SpaceX launch facilities

Two launch pads for Falcon 1

SpaceX originally intended to launch its first launch vehicle, the Falcon 1, from a leased facility at Vandenberg Air Force Base. A launch pad (Space Launch Complex–Three West, or SLC-3W) was modified by SpaceX to support the Falcon 1, and the Falcon 1 was placed on the pad in 2005. Problems arose when SpaceX was unable to obtain sufficient launch window availability because the pad would overfly other Air Force pads that were frequently left occupied for weeks or months at a time, thus severely restricting SpaceX launches. The launch pad was never used for a vehicle that left the pad, although it was used for a number of ground tests.

SpaceX proceeded to then build a launch facility in the northern Pacific Ocean at the Ronald Reagan Ballistic Missile Defense Test Site, on Omelek Island, a part of the Kwajalein Atoll, Marshall Islands. SpaceX began launching Falcon 1 rockets from Omelek in 2006. Falcon 1 Flight 4 was the first successful privately funded, liquid-propelled launch vehicle to achieve orbit, and was launched from Omelek Island on 28 September 2008. followed by another Falcon 1 launch on 13 July 2009, placing RazakSAT into orbit

SpaceX had at one point in the past planned to upgrade the Omelek launch site for use by the Falcon 9 launch vehicle, but has since cancelled its plans to do so, to the point of disassembling the entire installation. In December 2010, the SpaceX launch manifest listed Omelek (Kwajalein) as a potential site for several Falcon 9 launches, the first planned for as early as 2012. The Falcon 9 Overview document also offered Kwajalein as a launch option in 2010. Since then, the FAA Environmental Impact Report of May 2014 lists this site as non-operational and returned to its original state, to no longer be used, "Five Falcon 1 launches occurred at Omelek Island, Kwajalein Atoll. After these launches of the Falcon 1, the site was no longer needed and SpaceX closed the site and returned the property to pre-launch conditions"

All Falcon 1 launches have taken place at this location, five launches from 2006 to 2009. SpaceX abandoned Omelek when Falcon 1 was retired, due to the expense of logistics.

Falcon 9

SpaceX has used two launch facilities for Falcon 9 launches through 2014, one at Cape Canaveral, Florida, and a second one near Lompoc, California used for the first flight of the Falcon 9 v1.1 rocket in September 2013. Both are leased facilities from the U.S. Air Force. All 2014 Falcon 9 flights are planned from Cape Canaveral, with Vandenberg Falcon 9 launches ramping up in 2015.

For the second Falcon 9 launch pad, located at Vandenberg Air Force Base, SpaceX broke ground on 13 July 2011. A 2011 estimate showed that the project was expected to cost between $20 to $30 million for the first 24 months of construction and operation; thereafter, operational costs were expected to be $5–10 million per year. SpaceX papers filed with regulatory authorities indicate they could launch up to 16 flights per year from Vandenberg by 2015.

Launch facility growth

COO Gwynne Shotwell said in 2014 that "we are expanding in all of our locations" and "you will end up seeing a lot of SpaceX launch sites in order to meet the future demand that we anticipate."

Current orbital launch facilities

SpaceX currently has three launch facilities in use for the Falcon 9, one at Cape Canaveral, Florida (currently being repaired after a pad explosion), a second one near Lompoc, California used for the first flight of the Falcon 9 v1.1 rocket in the fall of 2013, and a third facility at Kennedy Space Center (KSC), also at Cape Canaveral, Florida.

With increased use of the Florida leased launch pad following the introduction of Falcon 9 v1.1 in the fall of 2013, the Air Force launch support operations at the Cape are planning for a total of 21 launches in 2014, a fifty percent increase over the 2013 launch rate. SpaceX has reservations for a ten of those 21 launches, with an option for an eleventh.

As of 2014, future launches of Falcon 9s on the SpaceX manifest are currently planned for either Cape Canaveral or Vandenberg AFB SLC-4E (Polar Launches), or at KSC LP39A beginning in 2015.

Cape Canaveral

Commencing in 2010, all Falcon 9 flights from the East Coast used the SpaceX-leased launch pad at Cape Canaveral SLC-40 in Cape Canaveral, Florida. until September 1, 2016, when it was damaged when a Falcon 9 rocket exploded during liquid oxygen loading in preparation for a hot-fire test. This is being repaired and SpaceX has a target of August for a return to operations.

As of June 2016, SpaceX has discussed preliminary plans to launch an average of 90 rockets per year after 2019. In August 2016, it was announced that SpaceX was using a 53,000 square foot former Spacehab building under a temporary property use permit until a lease for this building could be agreed. A tentative 5 year lease agreement was reported to have been reached in November 2016. A new building nearby is also planned and these facilities would be used to refurbish rockets.

Kennedy Space Centre

In December 2013, NASA and SpaceX were in negotiations for SpaceX to lease Launch Complex 39A at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida, after SpaceX was selected in a multi-company bid process, following NASA's decision in early 2013 to lease the unused complex out as part of a bid to reduce annual operation and maintenance costs of unused government facilities. The SpaceX bid was for exclusive use of the launch complex to support their future crewed missions, but SpaceX said in September 2013 that they are also willing to support a multi-user arrangement for pad 39, and they reiterated that position in December 2013.

A competing bid for commercial use of the launch complex had been submitted by Jeff Bezos' Blue Origin, who bid for a shared non-exclusive use of the complex such that the launchpad can interface with multiple vehicles, and costs of pad operational expenses could be shared over the long term. One potential shared user in the Blue Origin notional plan was with United Launch Alliance. In September 2013—prior to completion of the bid period, and prior to any public announcement by NASA of the results of the process—Blue Origin filed a protest with the U.S. General Accounting Office (GAO) over what it said was "a plan by NASA to award an exclusive commercial lease to SpaceX for use of mothballed space shuttle launch pad 39A." NASA had planned to complete the bid award and have the pad transferred by October 1, 2013, but the protest delayed a decision until after the GAO resolved the protest. Following the eruption of the controversy, on September 21, SpaceX said that they were willing to support a multi-user arrangement for pad 39. In December 2013, the GAO denied the protest and sided with NASA, which argued that the solicitation contains no preference on the use of the facility as multi-use or single-use. "The [solicitation] document merely asks bidders to explain their reasons for selecting one approach instead of the other and how they would manage the facility."

SpaceX began architectural and engineering design work on the pad modifications in 2013, and signed the contractual documents to lease the pad for 20 years from NASA in April 2014. SpaceX is building a large Horizontal Integration Facility (HIF) just outside the perimeter of the existing launch pad in order to "house the Falcon Heavy rocket and associated hardware and payloads during processing." This is a marked difference from the vertical integration facility used by previous US government rockets that used the launch pad (Apollo Program and the Space Shuttle)—plus the installation of all new instrumentation and control systems, with substantial new plumbing for a variety of rocket liquids and gasses.

The Falcon Heavy will be transported from the HIF to the launch pad aboard a Transporter Erector (TE) which will ride on rails up the former crawlerway path.

By late 2014, a preliminary date for a wet dress rehearsal to test all pad/launch vehicle interfaces and systems for the Falcon Heavy was set for no earlier than 1 July 2015.

In February 2016, it was reported that the pad had been completed and activated indicating it is ready for launches of Falcon 9 Full Thrust. The first SpaceX launch from LC39A occurred in February 2017, followed by a successful first-stage landing at Landing Zone 1. Further work will be needed to support Falcon Heavy and crewed launches which is expected to take at least 60 days and is currently planned to occur after Cape Canaveral LC-40 is back in operation, which has a target date of August 2017.

California

SpaceX secured a West Coast launch site in order to launch Falcon 1 but in the end all Falcon 1 were launched from the Marshall Islands. The facility however was retained to deliver satellites to polar or Sun-synchronous orbits with Falcon 9 launches.

The sixth flight of the Falcon 9 launch vehicle was launched in September 2013 and was the maiden flight of its v1.1 version. It used the newly rebuilt Vandenberg Air Force Base Space Launch Complex 4E. The site was used for a second time in January 2016 for the Jason-3 mission which was the last flight of Falcon 9 v1.1 and for a third time in January 2017 for the start of the Iridium Next launches.

The Vandenberg site will also be used to support launches by the Falcon Heavy launch vehicle.

New commercial-only launch site

SpaceX is building a new spaceport at Boca Chica Village near Brownsville, Texas for their private use, with an emphasis on commercial space transport work.

During 2011–2014, SpaceX considered as many as seven potential locations around the country for a new private launch facility for orbital flights, including Alaska, California, Florida, Texas, Virginia, Georgia, and Puerto Rico. One of the proposed locations for the new commercial-mission-only spaceport was south Texas, which was revealed in April 2012, via preliminary regulatory documentation. The FAA's Office of Commercial Space Transportation began a multi-year process to conduct an Environmental Impact Statement and public hearings on the new launch site, which would be located in Cameron County, Texas. The site was to initially support up to 12 commercial launches per year, including two Falcon Heavy launches.

As early as March 2013, Texas had become the leading candidate for the location of the new SpaceX commercial launch facility, although Florida, Georgia and other locations remained in the running. Legislation was introduced in the Texas Legislature in early 2013 that would enable temporary closings of State beaches during launches, limit liability for noise and some other specific commercial spaceflight risks, while the legislature also considered a package of incentives to encourage SpaceX to locate at the Brownsville, Texas location. The Texas incentive package and beach closing legislation is now in place. In October 2013, CEO Musk said that "Texas is looking increasingly likely," waiting for final regulatory approvals.

The FAA released the draft Environmental Impact Statement in April 2013, and "found that 'no impacts would occur' that would force the Federal Aviation Administration to deny SpaceX a permit for rocket operations near Brownsville."

The site is to be optimized for launches of commercial telecommunication satellites that would be launched to the east, across the Gulf of Mexico and the Straits of Florida into geostationary transfer orbits.

SpaceX broke ground on the new spaceport in 2014, indicating that the first launches from the facility would occur no earlier than 2016. Foundation and subsoil issues at the site subsequently resulted in moving that planning date out into 2018 as of early 2016, and to "late 2018" by September 2016.

Also, in October 2013, SpaceX indicated for the first time that, depending on market demand, they may need another commercial launch site in addition to the Texas location.

VTVL test rocket facilities

SpaceX has two rocket test facilities for vertical takeoff, vertical landing rockets: the SpaceX Rocket Development and Test Facility in McGregor, Texas and a leased test facility at Spaceport America in southern New Mexico. All SpaceX rocket engines are tested on rocket test stands, and low-altitude VTVL flight testing of the Falcon 9 Grasshopper v1.0 test vehicle are done at McGregor. High-altitude, high-velocity flight testing of Grasshopper v1.1 are planned to be done at Spaceport America. In addition to atmospheric flight testing, and rocket engine testing, the McGregor facility is also used for post-flight disassembly and defueling of the Dragon spacecraft following orbital missions.

Both flight test facilities are principally involved in developing and testing various elements of the SpaceX reusable launch system development program, with a goal to making future SpaceX launch systems fully and rapidly reusable.

SpaceX rocket development and test facility, McGregor, Texas

The company purchased the McGregor, Texas, testing facilities of defunct Beal Aerospace—on land that had formerly been a bomb manufacturing plant during World War II—where it refitted the largest test stand at the facilities for Falcon 9 engine testing. SpaceX has made a number of improvements to the facility since purchase, and has also extended the size of the facility by purchasing several pieces of adjacent farmland. In 2011, the company announced plans to upgrade the facility for launch testing a VTVL rocket, and then constructed a half-acre concrete launch facility in 2012 to support the Grasshopper test flight program. As of March 2015, the facility comprised 4,000 acres (1,600 ha).

The McGregor facility is used for research and development of new rocket engines and thrusters, as well as for testing final manufactured engines and various components and engines during development.

Although SpaceX manufactures all of its rocket engines and thrusters at its Hawthorne headquarters each must "pass through McGregor where the company tests each new engine off of the assembly line, as well as those being developed for future missions to orbit and beyond" before each one can be used on a flight mission. As of October 2012, the McGregor facility had seven test stands that are operated "18 hours a day, six days a week" and [was] building more test stands because production is ramping up and the company has a large manifest in the next several years. "The company's headquarters and factory in ... southern California gets a lot of the attention, but most of the noisy, dirty and critical testing work is done just outside this small central Texas town nestled in amid the farm fields." Area residents were warned in late-April 2013 that much louder nine-engine booster tests of the more powerful Merlin 1D engine sets to be used on the Falcon 9 v1.1 first stages are expected to begin soon, with a 10-second test as early as 30 April, followed by a full-duration firing of the nine booster engines a few days later. Extensive and repeated rocket engine testing is a key to increasing reliability and thereby mission success, while lowering operating cost for SpaceX.

The area to support the test facility was initially just 256 acres (104 ha) but by April 2011 had more than doubled to greater than 600 acres (240 ha). As of September 2013, the McGregor facility had 11 test stands involved in the rocket engine test program, and was averaging two tests each day. The largest test stand by 2013 was the 82 meters (269 ft) tall Falcon 9 tripod. By March 2015, the site had grown to 4,000 acres (1,600 ha) with 12 test stands; it had run over 4000 Merlin engine tests, including some 50 firings of the integrated nine-engine first stage.

As of November 2013, the FAA permit to fly Grasshopper flight tests in Texas is open until October 2014. With only three initial employees onsite, the facility had grown to over 140 employees by late 2011.

Dragon spacecraft, following use on a space mission, splashdown and recovery, are shipped to McGregor for de-fueling, cleanup, and refurbishment for potential reuse in flight missions.

In May 2016, the McGregor City Council instituted more restrictive rules on rocket engine, rocket stage, and low-altitude flight testing. SpaceX has not commented publicly on how the new rules will affect their testing operations, nor whether they will be evaluating other locations where they might conduct such testing. The first scaled methane-fueled Raptor rocket engine, manufactured at the Hawthorne facility in California, had shipped to McGregor by August 2016 for development testing.

SpaceX high-altitude test facility, New Mexico

Coordinates: 32.945670°N 106.912208°W / 32.945670; -106.912208

As part of the development program for the SpaceX reusable launch system, SpaceX announced in May 2013 that the high-altitude, high-velocity flight test program of Grasshopper v1.1—the second generation of the SpaceX experimental vertical takeoff, vertical landing (VTVL) suborbital technology-demonstrator—would be conducted at Spaceport America near Las Cruces, New Mexico. SpaceX signed a three-year lease for land and facilities at the recently operational spaceport. As of May 2013, SpaceX indicated that they did not yet know how many jobs would move from McGregor, Texas to New Mexico to support the second phase of VTVL Grasshopper testing. SpaceX completed the low-altitude version 1.0 Grasshopper testing in October 2013.

Prior to May 2013, SpaceX had been planning to do these high-altitude tests at US Government's New Mexico high-altitude flight test facility—White Sands Missile Range—which is located on land adjacent and to the east of Spaceport America.

In 2013, SpaceX constructed a 30-by-30-meter (98 ft × 98 ft) pad at Spaceport America, 7 kilometers (4.3 mi) southwest of the spaceport's main campus, and will lease the pad for US$6,600 per month plus US$25,000 per Grasshopper flight. The spaceport administrator expected SpaceX to be operational at the Spaceport between October 2013 and February 2014, and anticipated that the lease payments would begin at that time.

The testing is expected to start in New Mexico only after low-altitude initial flight tests of the Grasshopper v1.1—also known as Falcon 9 Reusable (F9R) development vehicle—are accomplished in Texas at the SpaceX Rocket Development and Test Facility.

By May 2014, SpaceX had expended more than US$2 million on construction of the New Mexico facility, and is using more than 20 local firms to work on the project. Work items have included modifying the Range Operations Plan as well as a variety of fire-prevention measures. While in July 2014 the first test flight was still expected to occur sometime in 2014, reports in October 2014 indicated that the first flight of F9R Dev2 at Spaceport America would not occur until the first half of 2015.

On 19 February 2015, SpaceX announced that the F9R Dev2 would be discontinued indicating that ocean tests using operational Falcon 9 rockets had been sufficiently successful that it was no longer necessary.

Instead the New Mexico site will be used for testing the returned first stages.

During April 2015, SpaceX performed tanking tests on the In-Flight Abort rocket on the Vandenberg Air Force Base SLC-4E. Since this rocket only had three Merlin 1D engines, it was speculated that the discontinued F9R Dev2 was re-purposed as the launch vehicle in the In-Flight Abort Test.

Future and proposed facilities

SpaceX believes that it can optimize its launch operations, and reduce launch costs, by dividing its launch missions amongst four or more launch facilities: leased facilities at Kennedy for NASA work, Cape Canaveral for USAF national security launches, and Vandenberg for polar launches, while focusing the privately owned launch facility for commercial launches.

Launch site for the ITS super-heavy-lift launch vehicle

The super-heavy-lift launch vehicle for the Interplanetary Transport System will be too large to launch from any existing SpaceX facility. As a result, a new site would be built in order to accommodate the 10-meter-diameter (33 ft) rocket.

The ITS launch vehicle will be powered by forty two Raptor liquid oxygen/liquid methane engines producing approximately 40 meganewtons (9,000,000 lbf) of thrust at liftoff. The rocket has not yet been named by SpaceX.

As of March 2014, no launch site has been selected for the super-heavy lift rocket, but SpaceX has indicated that their leased facility in Florida at Launch Complex 39A will not be large enough to accommodate the large launch vehicle.