Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport

The Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport and, in the background, NASA's Wallops Flight Facility as seen in September 2012.

The Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport (MARS) is a commercial space launch facility located at the southern tip of NASA's Wallops Flight Facility on Wallops Island in Virginia, just east of the Delmarva Peninsula and south of Chincoteague, Virginia, United States.

Background

In July 2003, Governors Robert Ehrlich of Maryland and Mark Warner of Virginia signed an agreement that directed the Secretary of Commerce and Trade of Virginia and the Secretary of Business and Economic Development of Maryland to form a working group to develop a concept and implementation plan for joint governance, operation, and administration of the commercial spaceport at Wallops Island. The spaceport, then known as the Virginia Space Flight Center, had been developed with a combination of federal, state, and private sector funding by the Virginia Commercial Space Flight Authority (VCSFA).

Facilities

Launch pad 0A with Antares rocket. At left is a water tower for supplying water for sound suppression.

The Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport has two active launch pads. A third was proposed, but never built.

Launch pad 0B with Minotaur V rocket in September 2013.

Launch pad 0A (LP-0A) was built for the Conestoga rocket, which made its only flight in 1995.[1] The launch tower was subsequently demolished in September 2008,[2] and has now been rebuilt for use by the Orbital Sciences Antares.[3] The pad modifications for Antares included the construction of a Horizontal Integration Facility for launcher/payload mating and a wheeled transporter/erector that will "roll out and erect the rocket on its launch pad about 24 hours prior to launch."[3]

Launch pad 0B (LP-0B) became operational in 1999,[4] and was subsequently upgraded with the construction of a mobile service tower, which was completed in 2004.[5] It remains active, and is currently used by Minotaur rockets.

A third launch pad at the complex, to be used by HAD rockets, was proposed but never used.[6]

The facility suffered significant damage during the 28 Oct. 2014 Antares launch failure, according to NASA officials in the immediate aftermath.[7] The State of Virginia is seeking help from its two US Senators to obtain Federal funding for rebuilding the pad. Preliminary estimates for rebuilding the pad indicate the cost should be no more than US$20 million.[8] By May 2015, that estimate had been revised down to US$13 million and repairs were expected to be completed by September or October 2015 with the next planned launch in March 2016.[9] On September 30, 2015, the spaceport announced repairs on pad 0A had been completed.[10]

Launch history

The first rocket to be launched from Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport was an Orbital Sciences Minotaur I, at 12:00 GMT on 16 December 2006, with two spacecraft, TacSat-2 for the US Air Force, and GeneSat-1 for NASA.[11]

LaunchDate (UTC)VehiclePayloadLaunch padResultRemarks
116 December 2006, 12:00Minotaur ITacSat-2 / GeneSat-1Pad 0BSuccess[11]
224 April 2007, 06:48Minotaur INFIREPad 0BSuccess[11]
322 August 2008, 09:10 ALV X-1Hy-BoLT/SOAREX 6Pad 0BFailure[12]
419 May 2009, 23:55 Minotaur ITacSat-3Pad 0BSuccess
530 June 2011, 03:09Minotaur IUSAF ORS-1 SatellitePad 0BSuccess
621 April 2013, 21:00AntaresCygnus Mass SimulatorPad 0ASuccess[13]
77 September 2013, 03:27Minotaur VLADEE mission to Lunar orbitPad 0BSuccess
818 September 2013, 14:58AntaresCygnus Orb-D1
COTS Demo Mission		Pad 0ASuccess[14]
919 November 2013, 20:15Minotaur IORS 3, STPSat3Pad 0BSuccess
109 January 2014, 18:07[15][16][17]AntaresCygnus CRS Orb-1Pad 0ASuccessFirst Cygnus
ISS re-supply mission
1113 July 2014, 16:52[18]AntaresCygnus CRS Orb-2Pad 0ASuccessISS re-supply mission
1228 October 2014, 22:22[19]AntaresCygnus CRS Orb-3Pad 0AFailure[20]Pad damaged by explosion and fire.
1317 October 2016, 23:45 [21]Antares 230Cygnus CRS OA-5Pad 0A (rebuilt)SuccessISS re-supply mission
1412 November 2017, 12:19Antares 230Cygnus CRS OA-8EPad 0A (rebuilt)SuccessISS re-supply mission
1521 May 2018, 08:44Antares 230Cygnus CRS OA-9EPad 0A (rebuilt)SuccessISS re-supply mission

See also

References

  1. ↑ Wade, Mark. "Wallops Island LA0A". Encyclopedia Astronautica. Archived from the original on 2008-11-20. Retrieved 2009-01-21.
  2. ↑ "Launch Tower Demolition". GMB. Archived from the original on 2009-02-21. Retrieved 2009-01-21.
  3. 1 2 Kyle, Ed (2011-05-14). "Taurus 2". Space Launch Report. Retrieved 2011-12-19.
  4. ↑ "Facilities". Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport. Archived from the original on October 16, 2008. Retrieved 2009-01-21.
  5. ↑ "Launch Pad 0-B" (PDF). Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport. Archived from the original (PDF) on July 4, 2008. Retrieved 2009-01-21.
  6. ↑ Wade, Mark. "Wallops Island LA0 HAD". Encyclopedia Astronautica. Archived from the original on 2008-11-20. Retrieved 2009-01-21.
  7. ↑ Botelho, Gerg. "Unmanned NASA-contracted rocket explodes; damage is 'significant'". CNN. Retrieved 2014-10-28.
  8. ↑ Foust, Jeff (2014-11-21). "Virginia May Seek Federal Funds for Wallops Spaceport Repairs". Space News. Retrieved 2014-12-01.
  9. ↑ Leone, Dan (May 15, 2015). "With $2 Million Left on Wallops Repair Bill, NASA and Virginia Look to Orbital ATK To Dig Deeper". Space News. Retrieved July 19, 2015.
  10. ↑ "Completion Of Repairs at the Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport Launch Pad 0A". vaspace.org. September 30, 2015.
  11. 1 2 3 Wade, Mark. "Wallops Island LA0B". Encyclopedia Astronautica. Archived from the original on 2011-11-15. Retrieved 2011-12-19.
  12. ↑ Tennant, Diane (22 Aug 2008). "NASA destroys rocket shortly after launch at Wallops Island". Virginian-Pilot. Retrieved 2 November 2014.
  13. ↑ "Antares Maiden Soar Pierces Virginia Sky and delivers NASA SmartPhone Pioneer Nanosats to Orbit - Universe Today". 24 April 2013. Retrieved 12 September 2018.
  14. ↑ Clark, Stephen. "Antares launches private mission to space station". Spaceflightnow.com.
  15. ↑ "ORB-1: Antares successfully launches Cygnus en route to ISS – NASASpaceFlight.com". www.nasaspaceflight.com. Retrieved 12 September 2018.
  16. ↑ "Northrop Grumman Corporation". Northrop Grumman. Retrieved 12 September 2018.
  17. ↑ http://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/nmc/spacecraftOrbit.do?id=2014-003A
  18. ↑ Beutel, Allard (3 April 2015). "NASA Cargo Launches to Station Aboard Orbital Resupply Mission". Retrieved 12 September 2018.
  19. ↑ "Antares Launch Postponed to Oct. 28 – Orbital ATK". blogs.nasa.gov. Retrieved 12 September 2018.
  20. ↑ "Teams investigate failure of unmanned rocket off Virginia coast". CNN.
  21. ↑ Beutel, Allard (17 October 2016). "Orbital ATK Launches NASA Resupply Mission to Space Station". Retrieved 12 September 2018.
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