Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport
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 the Atlantic Ocean 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
The Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport has two active launch pads. A third was proposed, but never built.
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]
Launch | Date (UTC) | Vehicle | Payload | Launch pad | Result | Remarks |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | December 16, 2006 12:00 | Minotaur I | TacSat-2 / GeneSat-1 | Pad 0B | Success[11] | |
2 | April 24, 2007 06:48 | Minotaur I | NFIRE | Pad 0B | Success[11] | |
3 | August 22, 2008 09:10 | ALV X-1 | Hy-BoLT/SOAREX 6 | Pad 0B | Failure[12] | |
4 | May 19, 2009, 23:55 | Minotaur I | TacSat-3 | Pad 0B | Success | |
5 | June 30, 2011 03:09 | Minotaur I | USAF ORS-1 Satellite | Pad 0B | Success | |
6 | April 21, 2013 21:00 | Antares | Cygnus Mass Simulator | Pad 0A | Success[13] | |
7 | September 7, 2013, 03:27 | Minotaur V | LADEE mission to Lunar orbit | Pad 0B | Success | |
8 | September 18, 2013 14:58 | Antares | Cygnus Orb-D1 COTS Demo Mission | Pad 0A | Success[14] | |
9 | November 19, 2013, 20:15 | Minotaur I | ORS 3, STPSat3 | Pad 0B | Success | |
10 | January 9, 2014 18:07[15][16][17] | Antares | Cygnus CRS Orb-1 | Pad 0A | Success | First Cygnus ISS re-supply mission |
11 | July 13, 2014 16:52[18] | Antares | Cygnus CRS Orb-2 | Pad 0A | Success | ISS re-supply mission |
12 | October 28, 2014[19] | Antares | Cygnus CRS Orb-3 | Pad 0A | Failure[20] | Pad damaged by explosion and fire.[8] |
31 May 2016[8] | Antares (with new first-stage engine) | Cygnus CRS Orb-5 | Pad 0A (rebuilt) | ISS re-supply mission | Planned launch date was previously January 2015, as of June 2014[21][22] | |
October 4, 2016 | Antares (with new first-stage engine) | Cygnus CRS Orb-7 | Pad 0A (rebuilt) | ISS re-supply mission |
See also
- 2010 in spaceflight
- 2011 in spaceflight
- 2012 in spaceflight
- 2013 in spaceflight
- 2014 in spaceflight
- Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport Launch Pad 0
- Orbital Sciences Corporation
References
- ↑ Wade, Mark. "Wallops Island LA0A". Encyclopedia Astronautica. Retrieved 2009-01-21.
- ↑ "Launch Tower Demolition". GMB. Retrieved 2009-01-21.
- 1 2 Kyle, Ed (2011-05-14). "Taurus 2". Space Launch Report. Retrieved 2011-12-19.
- ↑ "Facilities". Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport. Archived from the original on October 16, 2008. Retrieved 2009-01-21.
- ↑ "Launch Pad 0-B" (PDF). Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport. Archived from the original (PDF) on July 4, 2008. Retrieved 2009-01-21.
- ↑ Wade, Mark. "Wallops Island LA0 HAD". Encyclopedia Astronautica. Retrieved 2009-01-21.
- ↑ Botelho, Gerg. "Unmanned NASA-contracted rocket explodes; damage is 'significant'". CNN. Retrieved 2014-10-28.
- 1 2 3 Foust, Jeff (2014-11-21). "Virginia May Seek Federal Funds for Wallops Spaceport Repairs". Space News. Retrieved 2014-12-01.
- ↑ 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.
- ↑ "Completion Of Repairs at the Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport Launch Pad 0A". vaspace.org. September 30, 2015.
- 1 2 3 Wade, Mark. "Wallops Island LA0B". Encyclopedia Astronautica. Retrieved 2011-12-19.
- ↑ Tennant, Diane (22 Aug 2008). "NASA destroys rocket shortly after launch at Wallops Island". Virginian-Pilot. Retrieved 2 November 2014.
- ↑ http://www.universetoday.com/101502/antares-maiden-soar-pierces-virginia-sky-and-delivers-nasa-smartphone-pioneer-nanosats-to-orbit/
- ↑ Clark, Stephen. "Antares launches private mission to space station". Spaceflightnow.com.
- ↑ http://www.nasaspaceflight.com/2014/01/orbitals-antares-loft-cygnus-orb-1-mission/
- ↑ http://www.orbital.com/newsinfo/missionupdates/orb-1/
- ↑ http://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/nmc/spacecraftOrbit.do?id=2014-003A
- ↑ http://www.nasa.gov/press/2014/july/nasa-cargo-launches-to-space-station-aboard-orbital-sciences-resupply-mission/
- ↑
- ↑ "Teams investigate failure of unmanned rocket off Virginia coast". CNN.
- ↑ "Worldwide launch schedule". spaceflightnow.com. Retrieved 13 December 2013.
- ↑ "ISS Calendar". Spaceflight101. Retrieved 21 June 2014.
External links
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport Pad 0A, |
- Map: 37°50′36″N 75°28′41″W / 37.84333°N 75.47806°WCoordinates: 37°50′36″N 75°28′41″W / 37.84333°N 75.47806°W
- Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport web site
- Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport Implementation Plan, April 2004
- Wallops Flight Facility site
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