple of years ago amid public opposition.
Nearly two decades ago, a spaceport in Oklahoma became the first inland site to receive an FAA license for plane-based spaceflights, where an aircraft would ferry a rocket to a high altitude before the rocket detaches to fly to space. The site has yet to conduct a launch. Officials at the spaceport have commissioned a study to determine how to safely launch rockets over land.
“There has to be a first mover, and we’re ready to move,” said Bailey J. Siegfried, vice chair of the Oklahoma Space Industry Development Authority’s board of directors.
Tom Marotta founded the Spaceport Company in 2022 to swallow up rising launch demand. His idea: launches from boats in the ocean. The Boeing Sea Launch System, an international collaboration that launched a couple dozen times from an old floating oil rig, provided a blueprint, he said.
Launches can’t just occur anywhere. Rockets are typically sent up from coastal areas, where vehicles soar over water and avoid the risks of flying above populated areas.
Developing new launch facilities along coastal areas is difficult, as locals often worry about disruptions and noise. A proposal to develop a new launch site along the coast in southeast Georgia unraveled a couple of years ago amid public opposition.
Nearly two decades ago, a spaceport in Oklahoma became the first inland site to receive an FAA license for plane-based spaceflights, where an aircraft would ferry a rocket to a high altitude before the rocket detaches to fly to space. The site has yet to conduct a launch. Officials at the spaceport have commissioned a study to determine how to safely launch rockets over land.
“There has to be a first mover, and we’re ready to move,” said Bailey J. Siegfried, vice chair of the Oklahoma Space Industry Development Authority’s board of directors.
Tom Marotta founded the Spaceport Company in 2022 to swallow up rising launch demand. His idea: launches from boats in the ocean. The Boeing Sea Launch System, an international collaboration that launched a couple dozen times from an old floating oil rig, provided a blueprint, he said.
Companies have tussled over control of pads at busy spaceports.
SpaceX has conducted its launch ramp-up largely from Florida, and is working to bring Starship—the name of the powerful vehicle it is developing—to the Kennedy Space Center and an open pad within the Space Force’s Cape Canaveral base.
Rivals have raised concerns about those plans, including potential congestion the huge rocket might cause. SpaceX didn’t respond to a request for comment.