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Elon Musk: South Texas Launch Site More Likely
SpaceX Believes it Has Enough Business for 4 Launch Pads: California, Texas and 2 in Florida
by edward wright
A SpaceX launch site near Brownsville in South Texas is looking more likely, according to news reports.
Spaceflight Now quotes SpaceX founder Elon Musk saying, “I think Texas is looking increasingly likely,” although the final go-ahead is still dependent on environmental and regulatory approval.
According to Spaceflight Now, SpaceX believes it has enough business to justify four launch pads: two in Florida, and one each in Texas and California.
The Texas launch site would be dedicated to commercial launches, while NASA missions would continue to be launched out of Florida. SpaceX currently uses pad at Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station and is also bidding on Pad 39A, the former Apollo/Shuttle launch pad at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center.
California is the site for polar launches (including military missions) from Vandenberg Air Force Base.
SpaceX has nearly 50 missions scheduled over the five-year lease period it is seeking at Pad 39A. SpaceX believes this is sufficient to justify developing and maintaining four launch pads. This demand is based on both the Falcon 9 and proposed Falcon Heavy.
An interesting question is how the reusable Falcon 9R, now in development, would affect these pad requirements. The answer to that question is unknown to us and, we suspect, probably unknown to SpaceX.
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Source: http://moonandback.com/2013/11/17/elon-musk-south-texas-launch-site-more-likely/
