Commercial Space

Transportation

2006 Commercial

Space Transportation

Developments and Concepts: 

Vehicles, Technologies

and Spaceports

January 2006

HQ003606.INDD
2006 U.S. Commercial Space Transportation Developments and Concepts About FAA/AST

Federal Aviation Administration Office of Commercial Space Transportation i

The Federal Aviation Administration’s Office of Commercial Space Transportation (FAA/AST) licenses

and regulates U.S. commercial space launch and reentry activity, as well as the operation of non-federal

launch and reentry sites, as authorized by Executive Order 12465 and Title 49 United States Code, Subtitle

IX, Chapter 701 (formerly the Commercial Space Launch Act). FAA/AST’s mission is to ensure public health

and safety and the safety of property while protecting the national security and foreign policy interests of the

United States during commercial launch and reentry operations. In addition, FAA/AST is directed to encourage, facilitate, and promote commercial space launches and reentries. Additional information concerning

commercial space transportation can be found on FAA/AST’s web site at http://ast.faa.gov.

About the Office of Commercial Space Transportation
About FAA/AST 2006 U.S. Commercial Space Transportation Developments and Concepts

ii Federal Aviation Administration Office of Commercial Space Transportation

NOTICE

Use of trade names or names of manufacturers in this document does not constitute an official endorsement of such

products or manufacturers, either expressed or implied, by the Federal Aviation Administration.
Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1

Significant 2005 Events . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .4

Space Competitions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .6

Expendable Launch Vehicles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .9

Current Expendable Launch Vehicle Systems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .9

Atlas 5 - Lockheed Martin Corporation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .9

Delta 2 - The Boeing Company . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .10

Delta 4 - The Boeing Company . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .11

Minotaur - Orbital Sciences Corporation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .11

Pegasus - Orbital Sciences Corporation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .11

Taurus - Orbital Sciences Corporation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .12

Titan 4 - Lockheed Martin Corporation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .12

Zenit 3SL - Sea Launch Company, LLC . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .12

ELV Development Efforts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .13

Aquarius - Space Systems/Loral . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .13

Eagle S-series - E’Prime Aerospace Corporation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .13

FALCON SLV - Lockheed Martin . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .14

Nanosat Launch Vehicle - Garvey Spacecraft Corporation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .14

Eagle SLV - Microcosm, Inc. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .15

QuickReach - AirLaunch, LLC . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .16

SLC-1 - Space Launch Corporation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .16

Zenit 3SLB - Sea Launch Company, LLC, and Space International Services . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .16

NASA Exploration Launch Vehicles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .17

Sounding Rockets . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .17

Black Brant - Bristol Aerospace Limited (a Magellan Aerospace Company) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .17

Oriole - DTI Associates . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .17

Terrier-Orion - DTI Associates . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .18

Hybrid Sounding Rocket Program - Lockheed Martin-Michoud . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .18

Norwegian Sounding Rocket Program - Lockheed Martin-Michoud . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .18

Reusable Launch Vehicles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .19

Commercial RLV Development Efforts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .19

Altairis - AeraSpaceTours . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .19

Black Armadillo - Armadillo Aerospace . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .19

New Shepard - Blue Origin . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .20

Sea Star - Interorbital Systems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .20

Neptune - Interorbital Systems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .20

K-1 - Kistler Aerospace Corporation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .21

Rocketplane XP - Rocketplane, Inc. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .22

SpaceShipOne - Scaled Composites, LLC . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .22

SpaceShipTwo - Scaled Composites, LLC/Virgin Galactic . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .23

Dream Chaser - SpaceDev . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .23

Falcon 1 - Space Exploration Technologies Corporation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .24

Falcon 5 - Space Exploration Technologies Corporation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .24

Falcon 9 - Space Exploration Technologies Corporation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .24

Michelle-B - TGV Rockets, Inc. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .25

Xerus - XCOR Aerospace . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .25

Government RLV Development Efforts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .25

Space Shuttle . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .26

Affordable Responsive Spacelift . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .26

Reentry Vehicles and In-Space Technology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .27

2006 U.S. Commercial Space Transportation Developments and Concepts Contents

Federal Aviation Administration Office of Commercial Space Transportation iii

Table of Contents
CEV Competition . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .27

Lockheed Martin . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .27

Northrop Grumman-Boeing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .27

ISS Resupply and Construction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .28

Lockheed Martin . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .28

SPACEHAB . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .28

Transformational Space Corporation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .29

Enabling Technologies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .30

Launch Vehicle Avionics–SpaceDev, Inc. and Microcosm, Inc. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .30

Air Launch t/Space and Scaled Composites . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .30

Air Launch Method–AirLaunch LLC . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .31

Cryogenic Composite Tanks–Northrop Grumman and XCOR Aerospace . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .31

Liquid RCS Thruster–Orion Propulsion, Inc. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .32

Liquid Engines–Orbital Technologies Corporation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .33

Liquid Engines–AirLaunch LLC . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .33

Liquid Engines–Space Exploration Technologies Corporation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .33

Liquid Engines–XCOR Aerospace . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .34

Liquid Engines–Microcosm, Inc. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .34

Liquid Engines–MB-XX–Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .35

Aerospike Liquid Engine–Garvey Spacecraft Corporation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .35

Integrated Powerhead Demonstrator–NASA . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .36

Hybrid Rocket Motors–SpaceDev, Inc. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .37

Hybrid Propulsion Systems–Lockheed Martin-Michoud . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .37

Hyper-X Series Vehicles–NASA . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .37

Propellant Production–Andrews Space, Inc. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .38

Spaceports . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .40

Non-Federal Spaceports with FAA/AST Licenses . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .40

California Spaceport . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .41

Kodiak Launch Complex . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .43

Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .44

Mojave Airport . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .46

Spaceport Operated by Florida Space Authority . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .47

Federal Spaceports . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .48

Cape Canaveral Air Force Station . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .48

Edwards Air Force Base . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .50

NASA Kennedy Space Center . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .50

Reagan Test Site . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .51

Vandenberg Air Force Base . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .51

Wallops Flight Facility . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .52

White Sands Missile Range . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .53

Proposed Non-federal Spaceports . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .54

Gulf Coast Regional Spaceport . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .54

Oklahoma Spaceport . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .54

South Texas Spaceport . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .56

Southwest Regional Spaceport . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .56

Spaceport Alabama . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .57

Spaceport Washington . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .58

West Texas Spaceport . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .58

Wisconsin Spaceport . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .59

Endnotes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .61

Photo Credits . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .63

Contents 2006 U.S. Commercial Space Transportation Developments and Concepts

iv Federal Aviation Administration Office of Commercial Space Transportation
2006 U.S. Commercial Space Transportation Developments and Concepts Acronyms

Federal Aviation Administration Office of Commercial Space Transportation v

AADC – Alaska Aerospace Development

Corporation

ACES – Air Collection and Enrichment System 

AFB – Air Force Base 

AFFTC – Air Force Flight Test Center

AFRL – Air Force Research Laboratory 

APO – Announcement of Partnership Opportunities 

ARES – Affordable Responsive Spacelift

ASAT – Amateur Spaceflight Association

AST – Office of Commercial Space Transportation

ATV – Automated Transfer Vehicle

BLS – Boeing Launch Services

C/NOFS – Communication/Navigation Outage

Forecasting System

CAIB – Columbia Accident Investigation Board

CALVEIN – California Launch Vehicle Initiative

CCAFS – Cape Canaveral Air Force Station

CEV – Crew Exploration Vehicle

CONUS – Continental United States

COTS – Commercial Off-The-Shelf

CRV – Crew Rescue Vehicle

CSIA – Clinton-Sherman Industrial Airpark

CSULB – California State University, Long Beach

CTV – Crew Transfer Vehicle 

CXV – Crew Transfer Vehicle (t/Space)

DARPA – Defense Advanced Research Projects

Agency

DART – Demonstration of Autonomous

Rendezvous Technology

DoD – U.S. Department of Defense

EAFB – Edwards Air Force Base

EELV – Evolved Expendable Launch Vehicle

ELTR – Eastern Launch and Test Range

EIS – Environmental Impact Statement

ELV – Expendable Launch Vehicle

ERV – Expendable Rocket Vehicle 

ESR&T – Exploration Systems Research and

Technology

FAA – Federal Aviation Administration 

FALCON – Force Application and Launch from

CONUS 

FDOT – Florida Department of Transportation

FIRST – Future Interagency Range and Spaceport

Technology

FSA – Florida Space Authority

FTP – Florida Transportation Plan

GCRSDC – Gulf Coast Regional Spaceport

Development Corporation

GEM – Graphite Epoxy Motor

GEO – Geosynchronous Earth Orbit

GPS/INS – Global Positioning System/Inertial

Navigation System

GSC – Garvey Spacecraft Corporation

GTO – Geosynchronous Transfer Orbit 

HTHL – Horizontal Takeoff, Horizontal Landing

HTPB – Hydroxyl Terminated Polybutadiene

HX – Hydrocarbon X

HYSR – Hybrid Sounding Rocket

ICBM – Intercontinental Ballistic Missile

ILS – International Launch Services

IOS – Interorbital Systems

IPD – Integrated Powerhead Demonstrator

IPF – Integrated Processing Facility

ISS – International Space Station

List of Acronyms
ISTP – Integrated Space Transportation Plan

ITAR – International Traffic in Arms Regulations

JSC – Johnson Space Center

KLC – Kodiak Launch Complex

KSC – Kennedy Space Center

LAP – Launch Assist Platform

LC – Launch Complex

LEO – Low Earth Orbit

LFF – Liquid Fueling Facility

LNG – Liquid Natural Gas

LOX – Liquid Oxygen

MARS – Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport

MAV – Mojave Aerospace Ventures

MDA – Missile Defense Agency

MEMS – Microelectromechanical Systems 

MEO – Medium Earth Orbit

MIPCC – Mass Injected Pre-Compressor Cooling

MPV – MIPCC-Powered Vehicle

MSFC – Marshall Space Flight Center

MSLV – Microsatellite Launch Vehicle

MTA – Mojave Test Area

NASA – National Aeronautics and Space

Administration

NAWC – Naval Air Warfare Center

NCSS – National Coalition of Spaceport States

NGLT – Next Generation Launch Technology

NLV – Nanosat Launch Vehicle

NRO – National Reconnaissance Office

NTPS – National Test Pilot School

ORS – Operationally Responsive Spacelift

OSIDA – Oklahoma Space Industry Development

Authority

OSP – Orbital Space Plane

PDR – Preliminary Design Review 

QRLV – Quick Reaction Launch Vehicle

R&D – Research and Development

RASCAL – Responsive Access, Small Cargo,

Affordable Launch

RCS – Reaction Control Systems

RFI – Request for Information

RLV – Reusable Launch Vehicle 

RP-1 – Rocket Propellant 1

RSTS – Range Safety and Telemetry System

RTS – Reagan Test Site

SBIR – Small Business Innovation Research

SLC – Space Launch Complex

SLEP – Service Life Extension Program

SLI – Space Launch Initiative

SLV – Small Launch Vehicle

SRS – Southwest Regional Spaceport

SSI – Spaceport Systems International, L.P.

SSME – Space Shuttle Main Engine

SSO – Sun-synchronous Orbit

STS – Space Transportation System

TCP/IP – Transmission Control Protocol/Internet

Protocol

TSTO – Two-Stage-To-Orbit

UAV – Unmanned Aerial Vehicle

USAF – U.S. Air Force

VAFB – Vandenberg Air Force Base

VCSFA – Virginia Commercial Space Flight

Authority

WAA – Wisconsin Aerospace Authority

WFF – Wallops Flight Facility

WFNA – White Fuming Nitric Acid

WSMR – White Sands Missile Range

Acronyms 2006 U.S. Commercial Space Transportation Developments and Concepts

vi Federal Aviation Administration Office of Commercial Space Transportation
2006 U.S. Commercial Space Transportation Developments and Concepts Introduction

Federal Aviation Administration Office of Commercial Space Transportation 1

In 2005, the commercial space industry built on the

giant leaps forward of the previous year, making

steady progress toward promising launch vehicles,

improved technologies, and responsive spacelift

capabilities that will serve both commercial and

government needs. No new vehicles entered 

service, but rapid development continued and it

appeared certain that the Falcon 1, built by Space

Exploration Technologies Corporation (SpaceX),

would soon make its launch debut. Meanwhile, the

United States Department of Defense (DoD),

through a host of initiatives, continued to fund

development of new vehicle families that will be

able to launch quickly and cheaply, and be versatile

enough to satisfy military and commercial customers. Finally, prospects for suborbital space

tourism appeared stronger than ever as companies

invested in vehicles and spaceports, gained regulatory approval, explored business models, and laid

the groundwork to commence commercial operation before the end of the decade.

This report explores these themes, as well 

as the major events that defined U.S. commercial

space transportation in 2005. It showcases current

and planned U.S. commercial or commerciallyoriented activities. In 1998, when the Federal Aviation

Administration Office of Commercial Space

Transportation (FAA/AST) first published U.S.

Commercial Space Transportation Developments

and Concepts: Vehicles, Technologies, and

Spaceports, the report only focused on reusable

launch vehicles (RLVs). The commercial launch

landscape has changed significantly since then, and

accordingly, this report addresses space competitions, expendable launch vehicles (ELVs), enabling

technologies such as propulsion and launch configurations, and the evolving array of U.S. spaceports.

Whether new developments are highly publicized occurrences or gradual changes, commercial

space transportation remains a dynamic industry.

Providing a well-rounded understanding of today’s

commercial launch sector requires examining a

broad range of topics. Information presented in this

report was compiled from open sources and through

direct communication with academic, federal, civil,

and corporate organizations. Because many of the

statements herein are forward-looking, the most current information should be obtained by contacting

the organizations mentioned in this report directly.

Space Competitions

Excitement over the 2004 success of Scaled

Composites’ SpaceShipOne in winning the Ansari 

X Prize persisted in 2005, even though no manned

suborbital launches immediately followed. However,

the X Prize Foundation continued to encourage

innovation in what it has termed the emerging 

“personal spaceflight industry” through a new contest known as the X Prize Cup. The X Prize Cup

will be an annual event in New Mexico, slated to

officially kickoff in the near future. It will provide

cash prizes to vehicle developers who achieve 

milestones such as fastest launch turnaround time,

maximum altitude, and fastest speed record. The

purpose is to provide a tangible financial incentive

for technological competition and inspire public

interest in commercial spaceflight. To that end, in

October 2005 the X Prize Foundation held an expo

in New Mexico, “The Countdown to the X Prize

Cup,” featuring vehicle prototypes and technology

demonstrators.

Robert Bigelow of Bigelow Aerospace has

also proposed a commercial space competition:

America’s Space Prize. The $50-million prize, valid

through January 10, 2010, challenges U.S. entrants

to produce a privately funded, reusable vehicle

capable of carrying at least five people into two

consecutive 400-kilometer (240-mile) orbits, and

repeating the feat within 60 days. No such vehicle

has yet emerged. 

In 2004, NASA also entered the space 

competition arena with its Centennial Challenges

program, which reflects NASA’s goal of returning

to the Moon by 2020. The challenges will award

cash prizes for technologies contributing to an orbital

crew transport vehicle, cryogenic storage and transfer

devices for in-space propellant provisioning, and

the launch of a small lunar lander that could carry 

a certain amount of weight to the Moon at a 

fraction of the current cost.

Introduction
Expendable Launch Vehicle Industry

2005 saw a decline in U.S. commercial launch

activity compared to 2004. In 2004, FAA/AST

licensed nine orbital launches and five suborbital

SpaceShipOne launches. In 2005, it licensed only five

commercial orbital launches-four Zenit 3SLs, marketed by Sea Launch through Boeing Launch Services

(BLS), and one Atlas 5, built by Lockheed Martin

and marketed by International Launch Services (ILS).

Additionally, two ELVs-Lockheed Martin’s Atlas 3

and Titan 4-were retired from service in 2005.

Despite these numbers, several companies

continued to develop new ELV concepts in 2005,

including Space System Loral’s Aquarius, E’Prime

Aerospace’s Eaglet, Lockheed Martin’s FALCON

SLV, Garvey Spacecraft Corporation’s Nanosat

Launch Vehicle, Microcosm’s Eagle, AirLaunch

LLC’s QuickReach, and Sea Launch’s upgraded

Zenit 3SLB “Land Launch” vehicle. Most of these

designs focus on the small payload market, so the

success of these vehicles may rely on the ability to

reduce launch costs enough to enable new markets.

Reusable Launch Vehicle Industry

At year’s end, the RLV concept closest to

fruition—SpaceX’s partially reusable Falcon 1

vehicle—appeared poised for its maiden launch.

The outcome of this launch may affect the business

and design plans of other proposed orbital RLVs,

including Interorbital System’s Sea Star and

Neptune, TGV Rocket’s Michelle-B, and XCOR

Aerospace’s Xerus.

Parallel to private RLV development efforts,

DoD initiatives such as Operationally Responsive

Spacelift (ORS) have resulted in the Defense

Advanced Research Program Agency (DARPA)

Force Application and Launch from Continental

United States (FALCON) program, as well as the

Affordable Responsive Spacelift (ARES) vehicle.

The ARES vehicle would feature a reusable flyback lower stage to minimize launch costs. The Air

Force expects to develop a prototype by 2010.

2005 saw sustained interest in suborbital RLVs,

as the U.S. State Department paved the regulatory

way for Britain’s Virgin Galactic to join the U.S.

firm Scaled Composites in forming The Spaceship

Company, which will develop SpaceShipTwo, the

commercial version of SpaceShipOne. Other

would-be suborbital RLVs, including AERA’s

Altairis, Armadillo Aerospace’s Black Armadillo,

Blue Origin’s New Shepard, and Rocketplane’s

Rocketplane XP remain under development.

Enabling Technologies

NASA and DoD needs remained the primary

driver of enabling technology development in 2005.

NASA’s need for ISS resupply solutions absent the

Space Shuttle, as well as new capabilities for the

proposed Moon and Mars missions, facilitated

development of the Crew Exploration Vehicle (CEV).

In June, NASA narrowed the number of potential

CEV developers from eight teams to two—Lockheed

Martin and a Northrop Grumman-Boeing collaboration. Meanwhile, NASA sought crewed, reentry,

automated transfer, and ISS maintenance vehicle

design concepts from t/Space, SPACEHAB, and

Lockheed Martin, among others.

The DoD’s ORS and DARPA FALCON 

initiatives continued to inspire efforts among engineering firms and vehicle manufacturers to develop

more powerful propulsion systems, more efficient

engines, and more advanced cryogenic fuel tanks.

Spaceports

In 2005, existing federal and non-federal

spaceports sought to expand their capabilities to

entice an emerging commercial responsive and 

suborbital space tourism market. Most notably,

California’s Mojave Airport (an FAA-licensed

spaceport) received $7.5 million from the FAA to

extend its runway to accommodate horizontal RLV

landings, and the Florida Space Authority (FSA)

took the first steps toward establishing a commercial responsive spaceport in Florida.

Of several proposed spaceports, sites in 

Texas and New Mexico made the most progress. 

In January, Blue Origin, a space tourism company

run by Amazon.com founder Jeff Bezos, announced

plans to construct a test range for its proposed New

Shepard launch vehicle near Van Horn in West

Texas. In December, Virgin Galactic reached a 

20-year lease agreement for use of a New Mexico

spaceport scheduled to begin service in 2008 or 2009.

Introduction 2006 U.S. Commercial Space Transportation Developments and Concepts

2 Federal Aviation Administration Office of Commercial Space Transportation
Finally, all spaceport planning occurred

against the backdrop of NASA, the DoD, and the

FAA’s Future Interagency Range and Spaceport

Technology (FIRST) initiative. The FIRST initiative seeks to transform U.S. space transportation 

by making spaceports more like airports: similarly

designed, operationally flexible, safe, low-cost, and

able to accommodate routine takeoffs and landings.

2006 U.S. Commercial Space Transportation Developments and Concepts Introduction

Federal Aviation Administration Office of Commercial Space Transportation 3
January 13: Blue Origin, the commercial space

transportation company founded by Jeff Bezos,

unveils plans to establish a rocket test range near

Van Horn in West Texas for its planned threeperson suborbital space tourism vehicle.

February 3: Lockheed Martin’s final Atlas 3 rocket

launches the classified NOSS F3 payload for the

U.S. Air Force (USAF) from Cape Canaveral Air

Force Station (CCAFS), Florida.

February 8: The X Prize Foundation announces

that eleven suborbital vehicle developers have

agreed to form an industry federation, known as the

Voluntary Personal Spaceflight Industry Consensus

Organization, to establish safety standards and promote space tourism.

February 11: FAA/AST unveils “Draft Guidelines

for Commercial Suborbital Reusable Launch

Vehicle Operations with Space Flight Participants”

and “Guidelines for Commercial Suborbital

Reusable Launch Vehicle Operations with Flight

Crew.” These guidelines include measures designed

to ensure safety and security while enabling further

space commercialization.

February 28: A Sea Launch Zenit 3SL rocket

launches the XM 3 communications satellite from

Odyssey platform, Pacific Ocean (154° West, 

0° North).

March 4: The USAF lifts the 20-month contracting

suspension it placed on Boeing in 2003 for ethics

violations against Lockheed Martin in the contract

bid process.

March 11: Lockheed Martin’s Atlas 5 rocket

launches the Inmarsat-4 F1 communications 

satellite from CCAFS.

April 26: A Sea Launch Zenit 3SL rocket launches

the Spaceway 1 communications satellite from

Odyssey platform, Pacific Ocean.

May 2: The USAF awards Space Exploration

Technologies Corp. (SpaceX) a $100 million indefinite delivery/indefinite quantity contract to provide

responsive small spacelift services through 2010.

May 9: The USAF awards Orbital Sciences

Corporation a contract to develop the Raptor 1 and

Raptor 2 rapid responsive spacelift vehicles. The

Raptor 1 will be a winged three-stage air-launched

rocket.

May 11: The AERA Corporation announces plans

to begin commercial service on its Altairis suborbital space tourism vehicle from CCAFS in 2007.

June 13: NASA narrows the field of potential 

Crew Exploration Vehicle (CEV) manufacturers

from eight to two, awarding $28 million contracts

to Lockheed Martin and a Northrop GrummanBoeing team to complete final design and development of a CEV prototype. Selection of a single

industry team is expected in 2006.

June 21: NASA Administrator Mike Griffin formally advocates commercializing International

Space Station (ISS) supply efforts, and announces

NASA will spend $500 million to develop a

requirements-driven vehicle procurement process.

June 23: A Sea Launch Zenit 3SL rocket launches

the Intelsat Americas 8 communications satellite

from Odyssey platform, Pacific Ocean.

July 26: Shuttle Discovery returns to flight as the

STS 114 mission successfully lifts off from Kennedy

Space Center in the first NASA human spaceflight

since the February 1, 2003 Columbia accident.

Despite fears that thermal insulation tiles were

damaged during the launch, the Shuttle lands 

without incident on August 9.

August 10: Space Adventures, the private company

that has sent three tourists to the ISS, unveils plans

to develop a commercial space tourism service to

loop around the Moon by 2010.

August 15: The U.S. Department of State Directorate

of Trade Controls approves the exchange of technical information between the American company

Scaled Composites and Britain’s Virgin Galactic,

formally clearing the way for their space tourism

joint-enterprise, The Spaceship Company.

Significant 2004 Events 2006 U.S. Commercial Space Transportation Developments and Concepts

4 Federal Aviation Administration Office of Commercial Space Transportation

Significant 2005 Events
September 8: SpaceX announces plans to develop

a third Falcon vehicle, Falcon 9, in addition to its

Falcon 1 and Falcon 5 variants. Falcon 9 will be a

heavy-lift booster competing with the Atlas 5 and

Delta 4 Evolved Expendable Launch Vehicles

(EELVs).

September 19: NASA Administrator Mike Griffin

announces a $104-billion plan to return up to four

U.S. astronauts to the Moon by 2018. The plan calls

for the CEV to be fully operational no later than

2014.

October 1: The Soyuz ISS 11S mission lifts off

from Baikonur carrying the third space tourist,

Gregory Olsen, who paid $20 million for the orbital

flight. Soyuz ISS 11S successfully returns to Earth

on October 11.

October 4: The X Prize Foundation kicks off 

“The Countdown to the X Prize Cup” in Las

Cruces, New Mexico, an expo showcasing private

space vehicle developments and technologies. The

Expo was a prelude to the future introduction of the

X Prize Cup, a competition aimed at giving the private “personal spaceflight industry” incentives to

achieve new technical milestones.

October 19: Lockheed Martin’s final Titan 4 rocket

launches a classified National Reconnaissance

Office (NRO) payload from Vandenberg Air Force

Base (VAFB), California.

November 2: AirLaunch LLC announces it has

been awarded a one-year, $17.8 million contract 

to further develop its QuickReach launch vehicle

concept under Phase 2B of the Defense Advanced

Research Projects Agency (DARPA) Force

Application and Launch from CONtinental 

United States. (FALCON) program.

November 8: A Sea Launch Zenit 3SL rocket

launches the Inmarsat-4 F2 communications satellite

from Odyssey platform, Pacific Ocean.

December 6: NASA solicits proposals for commercial ISS cargo resupply after 2010, when the Shuttle

is due to retire. Several companies are expected 

to submit proposals, including AirLaunch LLC,

Andrews Space, Bigelow Aerospace, Constellation

Services International, Rocketplane, SpaceDev,

SPACEHAB, SpaceX, and Universal Space Lines.

Contracts are expected to be awarded in May 2006.

December 13: Virgin Galactic reaches a 20-year

lease agreement to use a new spaceport planned in

New Mexico for the first flights of its suborbital

space tourism service, scheduled for 2008 or 2009.

The $225 million spaceport will mostly be funded

by the New Mexico and federal governments. Virgin

Galactic will pay fees of $1 million during each of

the first five years of operation, and a larger undisclosed amount after that.

Virgin Galactic also reveals that 38,000 people

from 126 countries have paid a deposit on a space

tourism flight, including 100 passengers who have

already paid the $200,000 price in full.

2006 U.S. Commercial Space Transportation Developments and Concepts Significant 2004 Events

Federal Aviation Administration Office of Commercial Space Transportation 5
Competitions are recognized mechanisms to drive

innovation in commercial industries. The success

and popularity of the Ansari X Prize, won in 2004,

and other technology competitions have led to the

establishment of three major competitions in the

space industry to increase the level of innovation in

governmental and non-governmental space programs.

The end goal of these competitions is to have commercial space launch (and other commercial space

capabilities) available for use at lower cost, better

quality, and more efficient operations than the

options currently available. The competitions currently ongoing are the X Prize Cup, America’s

Space Prize, and Centennial Challenges.

X Prize Cup

Before the competition for the Ansari X Prize

ended, the founders of that challenge decided to

establish the X Prize Cup. This new competition

will be an annual event in New Mexico, officially

beginning in 2006, to advance new concepts and

technologies that enable commercial human spaceflight by providing awards and cash prizes. A secondary priority for the competition is to promote

education and awareness in the general population

about advancements in spaceflight technology. The

public will have the opportunity to interact with

pioneers in the aerospace industry who are working

to reduce the cost and increase the safety and viability of commercial human space travel and view

mockups of several planned launch vehicles. For

the annual competition, teams will compete in several categories of human spaceflight to win the

overall X Prize Cup. These categories include:

fastest turnaround time between the first launch and

second landing, maximum number of passengers

per launch, total number of passengers during the

competition, maximum altitude, and fastest flight

time. The first competition, a kickoff event called

the Countdown to the X Prize Cup, occurred on

October 9, 2005 at Las Cruces International Airport,

New Mexico. Technology demonstrations that took

place during the Personal Spaceflight Expo at the

Countdown to the X Prize Cup included:

· Armadillo Aerospace demonstrated its

unmanned vertical-takeoff, vertical-landing

vehicle once, with a mishap upon landing that

prevented further test flights.

· Starchaser Industries test fired a Churchill

MK2 engine, the engine’s ninth test fire. The

test resulted in an explosion, but caused only

minor damage to the engine.

· XCOR Aerospace successfully flew its EZRocket plane (pictured below) twice, piloted

by former astronaut Richard Searfoss. The EZRocket is the precursor to the Mark-1 X-Racer

that will be used in the newly-announced

Rocket Racing League (a competitive racing

series that will debut in an exhibition race at

the 2006 X Prize Cup and will help mature

the rocket technologies that XCOR created).

Other rocket demonstrations—three Tripoli

sounding rocket flights—were unable to launch

because of poor weather conditions. The Southwest

Regional Spaceport (SRS) in New Mexico, which

has yet to be constructed, will be the official site for

the full X Prize Cup event. Until the SRS is completed, Las Cruces International Airport will be

used to host the event, which will take place over

two days in October 2006.

Space Competitions 2006 U.S. Commercial Space Transportation Developments and Concepts

6 Federal Aviation Administration Office of Commercial Space Transportation

Space Competitions

XCOR EZ-Rocket
America’s Space Prize

Bigelow Aerospace and its founder, Robert

Bigelow, have proposed a commercial spaceflight

competition: America’s Space Prize. This prize

challenges entities within the United States to design

a reusable vehicle, without government funding,

capable of carrying passengers into orbit, with the

eventual goal of bringing humans to Bigelow

Aerospace’s inflatable space modules (pictured

above). According to the rules, competitors will

have to build a spacecraft capable of taking a crew

of no fewer than five people to an altitude of 400

kilometers (240 miles) and complete two orbits of

the Earth at that altitude. They must then repeat that

accomplishment within 60 days. The first flight

does not need to carry any passengers, but the second must carry a full crew. The vehicles will have

to demonstrate the ability to dock with Bigelow’s

inflatable modules and stay docked for at least six

months. Bigelow Aerospace plans to have a full-scale

module orbiting Earth by 2008 at the earliest, which

could be used to demonstrate docking capabilities.

The competition deadline is January 10, 2010 with

a cash prize of $50 million, funded fully by

Bigelow Aerospace.

Centennial Challenges

NASA has implemented its concept for space

technology advancement competitions, bringing

important government support to commercial spaceflight development. The Centennial Challenges 

program creates specialized competitions that will

further the exploration of space through specific

technological development beyond the usual federal

procurement process. NASA held a workshop in

June 2004 to gather proposals for competitions to

include in the Centennial Challenges. The challenges

are organized into four categories as shown in 

Table 1.

The first of these challenges was announced

in March 2005 in partnership with the Spaceward

Foundation. These Challenges include tether and

beam power technologies with prize money totaling

$400,000. Since then three other challenges have

been created: the Moon Regolith Oxygen Challenge,

the Astronaut Glove Challenge, and the Regolith

Excavation Challenge. All of these current challenges

are Alliance Challenges that promote future exploration equipment.

For fiscal year 2005, the total budget outlay for

the Centennial Challenges program was $20 million.

As part of the budget, there was a limit on the amount

of prize money to be awarded: NASA was restricted

to a $250,000 maximum amount for individual

prizes. This prize cap limited the sophistication of

the challenges, but the 2005 NASA Authorization

Act is likely to authorize greater prize amounts. This

potential legislative change will allow for more

ambitious competitions to develop advanced 

technologies.

2006 U.S. Commercial Space Transportation Developments and Concepts Space Competitions

Federal Aviation Administration Office of Commercial Space Transportation 7

Bigelow Aerospace inflatable space modules

Competition Type Purpose Prize Value

Flagship Challenge Encourage major private space missions $10-40 million per prize

Keystone Challenge Address technology priorities $250,000-3 million per prize

Alliance Challenge Leverage partnerships $100,000-250,000 per prize

Quest Challenge Promote math and science education and 

careers

Up to $1 million total for Quest 

program

Table 1: Centennial Challenges Competitions
While launch vehicles were not a large part of

the initial prize competitions, NASA signed a letter

of intent with the X Prize Foundation in October

2005 that would create two competitions for launch

vehicle technologies, pending the formulation of

prize rules and Congressional authorization to

award prizes larger than $250,000. Both of these

launch vehicle technology competitions intend to

have payoffs much greater than the current

Centennial Challenges. The first competition, the

Suborbital Payload (or X Cup Altitude) Challenge,

is to reward development of a reusable suborbital

launch vehicle that can carry a payload to sufficient

altitudes for conducting space experiments. This

challenge is to provide NASA researchers with a

vehicle that can fly much higher than was required

for the original X Prize. The second competition,

the Suborbital Lunar Landing Analog Challenge,

will promote development of reusable suborbital

vertical takeoff, vertical landing vehicles that can

reach certain to-be-determined speeds in order to

mimic the technology needed to land and take off

from the Moon. Through this competition, NASA

hopes to increase the quantity and quality of available engines and landing systems for the agency’s

return to the Moon.

There are also three potential future

Centennial Challenges that could benefit commercial spaceflight technology. These would create

competitions for an orbital crew transport vehicle,

cryogenic storage and transfer technologies for inspace propellant provisioning, and the launch of a

small lunar lander that could carry a certain amount

of weight to the Moon at a fraction of the current

cost. Current and future Centennial Challenges will

increase the technological base in the space industry to benefit NASA and commercial entities, by

promoting competition between developers and

providing significant monetary rewards.

Space Competitions 2006 U.S. Commercial Space Transportation Developments and Concepts

8 Federal Aviation Administration Office of Commercial Space Transportation
This survey of U.S. ELVs is divided into three sections. The first section reviews the ELVs currently

available to serve a wide range of commercial and

government payloads. The second section reviews a

number of proposed commercial ELVs under study

or development that will primarily serve small commercial payloads at prices that are potentially much

lower than available today. The final section reviews

suborbital sounding rockets manufactured and 

operated by U.S. companies.

Current Expendable Launch Vehicle

Systems

Table 2 lists the ELV systems available in the

United States today. Two ELVs, the Minotaur and

Titan 4B, are restricted to government payloads, and

Boeing is currently marketing the Delta 4 only to

government customers. Once the final Titan 4 vehicle

is launched, all large U.S. government payloads will

be launched on Atlas 5 or Delta 4 variants. Atlas 5,

Delta 2, Pegasus, and Taurus vehicles are available

for both commercial and U.S. government launches,

and the Zenit 3SL is available only to commercial

customers. The two newest members of the U.S.

launcher supply, the Atlas 5 and Delta 4 Evolved

Expendable Launch Vehicles (EELV), debuted in

2002.

Atlas 5 - Lockheed Martin Corporation

The Atlas launch vehicle family

traces its roots to the development of the Atlas Intercontinental

Ballistic Missile (ICBM) in the

1950s. Today, the Atlas family

has completed a transition, 

retiring the older Atlas 2 and 3

in favor of the Atlas 5. The last

Atlas 2AS launched in 2004

(giving the Atlas 2AS family 

the remarkable record of 63 

successful launches without a

failure). The last Atlas 3 launch

took place in 2005.1

The maiden flight of the Atlas 5 took place on

August 21, 2002, when an Atlas 5 401 vehicle successfully launched the Eutelsat Hot Bird 6 spacecraft from CCAFS. The Atlas 5 is now Lockheed

Martin’s sole commercial launch vehicle for the

foreseeable future. The Atlas 5 family of launch

vehicles is based on a common first stage design—

known as the Common Core BoosterTM–—and uses

the NPO Energomash RD-180 engine introduced on

the Atlas 3. The stretched version of the Centaur

upper stage, introduced on the Atlas 3B, is also used

on single- and dual-engine versions of the Atlas 5. 

The Atlas 5 also marks a significant departure

in launch preparations compared to previous Atlas

versions. The Atlas 5 program uses a “clean pad”

concept at Launch Complex (LC) 41 at CCAFS.

The launch vehicle is prepared for launch “off pad”

vertically in the Vertical Integration Facility near

the pad. Hours before a launch, the fully-prepared

vehicle is moved to the pad. The Atlas 5 will also

launch from LC-3E at VAFB beginning in 2006,

and will be standardized to the operating processes

at LC-41 except for the use of the more traditional

“stack on pad” concept from the heritage launch

vehicle programs.2

The Atlas 5 is available in the 400 and 500

series and accommodates 4-meter (13.1-foot) and

5-meter (16.4-foot) fairings and up to five strap-on

solid rocket motors. The Atlas 400 series can place

payloads between 4,950 and 7,640 kilograms

(10,910 and 16,843 pounds) into geosynchronous

transfer orbit (GTO). The Atlas 500 series can place

payloads between 3,970 and 8,670 kilograms (8,750

and 19,120 pounds) into GTO. One commercial

Atlas 5 launch took place on March 11, 2005, carrying the Inmarsat 4 F1 satellite, along with one government launch. An estimated two commercial and

three government launches are scheduled for 2006.

2006 U.S. Commercial Space Transportation Developments and Concepts Expendable Launch Vehicles

Federal Aviation Administration Office of Commercial Space Transportation 9

Expendable Launch Vehicles

Atlas 5 launch
Expendable Launch Vehicles 2006 U.S. Commercial Space Transportation Developments and Concepts

10 Federal Aviation Administration Office of Commercial Space Transportation

Delta 2 - The Boeing Company

The Delta family of launch vehicles traces 

its heritage to the Thor missile program of the

1950s. Like the Atlas program, the Delta family 

is undergoing a transition prompted by the introduction of the Delta 4 vehicles developed under 

the EELV program. 

The Delta 2 uses a liquid-oxygen (LOX)/

kerosene first stage and a nitrogen tetraoxide and

hydrazine second stage. An optional solid-propellant

upper stage is available. The Delta 2 also uses

between three and nine strap-on

solid rocket motors, depending on

the performance required. A

“heavy” version of the Delta 2

entered service on August 25,

2003, with the launch of NASA’s

Spitzer Space Telescope spacecraft. This vehicle uses the larger

graphite-epoxy motor (GEM) 46

strap-on boosters developed for

the now-defunct Delta 3. Although

small payload capacity has limited

Medium

Vehicle Minotaur Pegasus XL Taurus XL Delta 2 Delta 4 Atlas 5* Delta 4 Heavy Zenit 3SL

Company

Orbital 

Sciences

Orbital 

Sciences

Orbital 

Sciences Boeing Boeing Lockheed Martin Boeing Sea Launch

First Launch 2000 1990 1994 1990 2002 2002 2004 1999

8,870 kg

(19,555 lbs.)

(Delta 4M)

12,500 kg

(27,560 lbs.)

(Atlas 5-400)

13,330 kg

(29,390 lbs.)

(Delta 4M+ (5,4))

20,520 kg 

(45,240 lbs.) 

(Atlas 5-500)

6,870 kg 

(15,150 lbs.) 

(Delta 4 M)

10,400 kg 

(22,930 lbs.) 

(Delta 4M+ (5,4))

3,930 kg 

(8,665 lbs.) 

(Delta 4 M)

4,950 kg 

(10,910 lbs.) 

(Atlas 5-400)

6,410 kg 

(14,130 lbs.) 

(Delta 4 M+ (5,4))

8,670 kg 

(19,110 lbs.) 

(Atlas 5-500)

* Atlas 5 launches from VAFB are scheduled to begin in 2006.

12,370 kg 

(27,270 lbs.)

6,000 kg 

(13,230 

lbs.)

CCAFS CCAFS, VAFB Pacific 

Ocean

23,260 kg 

(51,280 lbs.) N/A

N/A 20,800 kg 

(45,860 lbs.) N/A

2

Intermediate Heavy

2 2 3

CCAFS, VAFB

Small

Stages 4 3 4 3

640 kg

(1,410 lbs.)

440 kg

(970 lbs.)

Payload 

Performance 

(LEO)

1,360 kg

(3,000 lbs.)

Payload 

Performance

(LEO polar)

Launch Sites

340 kg

(750 lbs.)

(SSO)

190 kg

(420 lbs.)

(SSO)

N/A

VAFB, 

Wallops, 

CCAFS

VAFB

430 kg

(950 lbs.)

Payload 

Performance 

(GTO)

N/A N/A

VAFB CCAFS, VAFB

5,100 kg

(11,245 lbs.)

1,870 kg

(4,120 lbs.)

3,895 kg

(8,590 lbs.)

Table 2: Currently Available Expendable Launch Vehicles

Delta 2 launch
2006 U.S. Commercial Space Transportation Developments and Concepts Expendable Launch Vehicles

Federal Aviation Administration Office of Commercial Space Transportation 11

its usefulness for commercial GTO payloads, the

Delta 2 is expected to remain in service through

2010, primarily launching military and civil government payloads. Three government Delta 2 launches

occurred in 2005; up to seven government launches

and one commercial launch are planned for 2006.

Delta 4 - The Boeing Company

The Delta 4 family of launch

vehicles has a common booster

core first stage that uses the first

new large liquid rocket engine

developed in the U.S. since the

Space Shuttle Main Engine (SSME)

was developed in the 1970s. This

engine, the Rocketdyne RS-68, is

based on the J-2 engine used on

the second stage of the Saturn 5

launch vehicle and technology from

the SSME. However, the RS-68 is

larger and simpler than the SSME. Depending on

customer needs, two or four solid-fuel strap-on

boosters, two types of upper stages, and three payload fairings can supplement the RS-68 engine.

This vehicle will be launched from VAFB and

CCAFS. The first Delta 4 launch took place on

November 20, 2002, successfully lofting the

Eutelsat W5 spacecraft from CCAFS.

A distinctive design feature of the Delta 4 is

its use of horizontal integration. The vehicle is

assembled, tested, and prepared for launch horizontally, away from the launch pad. When integration

is complete, the vehicle is moved to the pad, raised,

and launched in a relatively short period. In addition to making the launch vehicle easier to work on

by keeping it closer to the ground, this integration

method greatly reduces time spent occupying the

launch pad. Boeing expects to reduce pad time

from Delta 2’s 24 days to a period of about a week

for the Delta 4.

Boeing offers five versions of the Delta 4 to

address a broad range of payload mass classes.

These include four medium versions, each with one

common booster core, and one heavy-lift version

that uses three parallel common booster core stages.

Three of these versions, the Delta 4 Medium-Plus

vehicles, were originally optimized for commercial

use. The Medium and Heavy versions are largely

intended for government use. Payload capacities to

low Earth orbit (LEO) range from 8,120 kilograms

(17,905 pounds) for the Medium to 23,040 kilograms

(50,800 pounds) for the Heavy. GTO capacities

range from 4,210 to 13,130 kilograms (9,285 to

28,950 pounds). The Delta 4 has also replaced the

Delta 3. While no Delta 4 launches took place in

2005, up to five are planned for 2006.

Minotaur - Orbital Sciences Corporation 

The Orbital/Suborbital

Program Space Launch Vehicle,

also known as Minotaur, was

developed by Orbital Sciences

Corporation under contract to the

USAF to launch small government

payloads. The Minotaur 1 booster

uses a combination of rocket

motors from decommissioned

Minuteman 2 ICBMs and upper

stages from Orbital’s Pegasus

launch vehicle. The Minotaur’s first two stages are

Minuteman 2 M-55A1 and SR-19 motors. The upper

two stages are Orion 50 XL and Orion 38 motors

from the Pegasus XL. All four stages use solid propellants. Orbital Sciences will also operate the

Minotaur 4, which uses stages from former U.S.

Peacekeeper missiles. Minotaur 4 can deliver a

1,750-kilogram (3,860-pound) payload to LEO. The

Minotaur 4 is expected to enter service no earlier

than 2008.3

In its January 26, 2000, debut, the Minotaur 1

successfully launched the FalconSat and JAWSAT

satellites from VAFB. Two Minotaur 1 launches

took place in 2005, the first such launches since

2000; two more are planned for 2006.

Pegasus - Orbital Sciences Corporation 

Pegasus is an air-launched ELV used to place

small payloads into a variety of low Earth orbits.

Developed by Orbital Sciences Corporation in the

late 1980s, Pegasus became the first commercial

air-launched system. The Pegasus booster has three

solid propellant stages and an optional hydrazine

monopropellant upper stage.

The booster is carried aloft under Orbital

Sciences’ “Stargazer” L-1011 carrier aircraft to an

altitude of 11,900 meters (39,000 feet), where it is

Delta 4 launch

Minotaur launch
released. (Early

Pegasus launches used

a B-52 aircraft leased

from NASA.) The

booster drops for five

seconds before igniting

its first stage motor and

beginning ascent to orbit. The original Pegasus

booster entered service in 1990. Orbital Sciences

created a new version of the Pegasus, the Pegasus

XL, with stretched first and second stages to

enhance the payload capacity of the booster. While

the first Pegasus XL launch was in 1994, the first

successful Pegasus XL flight did not occur until

1996. The original, or standard, version of the

Pegasus was retired in 2000, and only the Pegasus

XL is used today. The air-launched nature of the

Pegasus permits launches from a number of different facilities, depending on the orbital requirements

of the payload. Pegasus launches have been staged

from seven sites to date: Edwards Air Force Base

(EAFB) and VAFB, California; CCAFS and

Kennedy Space Center (KSC), Florida; NASA

WFF, Virginia; Kwajalein Missile Range, Marshall

Islands; and Gando AFB, Canary Islands. 

NASA certified Pegasus to carry the highest

value satellites (Category Three Certification)

because of its excellent demonstrated reliability

record. Pegasus has launched its last 22 missions

successfully. One Pegasus XL launched in 2005,

carrying the Demonstration of Autonomous

Rendezvous Technology (DART) flight demonstrator vehicle for NASA. Three missions are planned

for 2006, including Communication/Navigation

Outage Forecasting System (C/NOFS), a USAF

payload whose launch will be licensed by FAA/AST.

Taurus - Orbital Sciences Corporation

The Taurus ELV is a groundlaunched vehicle based on the airlaunched Pegasus. Orbital Sciences

Corporation developed the Taurus

under the sponsorship of DARPA

to develop a standard launch vehicle to be set up quickly in new

locations to launch small satellites

that are too large for the Pegasus

XL. The Taurus uses the three

stages of a Pegasus XL, without

wings or stabilizers, stacked atop

a Castor 120 solid rocket motor that serves as the

Taurus’ first stage. The Taurus successfully completed six of seven launch attempts since entering

service in 1994. No Taurus launches took place in

2005, and none are currently planned for 2006.

Titan 4 - Lockheed Martin Corporation

The Titan 4 program dates

back to 1985, when the USAF

commissioned Martin Marietta

(now Lockheed Martin) to

develop an upgraded version of

the existing Titan 34D ELV that

could launch Space Shuttle-class

payloads as an alternative to the

Shuttle. The Titan 4A was based

on the Titan 34D, but it featured

stretched first and second stages,

two more powerful solid rocket motors, and a larger

payload fairing. The Titan 4A was used between

1989 and 1998. The Titan 4B, introduced in 1997,

was the most powerful ELV used in the United

States for many years until the inaugural flight of

the Delta 4 Heavy. Titan 4A used upgraded solid

rocket motors that increase the payload capacity of

the vehicle by 25 percent. The Titan 4B is used

solely for U.S. military payloads, with the exception of the October 1997 launch of NASA’s Cassini

mission. Titan 4B has been phased out in favor of

the heavy Delta 4 and Atlas 5 variants, as the final

two Titan 4B missions took place in 2005.

Zenit 3SL - Sea Launch Company, LLC 

The Zenit 3SL is a

Ukrainian-Russian launch vehicle

operated by Sea Launch, a multinational joint venture led by The

Boeing Company. Ukrainian 

companies SDO Yuzhnoye and PO

Yuzhmash provide the first two

stages. A single engine, using LOX/

kerosene propellants, powers each

stage. These stages are the same

as those used on the Zenit 2 launch vehicle. A

Russian company, RSC Energia, provides the third

stage, a Block DM-SL upper stage, which also uses

LOX/kerosene propellants. Boeing provides the

payload fairing, interfaces, and operations management. Boeing Launch Services, Inc., manages 

marketing and sales. 

Expendable Launch Vehicles 2006 U.S. Commercial Space Transportation Developments and Concepts

12 Federal Aviation Administration Office of Commercial Space Transportation

Titan 4 launch

Zenit 3SL launch

Taurus launch

Pegasus in flight
The Zenit 3SL launches from the Odyssey

mobile launch platform, which travels from its

home port in Long Beach, California, to a position

on the Equator in the Pacific Ocean for each mission. Launch operations are remotely controlled

from a separate vessel, the Sea Launch Commander.

While Sea Launch conducts commercial launches

with a license from FAA/AST, the multinational

nature of the system prevents it from carrying U.S.

government payloads. Sea Launch completed four

launches in 2005 and has five scheduled for 2006. 

ELV Development Efforts 

A number of efforts by established corporations

and startups are currently in progress to develop new

ELVs. The majority of these designs focus on the

small payload sector of the launch market, with the

goal of placing payloads as small as a few hundred

pounds into LEO. A limited market currently exists

for such launches, so the success of these vehicles

may rely on the ability to reduce launch costs

enough to enable new markets.

Aquarius - Space Systems/Loral

Space Systems/Loral of Palo Alto, California,

has proposed Aquarius, a low-cost launch vehicle

designed to carry small, inexpensive payloads into

LEO. This vehicle is primarily intended to launch

into orbit bulk products, such as water, fuel, and

other consumables, that are inexpensive to replace.

As currently designed,

Aquarius will be a single-stage vehicle 43

meters (141 feet) high

and 4 meters (13.1 feet)

in diameter and powered

by a single engine using

liquid hydrogen and

oxygen propellants. The

vehicle is floated in the

ocean before launch to

minimize launch infrastructure and will be able to

place a 1,000-kilogram (2,200-pound) payload into

a 200-kilometer (125-mile), 52-degree orbit. Located

in the base of the vehicle, the payload will be extracted by an orbiting space tug for transfer to its ultimate

destination. After payload extraction is completed,

the vehicle will deorbit and be destroyed. Launch

costs are planned to be $1-2 million a flight.

Previous work on Aquarius includes a study of

the launch concept funded by the California Space

Authority in 2002. In 2005 Space Systems/Loral, 

in conjunction with Aerojet, a GenCorp Company

based in Sacramento, and ORBITEC of Madison,

Wisconsin, started work on a $1-million study

funded by a provision of a defense appropriations

bill on new engine technologies for use on Aquarius.

The study is focusing on the development of a 

vortex combustion cold wall engine, using LOX

and liquid hydrogen propellants; the engine would

provide high thrust while eliminating the need for

costly ablative materials in engine components. The

study is scheduled to conclude in 2006.4

Eagle S-series - E’Prime Aerospace

Corporation

E’Prime Aerospace of Titusville, Florida, is

developing a family of launch vehicles, called the

Eagle S-series, based on the LGM-118A

Peacekeeper ICBM design. Like the Peacekeeper,

this vehicle will be ejected from a ground-based

silo, using a compressed gas system. At an altitude

of 61 meters (200 feet), the vehicle’s engines will

ignite. The smallest vehicle, the Eaglet, could

launch 580 kilograms (1,280 pounds) into LEO. A

somewhat larger version, the Eagle, could put 1,360

kilograms (3,000 pounds) into LEO. Both vehicles

will use solid propellant lower stages and liquid pro2006 U.S. Commercial Space Transportation Developments and Concepts Expendable Launch Vehicles

Federal Aviation Administration Office of Commercial Space Transportation 13

Vehicle: Aquarius

Developer: Space Systems/Loral

First Launch: TBD

Number of Stages: 1

Payload Performance: 1,000 kg (2,200 lbs.) to 

LEO (52-degrees)

Launch Site: Ocean

Markets Served: ISS resupply, small satellite launch

Aquarius mission profile

Aquarius
pellant upper stages. E’Prime has also

proposed larger vehicles, designated

S-1 through S-7, with the ability to

place considerably larger payloads

into LEO and to add a geosynchronous Earth orbit (GEO) capability.

The Eagle S-series concept dates

back to 1987 when the company

signed a commercialization 

agreement with the USAF to use

Peacekeeper technology for commercial launch vehicles.

E’Prime signed an agreement with NASA in

February 2001 that gives the company use of available property and services on a non-interference

basis. For equatorial orbits, the company plans to

launch the Eaglet and Eagle, and the company’s

entire canister launch program from facilities at

NASA KSC that the company has yet to construct.

Plans to launch from Virginia Space Flight Center

for equatorial orbits and from the Kodiak Launch

Complex for polar orbits are also under consideration. In 2004, the company entered into a partnership with the Savannah River National Laboratory

to develop technologies for the Eagle S-series of

launch vehicles and related systems.5

FALCON SLV - Lockheed Martin

Lockheed Martin Michoud

Operations of New Orleans,

Louisiana was awarded one of

four DARPA Force Application

and Launch from CONUS (FALCON) contracts, valued at $11.7

million, in September 2004 to

develop concepts for a low-cost

launch vehicle.6 Lockheed Martin’s FALCON SLV

approach uses all-hybrid propulsion and a mobile

launch system that can launch from an unimproved

site with limited infrastructure on 24 hours notice,

placing up to 840 kilograms (1,855 pounds) into

LEO. Lockheed conducted two test firings of the

hybrid rocket motor that will be used on the upper

stage of the SLV in 2005. DARPA is expected to

award a contract no later than 2007 to develop a

concept through flight tests.7

Nanosat Launch Vehicle - Garvey Spacecraft

Corporation

Garvey Spacecraft Corporation

(GSC), based in Long Beach,

California, is a small research and

development (R&D) company, focusing on the development of advanced

space technologies and launch vehicle

systems. As part of the California

Launch Vehicle Initiative (CALVEIN),

GSC and California State University,

Long Beach (CSULB), are jointly

conducting preliminary R&D tasks to

establish the foundation for development of a twostage, liquid propellant Nanosat Launch Vehicle

(NLV). Capable of delivering 10 kilograms (22

pounds) to a 250-kilometer (155-mile) polar orbit,

the NLV will provide low-cost, dedicated launch

services to universities and other research organizations that traditionally depend on secondary payload opportunities to access space. As part of this

initiative, GSC and CSULB are pursuing advanced

aerospike engine technology for use on the NLV

first stage. Their current work builds upon the firstever powered liquid propellant aerospike flight that

Expendable Launch Vehicles 2006 U.S. Commercial Space Transportation Developments and Concepts

14 Federal Aviation Administration Office of Commercial Space Transportation

Vehicle: Eaglet/Eagle

Developer: E’Prime Aerospace

First Launch: TBD

Number of Stages: 2

Payload Performance: 580 kg (1,280 lbs.) to LEO

(Eaglet); 1,360 kg (3,000 lbs.) to LEO (Eagle)

Launch Sites: KSC, WFF, CCAFS, Kodiak

Market Served: Small satellite launch

Eaglet and

Eagle

Vehicle: FALCON SLV

Developer: Lockheed Martin Michoud Operations

First Launch: TBD

Number of Stages: 2

Payload Performance: 840 kg (1,855 lbs.) to LEO

Launch Site: TBD

Markets Served: Small satellite launch, responsive

space operations

FALCON

Vehicle: Nanosat Launch Vehicle

Developer: Garvey Spacecraft Corporation

First Launch: TBD

Number of Stages: 2

Payload Performance: 10 kg (22 lbs.) to LEO

Launch Site: TBD

Market Served: Nanosatellite launch

NLV
the team conducted using several of its LOX/ethanol

Prospector research vehicles. GSC’s most visible

accomplishments include the first-ever flight of a

composite LOX tank (conducted in partnership with

Microcosm, Inc.), the first-ever powered flights of a

liquid-propellant aerospike engine, and the launch

and 100-percent recovery of several prototype

reusable test vehicles.

On May 24, 2005, GSC and CSULB conducted

a successful test launch of Prospector 6, a partiallyreusable full-scale prototype of the NLV, from the

Mojave Test Area in California. The rocket flew to

an altitude of approximately 915 meters (3,000 feet)

before parachuting back to Earth. The GSC/CSULB

team is planning to refurbish and relaunch the rocket

while also working on an improved design. In

October 2005, GSC and CSULB conducted two

flights in the same day of a single vehicle, the new

Prospector 7, to demonstrate RLV-like rapid turnaround operations. At present, project funding is

derived from a series of NLV-related suborbital

flight tests that GSC and CSULB are conducting 

for several U.S. government organizations.8

Eagle SLV - Microcosm, Inc.

Microcosm, Inc. of 

El Segundo, California, is

developing the Scorpius family of ELVs. Several prototypes

are under consideration or in

testing, and two suborbital test

models, SR-S and SR-XM-1,

flew successfully from White

Sands Missile Range, New

Mexico, in 1999 and 2001, respectively. Eventually

Microcosm plans to market up to eight Scorpius variants: two suborbital vehicles, the SR-S and SR-M

launchers; three light-lift orbital vehicles, the Sprite

Mini-Lift, the Eagle SLV, and the Liberty Light-Lift

launchers; one intermediate-lift orbital vehicle, the

Antares Intermediate-Lift launcher; one medium-lift

vehicle, the Exodus Medium-Lift launcher; and one

heavy-lift vehicle, the Space Freighter. Despite the

wide range in their sizes and lift capacities, each

Scorpius variant is based on a scaleable modular

design featuring simple LOX/Jet-A pressure-fed

motors without turbopumps and low-cost avionics

equipped with GPS/INS (global positioning

system/inertial navigation system). The orbital variants are three stages and feature thick fuel tanks for

added durability during flight.

The Scorpius system is designed simply 

in order to maximize the cost savings and quick

launch pad turnaround times sought by government-sponsored responsive space initiatives. As a

first step, the test launches of the suborbital SR-S

and SR-XM-1 vehicles demonstrated Scorpius’

ability to be ready for flight within 8 hours of

arrival at the launch pad, using a crew of under 15.

When marketed, the SR-S vehicle is advertised as

able to loft 200 kilograms (440 pounds) suborbitally.

The SR-M would loft 1,089 kilograms (2,400

pounds) suborbitally.

The Sprite Mini-Lift vehicle is projected to loft

up to 318 kilograms (700 pounds) to LEO. Eagle

SLV would loft up to 670 kilograms (1,470 pounds)

to LEO. The Liberty Light Lift vehicle would loft up

to 1,270 kilograms (2,800 pounds) to LEO.

Microcosm’s intermediate-, medium-, and heavylift Scorpius variants will be able deploy payloads

to LEO and GTO. The Antares Intermediate-Lift

vehicle will be able to deploy up to 2,676 kilograms

(5,900 pounds) to LEO and up to 885 kilograms

(1,950 pounds) to GTO. The Exodus Medium-Lift

vehicle would deploy up to 6,713 kilograms (14,800

pounds) to LEO and up to 2327 kilograms (5,130

pounds) to GTO. Specifications for the heavy-lift

Space Freighter are not yet available.

Microcosm received one of four contracts,

valued at $10.5 million, from DARPA in September

2004 for phase 2 of the FALCON small launch

vehicle program to support development of the

Eagle SLV. However, the company was notified in

August 2005 that it had not been selected for further work on the program. The company is continuing development of the Scorpius vehicle concept

under a separate Defense Department contract.

2006 U.S. Commercial Space Transportation Developments and Concepts Expendable Launch Vehicles

Federal Aviation Administration Office of Commercial Space Transportation 15

Vehicle: Eagle SLV

Developer: Microcosm, Inc.

First Launch: TBD

Number of Stages: 3

Payload Performance: 670 kg (1,470 lbs.) to LEO, 330

kg (730 lbs.) to SSO

Launch Sites: VAFB, WFF, CCAFS

Markets Served: Small satellite launch, responsive

space operations

Eagle SLV
QuickReach - AirLaunch, LLC

AirLaunch, LLC, based

in Kirkland, Washington, is

leading the development of a

small, low-cost air-launched

vehicle for defense and other

applications. The two-stage

rocket is carried aloft inside a

cargo aircraft, such as a C-17

or Antonov-124. The rocket is

released from the aircraft at

an altitude of 7,600-10,700 meters (25,000-35,000

feet) and fires its liquid-propellant engines to ascend

to orbit. The vehicle is designed to place a 450-

kilogram (1,000-pound) payload into LEO for less

than $5 million.

AirLaunch received one of four Phase 2 

FALCON small launch vehicle contracts, valued at

$11.4 million, from DARPA in September 2004 to

continue development of the concept. The company

performed tests of the booster deployment system

as well as ground tests of a liquid oxygen-propane

engine, capable of producing 107,000 newtons

(24,000 pounds-force), intended for the vehicle’s

upper stage. The company is awaiting a decision

from DARPA on the next stage of the program.9

SLC-1 - Space Launch Corporation

The Space Launch Corporation of Irvine,

California, is in the initial development stages of its

SLC-1 launch system. The SLC-1 would use an

expendable rocket air-launched from an F-4 aircraft. The aircraft’s jet engines would be modified

using a technology called Mass Injected PreCompressor Cooling (MIPCC), where a coolant

such as water or liquid oxygen is added to the air at

the engine inlet, allowing the engine to operate at

higher altitudes than possible. The SLC-1 system

could launch payloads of 10 to 20 kilograms (22 to

44 pounds) into LEO for $1 million a launch. The

company is seeking funding from the Defense

Department to support development of the vehicle.10

The Space Launch Corporation was also

selected as the sole prime contractor for DARPA’s

Responsive Access, Small Cargo, Affordable Launch

(RASCAL) program in March 2003. RASCAL was

intended to develop a new air-launch tactical launch

system, similar to SLC-1 but larger, that will provide

the U.S. military with the ability to launch time critical

space-based assets within hours of detection of an

emerging threat. In November 2004, the Space

Launch Corporation announced successful completion of the second phase of the DARPA RASCAL

program, which was intended to advance the design

of the RASCAL system concept and mitigate the

technical risks identified in Phase 1. However,

DARPA elected in 2005 not to proceed with the

next phase of the program.11

Zenit 3SLB - Sea Launch Company, LLC, and

Space International Services

The Sea Launch Board of Directors voted on

September 30, 2003, to offer launch services from

Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan, in addition

to its sea-based launches at the Equator. The new

offering, Land Launch, is based on the collaboration

of Sea Launch Company and Space International

Services, of Russia, to meet the launch needs of

commercial customers with medium weight satellites.

Expendable Launch Vehicles 2006 U.S. Commercial Space Transportation Developments and Concepts

16 Federal Aviation Administration Office of Commercial Space Transportation

Vehicle: QuickReach

Developer: AirLaunch, LLC

First Launch: TBD

Number of Stages: 3 (including the launch aircraft)

Payload Performance: 450 kg (1,000 lbs.) to LEO

Launch Site: Air launched

Markets Served: Small satellite launch, responsive

space operations

QuickReach

Vehicle: Zenit 3SLB

Developer: Space International Services

First Launch: 2nd quarter 2007

Number of Stages: 3

Payload Performance: 3,500 kg (7,720 lbs.) to GTO

Launch Site: Baikonur

Market Served: Commercial GEO satellite launch

Vehicle: SLC-1

Developer: Space Launch Corporation

First Launch: TBD

Number of Stages: 3 (including the launch aircraft)

Payload Performance: 10-20 kg (22-44 lbs.) to LEO

Launch Site: Air launched

Markets Served: Small satellite launch, responsive

space operations
The Land Launch system uses a

version of the Sea Launch Zenit3SL rocket, the Zenit 3SLB, to lift

commercial satellites in the 2,000 to

3,500-kilogram (4,410 to 7,720-

pound) range to GTO and heavier

payloads to inclined or lower orbits.

The three stages on the Zenit 3SLB

are the same as those on the Sea

Launch Zenit-3SL, with the only

significant difference between two

being the fairing. A two-stage configuration of the same rocket, the Zenit 2SLB, is

also available for launching heavy payloads, or

groups of payloads, to LEO. Payloads and vehicles

will be processed and launched from existing Zenit

facilities at the Baikonur launch site. The first Land

Launch mission, carrying the PAS-11 satellite for

PanAmSat, is scheduled for the second quarter of

2007.12 Expanding on its Sea Launch marketing

efforts, Boeing Launch Services, Inc., manages

marketing and sales for this new offering.

NASA Exploration Launch Vehicles

On September 19, 2005, NASA announced its

planned mission architecture for crewed lunar missions. The plan calls for the development of two

new launch vehicles. One, a crew launch vehicle,

will be used to launch the Crew Exploration Vehicle

(CEV). It will use a standard Space Shuttle solid

rocket booster as its first stage, and a liquid hydrogen/

liquid oxygen upper stage, powered by a single

Space Shuttle Main Engine (SSME). A separate

heavy-lift launch vehicle will be used to launch 

cargos weighing up to 125 metric tons into LEO. It

will use a main stage derived from the Space Shuttle

external tank with five SSMEs at its base. It will

also use two five-segment solid rocket boosters,

extended versions of those used for the Shuttle

today. NASA has not published additional technical

details about these vehicles, nor schedules for their

development.13

Sounding Rockets

In addition to orbital launch vehicles, a number of suborbital ELVs, or sounding rockets, are in

use today. These vehicles, which use solid propellants, support a variety of applications, including

astronomical observations, atmospheric research,

and microgravity experiments.

Black Brant - Bristol Aerospace Limited 

(a Magellan Aerospace Company)

Over 800 Black Brant rockets have been launched since

1962, when manufacture of the

vehicle began. Versions of the

Black Brant can carry payloads

ranging from 70 to 850 kilograms

(154 to 1,874 pounds) to altitudes

from 150 to more than 1,500 kilometers (93 to 932 miles), and can

provide up to 20 minutes of

microgravity time during a flight.

The Black Brant and Nihka motors used on some

Black Brant versions are manufactured in Canada

by Bristol Aerospace Limited (a Magellan

Aerospace Company). The Nike, Talos, and Taurus

motors used on other Black Brant versions are built

in the United States. These vehicles are integrated

by the launch operator. In the United States, NASA

has been a frequent user of Black Brant vehicles.

The smallest version of the Black Brant family is the single-stage Black Brant 5, which is 533

centimeters (210 inches) long and 43.8 centimeters

(17.24 inches) in diameter. The rocket produces an

average thrust of 75,731 newtons (17,025 poundsforce). The Black Brant 5 motor is used as the second

or third stage in larger, multi-stage versions of the

Black Brant. The most powerful, Black Brant 12, 

is a four-stage vehicle that uses the Black Brant 5

motor as its third stage. This vehicle can launch a

113-kilogram (249-pound) payload to an altitude of

at least 1,400 kilometers (870 miles), or a 454-

kilogram (1,001-pound) payload to an altitude 

of at least 400 kilometers (249 miles).

Oriole - DTI Associates

SPACEHAB’s Astrotech Space

Operations developed the Oriole

sounding rocket in the late 1990s to

provide launch services for commercial and scientific payloads. Oriole

was both the first privately developed

sounding rocket in the United States

and the first new U.S. sounding rocket in 25 years. The Oriole is a singlestage vehicle with a graphite-epoxy

motor manufactured by Alliant

Missile Products Company of Rocket Center, West

Virginia. It is 396 centimeters (156 inches) long, 

2006 U.S. Commercial Space Transportation Developments and Concepts Expendable Launch Vehicles

Federal Aviation Administration Office of Commercial Space Transportation 17

Zenit 3SLB

Black Brant

launch

Oriole
56 centimeters (22 inches) in diameter, and generates

an average thrust of 92,100 newtons (20,700 poundsforce). The vehicle provides payloads with 6 to 9

minutes of microgravity during flight. Additionally,

it can be combined with other motors to create twostage sounding rockets (with the Oriole serving as

the second stage).

On July 7, 2000, the first Oriole launch took

place from NASA WFF. The launch used a twostage configuration, with the Oriole serving as the

second stage and a Terrier Mk 12 motor serving as

the first stage. The Oriole sounding rocket reached

a peak altitude of 385.6 kilometers (229 miles) 315

seconds after launch during the 10-minute test flight.

In July 2001, SPACEHAB’s Astrotech 

Space Operations sold the Oriole program to DTI

Associates of Arlington, Virginia, which integrates

the vehicle and offers it commercially.

Terrier-Orion - DTI Associates

The Terrier-Orion is a twostage, spin-stabilized sounding rocket.

It uses a Terrier Mk 12 Mod 1 engine

for its first stage and an improved

Orion motor for its second stage. The

Terrier Mk Mod 1 is a surplus U.S.

Navy missile motor; Orion is a surplus

U.S. Army missile motor. The TerrierOrion is 10.7 meters (35.1 feet) long.

The Terrier stage is 46 centimeters

(18 inches) in diameter, and the Orion is 36 centimeters (14 inches) in diameter. The Terrier-Orion can

loft payloads weighing up to 290 kilograms (639

pounds) to altitudes up to 190 kilometers (118 miles).

A more powerful version of the Terrier-Orion

rocket uses the Terrier Mk 70 motor as its first stage.

This version was used for two FAA/AST-licensed

suborbital launches performed by Astrotech Space

Operations/DTI at the Woomera Instrumented

Range in Australia in 2001 and 2002. The second

flight, in July 2002, successfully flew the HyShot

scramjet engine experiment.

DTI Associates of Arlington, Virginia, now

markets and offers integration services for the TerrierOrion after purchasing all intellectual property

rights to the rocket from SPACEHAB in July 2001.

Hybrid Sounding Rocket Program - Lockheed

Martin-Michoud

Lockheed Martin-Michoud is

developing a hybrid sounding rocket

(HYSR) program with NASA Marshall

Space Flight Center (MSFC). A Space

Act Agreement between NASA MSFC

and Lockheed Martin-Michoud

Operations enabled collaboration on

this new technology. Development

ground testing (hardware qualification)

occurred at NASA Stennis Space

Center between 2000 and 2001. This

testing concluded with a successful

demonstration flight of a prototype sounding rocket

from NASA WFF in December 2002. The flight

demonstration vehicle was a 17.4-meter (57-foot)

long sounding rocket using liquid oxygen and solid

fuel, a rubberized compound known as hydroxyl

terminated polybutadiene (HTPB). The rocket 

generated 27,216 kilograms (60,000 pounds) of

thrust during a burn time of 31 seconds, and

reached an altitude of approximately 43 miles.

In 2004, there was further testing of the HYSR

motors at NASA Stennis Space Center. The tests

demonstrated the structural integrity of Lockheed

Martin-Michoud’s fuel-grain design and are facilitating development of advanced state-of-the-art

hybrid rocket motors.

Norwegian Sounding Rocket Program -

Lockheed Martin-Michoud

Lockheed Martin-Michoud is also engaged in

the Pantera Program, which provides a laser-enabled

in-flight targeting system for Norway’s air force. The

single-stage rocket will be built by the Norwegian

company Nammo Raufoss AS, but the design, engineering schematics, and vehicle assembly plan will

be provided by Lockheed Martin-Michoud. The

hybrid rocket will use liquid oxygen and rubberized

HTPB as fuel. It will have a 3,175-kilogram (7,000-

pound) thrust and a burn time of 30 to 35 seconds.

Its peak altitude is expected to be between 55 and

75 kilometers (34 and 57 miles). Lockheed MartinMichoud obtained an International Traffic in Arms

Regulations (ITAR) Manufacturing License

Agreement from the U.S. Government to gain

approval for the 17-month design and handoff project. A successful 20-second static firing of the rocket

engine took place August 30, 2005 at Nammo

Raufoss’s test facility in Raufoss, Norway.14

Expendable Launch Vehicles 2006 U.S. Commercial Space Transportation Developments and Concepts

18 Federal Aviation Administration Office of Commercial Space Transportation

Terrier-Orion 

HYSR 
This section describes active and emerging RLV

programs in the United States. Emphasis is placed

on vehicles being developed by private companies

without the assistance of the government. Many of

these companies are developing space hardware for

the first time. Government RLV programs are also

included to provide context, particularly since the

Space Shuttle is considered a first-generation RLV

and is a precursor of what may become a long line

of government next-generation systems. Experiences

gained by operating the Space Shuttle for more than

20 years have helped solve, as well as highlight,

crucial problems related to the design of efficient

RLV systems. The first section addresses commercial RLV projects underway or in development. A

discussion of government RLV development efforts

comprises the balance of this section.

Commercial RLV Development Efforts

Altairis - AeraSpaceTours

Founded in 2002,

AeraSpaceTours, a division of

Sprague Astronautics, is planning

the development of Altairis, a rocket utilizing RP-1/LOX propulsion.

Altairis launches vertically and has

the capability of sending seven

passengers to space. AeraSpaceTours

plans Altairis to be a generation of

spacecraft that are produced on an

ongoing basis on a production line.

AERA anticipates having the first Altairis completed

in 2006 with approximately one new Altairis vehicle

produced each month thereafter. AeraSpaceTours

foresees providing spaceflights starting in late 2006

at CCAFS.

On March 7, 2005, AeraSpaceTours signed a

“Commercial Space Operations Support Agreement”

with the USAF. This agreement ascertains the

ground-rules intended for AeraSpaceTours’ proposed access of the launch facilities and support

services at CCAFS. The agreement is effective for

five years and renewable thereafter.

Black Armadillo - Armadillo Aerospace

Armadillo Aerospace, a former competitor for the Ansari X

Prize, is continuing development

of suborbital, piloted spacecraft.

The company has built a subscale

demonstrator of a proposed oneperson suborbital spacecraft, a

conical vehicle three meters (10

feet) tall and powered by a

LOX/ethanol engine. Armadillo

Aerospace conductedan unmanned

low-level test flight of the demonstrator at the X Prize Cup Exhibition in Las Cruces,

New Mexico, in October 2005. A full-scale vehicle

may be ready for suborbital spaceflight from White

Sands, New Mexico as early as 2006. Armadillo’s

founder, John Carmack, has invested $2.5 million

into the venture over the last five years.15

2006 U.S. Commercial Space Transportation Developments and Concepts Reusable Launch Vehicles

Federal Aviation Administration Office of Commercial Space Transportation 19

Reusable Launch Vehicles

Vehicle: Black Armadillo

Developer: Armadillo Aerospace

First Launch: 2006

Number of Stages: 1 

Payload: TBD 

Possible Launch Site: White Sands

Targeted Market: Suborbital spaceflight

Vehicle: Altairis

Developer: AERA

First Launch: December 2006

Number of Stages: 2 

Payload: 7 people to 100 km 

Possible Launch Site: CCAFS 

Targeted Market: Suborbital space tourism

Altaris

Black Armadillo
Reusable Launch Vehicles 2006 U.S. Commercial Space Transportation Developments and Concepts

20 Federal Aviation Administration Office of Commercial Space Transportation

New Shepard - Blue Origin

Blue Origin is progressing with their vehicle

developments and technology. Blue Origin intends

to pursue these developments to facilitate human

presence in space. Their initial research efforts are

focused on reusable liquid propulsion systems, low

cost operations, life support, abort systems, and

human factors. They are currently working to

develop a crewed, suborbital launch system that

emphasizes safety while minimizing the cost of

operations.

Blue Origin proposes to develop a launch

facility to operate its RLV, which is expected to

carry paying passengers on suborbital ballistic trajectories to altitudes in excess of 100 kilometers 

(62 miles). Blue Origin’s preliminary plan includes

a propulsion module, crew capsule, and the use of

hydrogen peroxide and kerosene as propellants. In

addition to the RLV launching and landing vertically,

it would be fully reusable and would operate

autonomously under the control of on-board 

computers, with no ground control during nominal

flight conditions.

On June 14, 2005, Blue Origin held a meeting

to outline some future plans in order to request

from FAA/AST a license to operate.16

Sea Star - Interorbital Systems

Interorbital Systems (IOS) of Mojave,

California, is developing the Sea Star MSLV

microsatellite launch vehicle for microsatellite payloads weighing up to 13 kilograms (30 pounds) and

as a testbed for its larger Neptune orbital launch

vehicle. These vehicles are constructed for design

simplicity. Sea Star MSLV is a “stage-and-a-half”

design, similar to the older Atlas rockets, with a

single large booster engine in a module attached to

the aft end of the main structure-jettisoned during

ascent-and four smaller vernier engines on the main

structure. All the engines use liquid oxygen and liquid

natural gas (LNG) as propellants. The main structures

of the rocket, including the outer shell and propellant

tanks, will use carbon composite materials.

Sea Star does not require land-based launch

infrastructure. Taking advantage of design elements

derived from submarine-launched ballistic missiles,

this vehicle will float in seawater and launch directly

from the ocean. IOS plans to launch Sea Star MSLV

near California or in waters near the Kingdom of

Tonga, with an initial launch planned for 2007.

Neptune - Interorbital Systems

IOS’ Neptune is a scaled-up 

version of its Sea Star rocket and is

intended to carry passengers into orbit.

The Neptune uses the same stage-anda-half design of the Sea Star, with a

large engine in a booster module and

four smaller vernier engines attached

to the main vehicle structure. The

engines are larger versions of the

LOX/LNG engines developed for Sea

Star, generating a total of 2.5 million

newtons (560,000 pounds-force.) of

thrust at liftoff. The vehicle can place

4,500 kilograms (10,000 pounds) into a 51-degree

400-kilometer (250-mile) orbit.

Neptune

Vehicle: Neptune 

Developer: Interorbital Systems

First Launch: 2008

Number of Stages: 11/2

Payload: 4,500 kg (10,000 lbs.) to LEO

Possible Launch Sites: Pacific Ocean just west of Los

Angeles, California; Tonga

Targeted Market: Orbital space tourism

Vehicle: Sea Star MSLV

Developer: Interorbital Systems

First Launch: 2007

Number of Stages: 11/2

Payload: 13 kg (30 lbs.) to LEO

Possible Launch Sites: Pacific Ocean just west of Los

Angeles, California; Tonga

Targeted Market: Microsatellite launches

Vehicle: New Shepard

Developer: Blue Origin

First Launch: 4th quarter 2006

Number of Stages: TBD

Payload: TBD 

Possible Launch Site: Culberson County, Texas

Targeted Market: Suborbital space tourism
A unique aspect of the Neptune is that the

main rocket structure, once in orbit, can act as a

small space station. A conical crew module attached

to the top of the rocket, carrying up to five people,

would undock, turn 180 degrees, and dock nosefirst with the orbital station module. The module’s

two LOX tanks, each spheres six meters (20 feet) in

diameter, would be purged of any remaining propellant and then pressurized to serve as habitation

modules. IOS plans to use the Neptune to serve the

orbital space tourism market, selling week-long

trips for $2 million per person starting in 2008.17

K-1 - Kistler Aerospace Corporation

Kistler Aerospace

Corporation has been developing the fully reusable K-1 for

launches of government and

commercial payloads to orbit.

The first vehicle is 75 percent

complete. The K-1 design was

developed in the mid-1990s as a

two-stage-to-orbit (TSTO) vehicle with a payload capacity of

approximately 5,700 kilograms

(12,500 pounds) to LEO. The

K-1 will be able to launch multiple small payloads and conduct technology

demonstrations on dedicated LEO missions or as

secondary payloads. 

Kistler has completed a conceptual design for

an Active Dispenser that will deploy payloads to

medium Earth orbits (MEO), GTO, and interplanetary trajectories. The Active Dispenser will expand

the K-1’s capability beyond LEO (approximately

1,570 kilograms (3,462 pounds) to GTO or 900 to

1,400 kilograms (2,000 to 3,000 pounds) to interplanetary targets). The K-1’s inherent reusability

enables it to provide cargo re-supply and return

services for the International Space Station (ISS),

delivering approximately 3,200 kilograms (7,000

pounds) up-mass and recovering a minimum of 900

kilograms (2,000 pounds) down-mass to the launch

site. The K-1 will launch vertically like a conventional ELV, but it will use a unique combination of

parachutes and air bags to recover its two stages.

Designed to operate with a small complement of

ground personnel, this vehicle will be transported to

the launch site and erected with a mobile transporter. The K-1 will measure approximately 37

meters (121 feet) in height and have a launch mass

of 382,300 kilograms (843,000 pounds).

The K-1 employs off-the-shelf technology and

components in its design. The first stage, known as

the Launch Assist Platform (LAP), is powered by

three LOX/kerosene GenCorp Aerojet AJ26 engines.

These engines are U.S. modifications of the fully

developed, extensively tested core of the NK-33/NK43 engines. These engines were originally designed

for the Soviet lunar program in the 1960s and subsequently placed in storage for over two decades.

After launch, the LAP separates from the second

stage and restarts its center engine to put the stage

on a return trajectory to a landing area near the

launch site. The LAP deploys parachutes and

descends to the landing area where air bags are

deployed to cushion its landing. The second stage,

or orbital vehicle, continues into LEO where it

releases its payload. A single Aerojet AJ26-60 engine

powers the orbital vehicle. Following payload 

separation, the orbital vehicle continues on orbit 

for approximately 24 hours. Then, a LOX/ethanol

Orbital Maneuvering System performs a deorbit

burn. Lastly, the orbital vehicle ends its ballistic

reentry profile by deploying parachutes and air bags

in a manner similar to the LAP. 

Kistler expects to operate the K-1 from two

launch sites: Woomera, Australia, and a U.S. domestic

launch site. Kistler Woomera Pty., Ltd., a wholly

owned subsidiary of Kistler Aerospace Corporation,

will operate the K-1 from Woomera. Kistler received

authorization from the Australian government to

begin construction of launch facilities at Woomera

in April 1998 and held a groundbreaking ceremony

at the site several months later. The launch pad

2006 U.S. Commercial Space Transportation Developments and Concepts Reusable Launch Vehicles

Federal Aviation Administration Office of Commercial Space Transportation 21

K-1

Vehicle: K-1 

Developer: Kistler Aerospace Corporation

First Launch: 2007

Number of Stages: 2 

Payload: 5,700 kg (12,500 lbs) to LEO; 3,200 kg

(7,000 lbs) to ISS and 900 kg (2,000 lbs) from ISS;

1,570 kg (3,460 lbs) to GTO, 900-1,400 kg (2,000-

3,000 lbs) to interplanetary targets

Possible Launch Sites: Woomera, Australia; Nevada Test

Site

Targeted Markets: Development of payloads to LEO,

MEO, and GTO; interplanetary orbits (with K-1 Active

Dispenser); ISS cargo re-supply and return missions. 
design is complete, and Kistler will conduct its initial K-1 flights and commercial operations from

Woomera. In 1998, Kistler signed an agreement

with the Nevada Test Site Development Corporation

to permit Kistler to occupy a segment of the U.S.

Department of Energy’s Nevada Test Site for its

launch operations. The FAA/AST environmental

review process was completed for the Kistler project in 2002. In addition, Kistler continues to

explore potential U.S. launch and landing sites

(subject to regulatory approval), such as at CCAFS,

VAFB, and EAFB.

In 2005 Kistler completed its reorganization

under Chapter 11 of the U.S. Bankruptcy Code,

which it had been under since 2003. However, in

September 2005, Bay Harbour Management, the

investment company that had been supporting

Kistler during its bankruptcy reorganization, said

that it was “radically reducing” its investment

because of delays in a NASA program to commercially procure ISS cargo services.18

Rocketplane XP - Rocketplane, Inc.

Rocketplane Limited is developing the

Rocketplane XP, a scaled-down version of its original Pathfinder vehicle concept. The Rocketplane XP

is a four-seat vehicle based on a Lear jet, powered

by two jet engines and one Rocketdyne RS-88 LOX/

kerosene rocket engine, capable of 160,000 newtons

(36,000 pounds-force.) of thrust. The Rocketplane

XP would take off from an airport under jet power,

fly to an altitude of 5,500 to 9,100 meters (18,000 to

30,000 feet), then ignite the engine for a 90-second

burn, carrying the vehicle to an altitude of at least

100 kilometers (62 miles). The vehicle would then

fly back to a landing at the same site as takeoff.

In 2004, Rocketplane Limited signed a marketing agreement with Incredible Adventures to sell

suborbital tourist flights. The company is currently

taking reservations for Rocketplane flights and

hopes to make its first tourist flight in 2007. The

spaceflight experience as currently envisioned

includes five days of training and team social

events, with the spaceflight on the sixth day. In

addition to space tourism flights, the company is

pursuing other markets, including microgravity

research and military applications, including small

satellite deployment.

SpaceShipOne - Scaled Composites, LLC

Scaled Composites, the

winner of the Ansari X Prize,

and the team that made the

first non-governmental

manned-rocket flight to suborbital space, unveiled its

vehicle on April 18, 2003.

SpaceShipOne is a threeperson vehicle designed to be air-launched at an

altitude of 15,240 meters (50,000 feet) from a carrier

aircraft, called White Knight. On April 1, 2004,

FAA/AST issued the first commercial RLV missionspecific launch license (LRLS 04-067) to Scaled.

Including the September 29 and October 4 Ansari X

Prize-winning flights, SpaceShipOne successfully

completed five licensed flights in 2004. 

SpaceShipOne, having served its purpose of

testing technologies required for safe, affordable

suborbital passenger spaceflight, was retired after

Reusable Launch Vehicles 2006 U.S. Commercial Space Transportation Developments and Concepts

22 Federal Aviation Administration Office of Commercial Space Transportation

Vehicle: Rocketplane XP

Developer: Rocketplane, Inc. 

First Launch: 2007

Number of Stages: 1 

Payload: 400 kg (880 lbs.) to 100 km

Possible Launch Site: Oklahoma Spaceport

Targeted Markets: Space tourism, microgravity research

Rocketplane XP

Vehicle: SpaceShipOne 

Developer: Scaled Composites 

First Launch: 2003

Number of Stages: 1 

Payload: 3 people to 100 km

Launch Site: Mojave Airport

Targeted Market: Research and development

SpaceShipOne
winning the Ansari X Prize. Scaled Composites

flew SpaceShipOne and White Knight to the

Experimental Aircraft Association’s annual

AirVenture air show in Oshkosh, Wisconsin, in July

2005, where the vehicle was on public display.

SpaceShipOne was later flown to Washington, DC,

and put on permanent display in the Milestones of

Flight gallery in the National Air and Space

Museum on October 5, 2005.

SpaceShipTwo - Scaled Composites,

LLC/Virgin Galactic

In July 2005 Scaled Composites and Virgin

Galactic, a subsidiary of the Virgin Group of

Companies, announced the formation of a joint

venture called The Spaceship Company. The purpose of The Spaceship Company is to oversee the

development and production of SpaceShipTwo, a

commercial suborbital spacecraft based on technology developed for SpaceShipOne. The joint venture

will contract out the production of up to five

SpaceShipTwo vehicles to Scaled Composites;

those vehicles will be sold to Virgin Galactic,

which plans to put them into commercial service

offering suborbital space tourism flights starting in

2008. The venture will also develop a carrier aircraft, White Knight 2, that will be used to air-launch

SpaceShipTwo in much the same manner that the

original White Knight aircraft air-launched

SpaceShipOne. Few technical details about

SpaceShipTwo have been released, but the spacecraft is believed to be a scaled-up version of

SpaceShipOne, capable of carrying 7-8 people on

suborbital spaceflights to altitudes of 100 kilometers (62 miles) or more.19

Dream Chaser - SpaceDev

SpaceDev unveiled its plans for Dream

Chaser, a suborbital RLV modeled after NASA’s 

X-34, in September 2004. However, in November

2005 the company released a completely new

design for the vehicle, incorporating an orbital flight

capability for ISS crew transport while retaining the

ability to perform suborbital flights. The new design

has a relatively long history, as it is based on the

NASA HL-20 spaceplane concept from the early

1990s, which was itself inspired by the successfully

launched Soviet BOR-4 spaceplane from the early

1980s. Dream Chaser keeps the overall length of

8.84 m (29 feet) and span across the wing tips of

7.16 m (23.5 feet) of the HL-20, but decreases the

number of passengers from 10 to 6 and reduces the

mass to below 10,000 kilograms (22,046 pounds.) 

Dream Chaser is designed to both serve the

suborbital tourism market and provide commercial

ISS crew transfer. The spacecraft will use internal

hybrid rocket motors for suborbital flights, and

launch on the side of three large hybrid boosters to

reach orbit. SpaceDev is seeking funding to develop

Dream Chaser, and could begin suborbital test

flights of the vehicle as early as 2008.

2006 U.S. Commercial Space Transportation Developments and Concepts Reusable Launch Vehicles

Federal Aviation Administration Office of Commercial Space Transportation 23

Vehicle: SpaceShipTwo

Developer: Scaled Composites 

First Launch: 2008

Number of Stages: 1 

Payload: 7 people to 100 km

Possible Launch Sites: Mojave Airport; SRS

Targeted Market: Suborbital space tourism

Vehicle: Dream Chaser

Developer: SpaceDev 

First Launch: Sub-orbital test flights by 2008, and

manned test flights to orbit by 2010

Number of Stages: 1 for suborbital, 2 for orbital

Payload: 6 people

Possible Launch Sites: TBD

Targeted Markets: Suborbital space tourism, ISS crew

access

Dream Chaser
Falcon 1 - Space Exploration Technologies

Corporation

Space Exploration Technologies

Corporation (SpaceX) of El Segundo,

California, is developing the partially

reusable Falcon 1 launch vehicle,

which can place up to 570 kilograms

(1,255 pounds) into LEO, for about

$6 million, a fraction of the cost of

other launch vehicles. The first stage

of this vehicle is designed to be

recovered from the ocean after a

parachute landing, refurbished, and reused.

Falcon’s first launch took place in December

2005, carrying the FalconSat-2 microsatellite into

orbit from SpaceX’s launch site on Omelek Island

in the Kwajalein Atoll in the Pacific Ocean. SpaceX

anticipates two to three launches annually, eventually ramping up to five or six flights a year. SpaceX

is privately developing the entire two-stage vehicle

from the ground up, including the engines, cryogenic

tank structure, and guidance system. The SpaceXdeveloped first stage engine, known as Merlin, uses

pump-driven LOX/kerosene. The second stage

engine, called Kestrel, uses a pressure-fed

LOX/kerosene system.

In September 2004, SpaceX was one of four

companies to receive a contract from DARPA and the

USAF to demonstrate low-cost, highly responsive

launch technology. Under this $8-millon contract,

SpaceX will demonstrate the ability to reduce onpad processing time by 50 percent compared to the

standard Falcon 1 launcher.

Falcon 5 - Space Exploration Technologies

Corporation

The Falcon 5 vehicle is based

on much of the same technology

developed for Falcon 1. The larger

Falcon 5 uses five SpaceX-developed Merlin engines in the first stage

with an engine-out capability to

enhance reliability. The second stage

will use one Merlin engine, instead

of two Kestrel engines as previously

planned. Both stages are designed to

be recovered and reused, if feasible. The Falcon 5

will be able to place up to 4,100 kilograms (9,000

pounds) into LEO and 1,050 kilograms (2,315

pounds) into GTO at a price of $18 million a launch.

SpaceX has delayed introduction of the Falcon 5,

previously planned for mid-2006, in order to focus

on the development of the larger Falcon 9 version.

The company now plans to make the Falcon 5

available to customers by late 2007.

Falcon 9 - Space Exploration Technologies

Corporation

The Falcon 9, announced by SpaceX in

September 2005, is the company’s newest and

largest launch vehicle. The Falcon 9 is similar to

the Falcon 5, but features nine Merlin engines in its

first stage. The medium version of the Falcon 9 can

place up to 9,300 kilograms (20,500 pounds) into

Reusable Launch Vehicles 2006 U.S. Commercial Space Transportation Developments and Concepts

24 Federal Aviation Administration Office of Commercial Space Transportation

Vehicle: Falcon 1 

Developer: Space Exploration Technologies Corporation 

First Launch: 2005

Number of Stages: 2 

Payload: 570 kg (1,255 lbs.) to LEO

Possible Launch Sites: Kwajalein Atoll, VAFB

Targeted Market: Small satellite launch

Falcon 1

Vehicle: Falcon 5

Developer: Space Exploration Technologies Corporation 

First Launch: late 2007 

Number of Stages: 2

Payload: Up to 4,100 kg (9,000 lbs.) to LEO, 1,050 kg

(2,315 lbs.) to GTO

Possible Launch Sites: Kwajalein Atoll, VAFB

Targeted Markets: Launch of medium-sized satellites,

ISS resupply

Falcon 5

Vehicle: Falcon 9

Developer: Space Exploration Technologies Corporation 

First Launch: 2nd quarter 2007 

Number of Stages: 2

Payload: Up to 24,750 kg (54,600 lbs.) to LEO, 9,650

kg (21,300 lbs.) to GTO

Possible Launch Sites: Kwajalein Atoll, VAFB

Targeted Market: Launch of large satellites
LEO and 3,400 kilograms (7,500

pounds) into GTO. A “heavy” version, analogous to the Delta 4 Heavy,

features two strap-on boosters similar to the Falcon 9 first stage with up

to nine Merlin engines each. This 

version can carry up to 24,750 kilograms (54,600 pounds) to LEO and

9,650 kilograms (21,300 pounds) to

GTO. Launch costs for the Falcon 9

range from $27 million for the medium version to

$78 million for the heavy. Like the Falcon 5, both

stages are intended to be recovered and reused,

although the ability to reuse the stages is not 

factored into the current launch cost.

SpaceX has signed up an unspecified U.S.

Government customer for the first Falcon 9 launch,

scheduled for the second quarter of 2007. SpaceX

will also launch a commercial payload for Bigelow

Aerospace in the first quarter of 2008.20

Michelle-B - TGV Rockets, Inc.

TGV Rockets, Inc.

(TGV), is developing

Michelle-B, a fully reusable,

piloted suborbital vehicle

designed to carry up to 1,000

kilograms (2,205 pounds) to

an altitude of 100 kilometers

(62 miles). This vehicle uses 

a vertical take-off and landing

design, with a drag shield to assist in deceleration

during landing. Michelle-B will provide up to 200

seconds of microgravity, while not exceeding 4.5 g

during any phase of flight. Six pressure-fed LOX/

kerosene engines for use on both ascent and landing

power the vehicle. TGV’s design is intended to

enable high reusability, require minimal ground

support, and allow the vehicle to return to flight

within a few hours of landing. Flight testing of the

Michelle-B is slated to begin in 2007.

Xerus - XCOR Aerospace

In April 2004, XCOR

Aerospace received a

license from FAA/AST to

perform flights from

Mojave Airport in Mojave,

California. These flights of

the Sphinx demonstration

vehicle are designed to fly

within the Earth’s atmosphere. For suborbital flight,

XCOR is developing Xerus to conduct a variety of

suborbital missions including microgravity research,

suborbital tourism, and even the launch of very

small satellites into orbit. Xerus is expected to have

the ability to launch a 10-kilogram (22-pound) 

payload to LEO. XCOR is not currently disclosing

its schedule or certain design details of the Xerus,

except that it will take-off and land from a conventional runway without a booster stage or carrier

vehicle. Xerus will be powered by XCOR’s own

liquid rocket engines. 

Government RLV Development Efforts

Throughout the 1980s and 1990s, both NASA

and DoD conducted several joint and independent

programs to produce experimental RLVs. These

vehicles were intended to improve reliability, minimize operating costs, and demonstrate “aircraftlike” operations. None of these concepts, however,

resulted in a fully operational vehicle. 

In 2002, both NASA and the military reevaluated their RLV efforts. NASA implemented a revised

Integrated Space Transportation Plan (ISTP) to better

coordinate its space transportation efforts with its

ISS, science, and research needs. The revised ISTP

continued to support the Space Shuttle with a

Service Life Extension Program (SLEP), and it

restructured the Space Launch Initiative (SLI) to

accommodate the development initially of an ISS

CRV (crew rescue vehicle), and then the develop2006 U.S. Commercial Space Transportation Developments and Concepts Reusable Launch Vehicles

Federal Aviation Administration Office of Commercial Space Transportation 25

Falcon 9

Vehicle: Michelle-B

Developer: TGV Rockets 

First Launch: 2007

Number of Stages: 1

Payload: 1000 kg (2,200 lbs.) payload to 100 km

Possible Launch Site: White Sands

Targeted Markets: Remote sensing, microgravity science

Michelle-B

Vehicle: Xerus

Developer: XCOR Aerospace

First Launch: TBD

Number of Stages: 1

Payload: 10 kg (22 lbs.) to LEO

Possible Launch Site: White Sands

Targeted Markets: Suborbital space tourism, 

nanosatellite launch

Xerus
ment of a CTV (crew transfer vehicle) called the

Orbital Space Plane (OSP). The restructured SLI

also had a component called the Next Generation

Launch Technology (NGLT) to continue development of next generation and subsequent generations

of launch vehicle technology. 

On January 14, 2004, President George W.

Bush announced a new vision to retire the Space

Shuttle and develop a new vehicle capable of carrying astronauts to the ISS and explore space beyond

LEO. After the announcement of the new Vision for

Space Exploration in January 2004, NASA shut

down both the OSP and NGLT programs as it shifted

resources to Project Constellation, an effort to develop a new Crew Exploration Vehicle (CEV) and related mission architectures. The SLEP is now focused

on near-term Shuttle upgrades given NASA’s plan to

retire the Space Shuttle fleet in 2010.

Space Shuttle

Consisting of an expendable external tank,

two reusable solid rocket boosters, and a reusable

Orbiter, NASA’s STS (Space Transportation System),

commonly referred to as the Space Shuttle, has

conducted 114 launches from its introduction in

1981 through the return to flight of the Shuttle 

fleet in 2005.

The three remaining orbiters—Discovery,

Atlantis, and Endeavour—were grounded after the

Columbia accident. The fleet returned to flight with

the successful launch of Discovery on mission STS114 on July 26, 2005. However, problems with the

loss of foam on the Shuttle’s external tank during

launch led NASA to delay future launches until the

issue is resolved. NASA anticipates resuming

Shuttle flights in the spring of 2006.

The Space Shuttle is the only

means available today for completing assembly of the ISS. Intending

to use the Shuttle until 2010, NASA

is committed to investing in the

Space Shuttle fleet to maintain

safety and reliability and extend

orbiter service life until its responsibilities constructing the ISS are

complete. NASA’s SLEP will support and maintain

the Shuttles and associated infrastructure through

the remainder of the Shuttle program. NASA

will consider factors including safety, reliability,

supportability, performance, and cost reduction in 

prioritizing improvement projects. 

The Space Shuttle’s day-to-day operations have

been managed by United Space Alliance, a BoeingLockheed Martin joint venture, since 1996. NASA

exercised two extension options to the contract and

United Space Alliance is now supported through the

end of fiscal year 2006. NASA is working on developing a new operations contract for fiscal year 2007

through the end of the Shuttle program.

Affordable Responsive Spacelift

The Air Force is investigating the development

of a partially-reusable launch system under the

Affordable Responsive Spacelift (ARES) program.

As currently envisioned, ARES would incorporate 

a reusable, winged fly-back lower stage and an

expendable upper stage. An Analysis of Alternatives

study by The Aerospace Corporation in early 2005

found that this concept offered a fast turnaround time

(24-48 hours) at a lower cost than purely expendable or reusable systems. The USAF is beginning

early-phase concept studies, including development

of a subscale demonstrator that could launch small

payloads into orbit. Current plans call for the first

flight of this demonstrator around 2010, with a 

full-scale version, capable of placing up to 6,800

kilograms (15,000 pounds) into LEO, entering 

service by 2018.21

Reusable Launch Vehicles 2006 U.S. Commercial Space Transportation Developments and Concepts

26 Federal Aviation Administration Office of Commercial Space Transportation

Vehicle: Discovery, Atlantis, and Endeavour

Developer: Rockwell International (now Boeing). Fleet is

managed, operated, and maintained on the ground by

United Space Alliance, a joint venture between Boeing

and Lockheed Martin.

First Launch: April 12, 1981

Number of Stages: 1.5

Payload Performance: 24,900 kg (54,890 lbs.) to LEO

Launch Site: Kennedy Space Center

Markets Served: Non-commercial payloads, ISS access

Space Shuttle
Under the Vision for Space Exploration, NASA has

committed to both manned exploration of the Moon

and Mars and a constant presence on the ISS. Thus,

the earlier than expected retirement of the Shuttle in

2010, and reductions in its projected use until then,

have accelerated the process of NASA selecting a

Crew Exploration Vehicle (CEV) and a spacecraft

to resupply and possibly launch additional sections

of the ISS. A variety of vehicles are under development in order to fulfill both of these goals. 

CEV Competition

On June 13, 2005, NASA narrowed the competition to build the CEV by reducing the number

of teams from eight to two: Lockheed Martin and 

a Northrop Grumman-Boeing joint venture.22 Each

team was awarded a $28 million contract to develop

a complete design for the CEV and its Shuttlederived launch vehicle. NASA Administrator Griffin

plans to select one team in the Spring of 2006, so

as to have the CEV ready for missions to the ISS

no later than 2012. The CEV selection process was

expedited to reduce development costs and shorten

the window without a crewed vehicle. The Columbia

accident investigation concluded that a capsule

design, with a separate escape system, is most

favorable for crew safety.

Lockheed Martin 

The CEV design prepared by Lockheed

Martin resembles its proposal for the Orbital Space

Plane (OSP) program, which was cancelled following the Columbia accident. The craft is designed to

include a Crew Module with living space for four

crew, and a rescue module with room for six. The

craft will need additional modules for Moon and

Mars missions. The Lockheed team includes Orbital

Sciences, EADS Space Transportation, United

Space Alliance, Honeywell, Wyle Laboratories, and

Hamilton Sundstrand.

Northrop Grumman-Boeing

The Northrop Grumman-Boeing team

released their CEV proposal on October 12, 2005.

Their modular, capsule-based approach recalls the

earlier Apollo missions, but also promises evolutionary advantages. The crew capacity increases

from Apollo’s three to six, and use of lighter composite materials decreases the overall weight of the

craft while increasing its total volume. The craft,

intended to be further developed for lunar missions,

has the capacity to operate on its own for up to six

months in lunar orbit. The Northrop-Boeing team

includes support from Alenia Spazio, risk management engineers ARES, Draper Laboratory, and

United Space Alliance. The Northrop-Grumman

team also claims that their CEV can operate for

unmanned resupply missions to the ISS.

2006 U.S. Commercial Space Transportation Developments and Concepts In-Space Technology

Federal Aviation Administration Office of Commercial Space Transportation 27

Reentry Vehicles and In-Space Technology

Lockheed Martin CEV

Northrop Grumman-Boeing CEV
ISS Resupply and Construction

The ISS continually needs to refresh its supplies, and still has some sections remaining for

assembly. The declines in Shuttle flight forecasts,

coupled with its early retirement, have prompted

the development of other vehicles. Currently, the

Russian Soyuz and Progress spacecraft are available to transport both crew and supplies. Other

international vehicles in the works include the

European Automated Transfer Vehicle and the

Japanese H-2 Transfer Vehicle.

NASA would like to supplement this capacity

with an American provider. NASA’s Exploration

Systems Mission Directorate issued a draft request

for proposals in December 2005 to secure commercially provided cargo and crew resupply of the

International Space Station. The Commercial

Orbital Transportation Services (COTS) program,

as currently planned, has two phases. First, vehicles

capable of cargo transportation will be developed

from May 2006 to somewhere within the 2008-2010

timeframe. Cargo transport vehicles should be able

to lift up to 5,000 kilograms (11,000 pounds) of

external cargo or 7,500 kilograms (16,500 pounds)

of internal cargo for two to eight flights a year.

Once companies have demonstrated the ability to

transport cargo to and from the station, the second

phase will support the development of a crewed

vehicle capable of carrying three passengers for two

to four flights a year. Corporations that apply for

COTS should have at least 50 percent U.S. ownership. Total funding for the program from 2006 to

2010 is anticipated to be $500 million. Potential

commercial providers for ISS resupply include

Lockheed Martin, Spacehab, and t/Space. Kistler

Aerospace, discussed previously in the RLV section, may also be a contender. All of these companies have vehicles designed to perform ISS resupply, with station assembly as an ancillary function. 

Lockheed Martin

Lockheed Martin and EADS Space

Transportation have joined forces to sell Europe’s

new Automated Transfer Vehicle (ATV) to NASA

for ISS resupply. The first ATV is expected to launch

in May 2007. The ATV weighs twenty metric tons

(44,092 pounds), and is designed to haul three times

the capacity of the Progress craft, up to nine metric

tons (19,842 pounds). The ATV will be launched on

the Ariane 5 rocket for European missions, and could

potentially be launched by Lockheed’s Atlas 5 if

contracted by NASA.

SPACEHAB

SPACEHAB has released its Apex design for

both commercial and government markets. The

Apex vehicles are available in three different configurations including one-, three-, and four-meter

(3.3, 9.8, and 13.1 feet) approximate-diameter

spacecraft. The smallest Apex can carry up to 300

kilograms (661 pounds) to LEO, with the larger two

spacecraft carrying cargo of up to 1,300 and 6,000

kilograms (2,866 and 13,228 pounds), respectively.

The largest Apex vehicle can be outfitted to carry

crew. The first flight of the Apex is planned for

2007. The vehicle is designed to be launcher-neutral, with an open architecture capable of serving

different markets.

In-Space Technology 2006 U.S. Commercial Space Transportation Developments and Concepts

28 Federal Aviation Administration Office of Commercial Space Transportation

Lockheed Martin-EADS ATV

SPACEHAB Apex
Transformational Space Corporation

Transformational Space Corporation, also

known as t/Space, forms one of the other teams 

that NASA considered for the CEV contract. While

t/Space was not selected for the final round, it is

still planning to build its Crew Transfer Vehicle

(CXV) to carry up to four crew to either the ISS 

or LEO for under $20 million per flight. NASA

Administrator Griffin announced on June 21, 2005

that “follower” contracts would also be awarded to

companies not selected to be the final CEV producer.

t/Space is aiming for the ISS resupply market, commercial prospects, and for potential selection on

lunar missions. t/Space is allied with Ansari X Prize

winner Scaled Composites. Its CXV would launch

at high altitude from a large cargo carrier aircraft.

2006 U.S. Commercial Space Transportation Developments and Concepts In-Space Technology

Federal Aviation Administration Office of Commercial Space Transportation 29

t/Space CXV
Enabling Technologies 2006 U.S. Commercial Space Transportation Developments and Concepts

30 Federal Aviation Administration Office of Commercial Space Transportation

Several efforts are underway to develop enabling

technologies for expendable and reusable launch

vehicles. These efforts include governmentsponsored and commercial research projects in the

areas of avionics, air launch technologies, composite

cryogenic fuel tanks and propulsion systems. Most

of these development programs are focused on

building new generation launch vehicle components

that are substantially simpler, more flexible and

reliable, and less costly than legacy technologies.

Recent advances in propulsion systems covered here

include the use of room-temperature propellants

instead of cryogenics and pressure-fed engines

instead of turbopumps. Hybrid rocket motors, liquid

engines, propellant production, demonstrators, and

hypersonic aircraft are described in this section.

Launch Vehicle Avionics–SpaceDev,

Inc. and Microcosm, Inc.

The search for decreased cycle time and cost

in launch vehicle development programs, along

with increased vehicle responsiveness, reliability,

robustness and performance, has recently led NASA,

DOD and vehicle manufacturers to consider new

approaches to building flight avionics systems, 

particularly for small launchers.

During 2003-2004, Microcosm of El Segundo,

California, developed under an AFRL contract a

self-configuring, fault-tolerant, plug-and-play data

network system for launch vehicle and satellite

avionics. This system provides standardized data

communications interfaces for components and is

designed to enable hardware swapping with minimal

impact to system command and control architecture

and software. Devices and subsystems such as

guidance and attitude control computers, MEMS

gyros, telemetry systems, actuators and pressure,

temperature, earth horizon, and sun sensors are 

connected using TCP/IP-based networking protocols.

The avionics network is designed to be extendable

to all other onboard command and control functions,

providing a robust, flexible architecture that can

accommodate a wide variety of hardware on the

network without redesigning the system or updating

the software.23

In May 2005 SpaceDev initiated development

of standardized and miniaturized avionics for small

launch vehicles under an AFRL SBIR contract. The

goal is to substantially reduce the mass and cost of

flight avionics while enhancing their scalability and

reliability.24

Air Launch t/Space and Scaled

Composites

t/Space and Scaled

Composites successfully

drop-tested dummy

boosters over the Mojave

Desert in 2005 using a

new air launch method

known as “TrapezeLanyard Air Drop”, or “t/LAD”. The t/LAD approach

employs an innovative technique that causes a

dropped booster to rotate towards vertical without

requiring wings. This allows an aft-crossing trajectory in which the rocket crosses behind the carrier

aircraft, greatly enhancing safety. 

The innovation developed by t/Space is a new

mechanism that holds on to the nose of the booster

for about a half-second after the center of the rocket

is released. This slight tug on the nose starts the

booster rotating as it drops. A small parachute on the

rocket’s nozzle ensures the rotation happens slowly.

This approach provides improved simplicity, safety,

cost, and reliability of launching people into LEO.25

Previous air-launched rockets such as the X-15,

Pegasus and SpaceShipOne crossed in front of the

carrier aircraft using wings to turn themselves from

horizontal flight to the vertical position needed to

achieve orbit. In addition to greatly enhancing safety,

eliminating the weight of wings increases the payload the rocket can take to orbit.

Enabling Technologies

CXV and Booster Drop 
Air Launch Method–AirLaunch LLC

In September 2005, AirLaunch LLC demonstrated the safe release of a dummy booster from 

an Air Force C-17A cargo plane. The C-17A flew 

to an altitude of 1,846 meters (6,000 feet) with the

AirLaunch QuickReach booster inside the cargo

bay resting on a pallet of upturned rubber wheels.

As the aircraft turned nose-up by six degrees, gravity

pulled the test article across the upturned tires and

out the aft cargo door. The test demonstrated the

QuickReach release technology, including proof

that the booster’s nose does not hit the C-17A roof

as it leaves the aircraft.

The AirLaunch approach improves upon 

previous air-release methods such as the 1974

Minuteman missile air launch demo, which rested

the booster on a pallet that then deployed parachutes to drag the pallet out of the cargo bay. The

new AirLaunch method relies on gravity, not parachutes that can fail, and only the booster leaves the

carrier aircraft—no pallets fall into the ocean or on

to land. AirLaunch built a mock QuickReach booster

for this drop as part of the DARPA/USAF FALCON

program. It utilized a 20.2-meter (65.8-foot) long

test article filled with water to bring its weight to

about two-thirds the weight of an actual booster.

The C-17A released the test article at 340 km/h

(184 knots) air speed from 1,877 meters (6,100

feet) with future tests planned at the operational

release altitude of 10,154 meters (33,000 feet). 

The AirLaunch LLC design achieves responsiveness by carrying the booster to altitude inside

the cargo bay of an unmodified C-17A or other

large cargo aircraft. This avoids delays due to local

weather—the carrier aircraft can fly to clear skies

for the release—and it eliminates the need to coordinate with the schedules of the other users of the

Nation’s Western and Eastern launch ranges.

Major portions of the QuickReach air drop

system were fabricated and assembled by Space

Vector Corp. of Chatsworth, California. Universal

Space Lines LLC of Newport Beach, California,

provides avionics for QuickReach and Scaled

Composites LLC of Mojave supplied specialized

test equipment for the drop. The test was conducted

at the Air Force Flight Test Center (AFFTC) and

China Lake Naval Air Warfare Center (NAWC).

AirLaunch LLC has now completed an $11.3-

million contract under the FALCON program Phase

IIA. If selected to move forward, the project would

lead to a test flight to orbit in early 2008. The operational QuickReach booster is designed to put a 455

kilogram (1,000 pound) satellite into LEO.26

Cryogenic Composite Tanks–Northrop

Grumman and XCOR Aerospace

The use of composite materials to manufacture

large, cryogenic fuel tanks is a critical enabler for

reusable launch vehicles and future lunar and Mars

exploration missions. These tanks, which are currently

made from aluminum, carry liquid hydrogen, an

essential but highly volatile fuel used in many rocket

combustion processes. Identifying a suitable alternative to aluminum can be difficult, however, because

liquid hydrogen must be stored and used at -253

degrees Celsius (-423 degrees Fahrenheit), a temperature at which most materials become quite brittle. The

fuel also has an extremely fine molecular structure,

which allows it to seep through the tiniest of holes.

The payoff for using composite tanks, however,

is significant. They are typically 10 to 25 percent

lighter than comparably sized aluminum tanks, which

means they could provide increased payload-to-orbit

lifting capabilities for new expendable or reusable

launch vehicles. The use of composite tanks would

also eliminate many current engineering costs associated with mating aluminum cryogenic fuel tanks

to composite launch vehicle structures. Using 

composite materials for fuel tanks would effectively

eliminate the need for specialized engineering 

solutions at critical joints between fuel tanks

and the launch vehicle.

2006 U.S. Commercial Space Transportation Developments and Concepts Enabling Technologies

Federal Aviation Administration Office of Commercial Space Transportation 31

C-17A Dummy Booster Air Drop
Beginning in June 2001, under contract to

NASA, Northrop Grumman performed design trade

studies and a detailed analysis of composite materials

and manufacturing techniques that could be used to

develop reliable, permeation-resistant composite

tanks. Based on these studies, Northrop designed a

demonstration subscale composite fuel tank. Between

April 2002 and May 2003, a Northrop/NASA team

fabricated this tank using conventional, autoclave

cured manufacturing processes. The subscale tank

featured the use of a secondary barrier film between

the inside face sheet of the sandwiched (laminatehoneycomb-laminate) tank wall and the honeycomb

core to prevent liquid hydrogen from seeping into

the tank walls and a perforated non-metallic honeycomb core design that helps purge on the launch

pad or vent to space any liquid hydrogen that seeps

past the barrier film, thereby ensuring crew safety.

Between November 2003 and September

2004, the Northrop/NASA team filled, applied

internal and external loads, and drained the tank

approximately 40 times to demonstrate its structural

integrity at cryogenic temperatures, and its ability

to be reused multiple times. The Northrop effort

also developed and refined new manufacturing

processes that will allow the firm to build large

composite tanks without an autoclave, as well as

design and engineering approaches supporting the

creation of conformal fuel tanks suitable for use on

single-stage-to-orbit vehicles.27

In April 2005, XCOR Aerospace of Mojave,

California announced it had signed a $7-million

contract with NASA to develop a composite cryogenic tank to hold liquid oxygen (LOX). This 

contract is part of NASA’s Exploration Systems

Research and Technology (ESR&T) program to

develop key technologies for manned exploration of

the Moon, Mars and beyond. The LOX tank will be

designed to show dramatic weight savings by

demonstrating the ability to serve as both an insulated tank and vehicle structure. The materials used

in this tank retain their flexibility and toughness at

cryogenic temperatures and are inherently nonflammable, an important safety feature for LOX

tanks on future human spaceflight vehicles.28

The composite tank technology demonstrated

to date and under development has potential applications not only as cryogenic fuel tanks for Earthlaunched space vehicles, but also as on-orbit tanks

for storage of cryogenic fuels such as liquid hydrogen or liquid oxygen. Such an orbiting “fuel depot”

could be used to fuel space vehicles traveling from

LEO to the moon or Mars.

Liquid RCS Thruster–Orion 

Propulsion, Inc.

Orion Propulsion Inc.

(OPI) of Huntsville, Alabama,

successfully completed the

first series of tests on a 445-

newton (100-pound-force)

oxygen/methane RCS thruster

in September 2005. Orion

designed, manufactured, and

tested this thruster, which accommodated an OPIdeveloped acoustic igniter and spark igniter. Over

40 firings of this gas-gas propulsion system were

performed with a total of 90 seconds testing time. 

This engine offers many advantages 

over existing RCS thrusters, including flexibility,

reusability, affordability, and high performance. The

engine can also burn methane that is mined during

Mars In-Situ missions, or stored on long-term orbit

missions. OPI has begun planning for testing the

thruster with a space nozzle. The company expects

to qualify the engine to burn a variety of easily

stored propellants, including propane/nitrous oxide,

ethane/nitrous oxide, and hydrogen/oxygen. 

Orion and HMX Inc. plan to jointly develop a

product line based on this flexible engine design. The

first application will be the t/Space CXV human

spaceflight vehicle for NASA. Orion performed the

testing at its facility near Huntsville, Alabama.29

Enabling Technologies 2006 U.S. Commercial Space Transportation Developments and Concepts

32 Federal Aviation Administration Office of Commercial Space Transportation

Subscale Composite Cryogenic Tank

Oxygen/Methane

RCS Thruster
Liquid Engines–Orbital Technologies

Corporation

In November 2005, Orbital Technologies

Corporation (ORBITEC) of Madison, Wisconsin,

completed successful testing of a prototype rocket

engine using methane fuel and oxygen oxidizer.

Methane is currently of interest for NASA’s Vision

for Space Exploration and for future USAF launch

vehicles. It requires smaller propellant tanks than

hydrogen, has higher specific impulse than hydrocarbon fuels such as kerosene, and when used for

exploration, methane and oxygen can be produced

on Mars from planetary resources found there. NASA

is interested in applying liquid methane/liquid 

oxygen propellants for Lunar and Mars landing and

other transport vehicles. The USAF is interested in

methane for future use in launch vehicles. ORBITEC

believes this technology will enable the development

of low-cost, reusable rocket engines for spaceplanes,

suborbital and orbital launch vehicles, and orbital

transfer stages for a variety of military and civil

space missions.

The ORBITEC engine used ORBITEC’s

patented “vortex-cooled” combustion process to

eliminate combustion chamber heating. ORBITEC

conducted over 70 hot firings with the vortexcooled methane engine to refine the design of the

propellant injectors and combustion chamber. This

program resulted in a design that provided very

high performance of 98 percent of an ideal rocket

with no significant chamber heating upstream of the

exit nozzle. The chamber operated at a thrust of

approximately 133 newtons (30 pounds-force) and

a chamber pressure of 1.03 megapascals (150 pounds

per square inch absolute). Similar testing with

hydrogen in a larger chamber also demonstrated

very low chamber heating at pressures of 3.45

megapascals (500 pounds per square inch absolute)

and high performance. 

ORBITEC has also conducted successful

methane/oxygen ignition system developments and

has applied them to its larger rocket engine testing.

ORBITEC previously conducted successful engine

firing tests of solid methane and solid methane-aluminum in cryogenic solid hybrid rocket engines

with gaseous oxygen. This current research is being

conducted with the support of a Phase 3 SBIR 

contract from the AFRL.30

Liquid Engines–AirLaunch LLC

AirLaunch has completed flow calibration, ignition

and initial short duration tests

of a liquid oxygen and propane

powered upper stage rocket

engine that has application 

for future small spacecraft

launchers. The tests were conducted from April to June 2005 at the Civilian

Flight Test Center, Mojave Spaceport.

The engine employs an ablative chamber and

nozzle, and is designed to produce 106,800 newtons

(24,000 pounds force) force when operating in a

vacuum with an extension nozzle. The extension is

not installed for sea level tests. 

Testing demonstrated that the engine is stable,

can be ignited quickly after shutdown and is ready

to move into the next phase of development. Work

on this engine was conducted in support of the

DARPA/USAF FALCON program.31

Liquid Engines–Space Exploration

Technologies Corporation

SpaceX of El Segundo,

California, completed development in

early 2005 of two new liquid-propellant engines for use on its Falcon I

launch vehicle. The first stage engine,

known as Merlin 1A, is a high pressure

342,650-newton (77,000-pound-force)

at sea level thrust engine that is turbopump fed with a gas generator cycle.

The second stage engine, known as

Kestrel, is a pressure-fed engine that

produces 31,150 newtons (7,000 pounds-force) thrust

(vacuum). Both engines use LOX/kerosene propellants. SpaceX began development on the Falcon V

Merlin 1B upgrade engine (378,250 newtons/85,000

pounds-force at sea level) in 2005. The company

expects to complete a Falcon V stage hold down 

firing with all M1B engines by the end of 2005. The

next major engine development is Merlin 2, where

SpaceX will aim for a significant increase in thrust

and chamber pressure. Merlin 2 will serve as an

exact scale version of the F-1 class (>6,675,000 newtons or 1.5 million pounds-force thrust) engine that

SpaceX intends to start developing in a few years.32

2006 U.S. Commercial Space Transportation Developments and Concepts Enabling Technologies

Federal Aviation Administration Office of Commercial Space Transportation 33

Liquid Oxygen/

Propane Engine

SpaceX

Merlin

Engine
Liquid Engines–XCOR Aerospace

XCOR Aerospace, located in Mojave,

California, specializes in developing engines and

propulsion systems for use on launch vehicles and

spacecraft. The company has developed and extensively tested six liquid-propellant engines. XCOR’s

largest engine currently in active development, designated XR4K5, is an 8,000-newton (1,800-poundforce) engine that is pump-fed, LOX/kerosene

regeneratively cooled with fuel. This engine may be

used to power the prototype Xerus vehicle for initial

flight testing, but XCOR has not yet decided on this

approach.

The XR4A3 is a fully operational 1,780-newton (400-pound-force), pressure-fed, regeneratively

cooled, liquid oxygen and alcohol engine. Four

such engines have been built and, combined, have

been run 558 times for over 6,434 seconds. These

engines have also been flown on the EZ-Rocket, a

modified Long-EZ aircraft fitted with two of the

engines. The EZ-Rocket has completed 15 successful flight tests since July 2001, including two flights

at the Experimental Aircraft Association’s AirVenture

2002 air show in Oshkosh, Wisconsin, in July 2002.

XCOR has built four smaller engines. The

XR3A2 700-newton (160-pound-force) engine was

the first LOX/alcohol engine, accumulating 61 brief

runs in the course of injector concept development,

which led to later engines. The XCOR XR3B4

regeneratively cooled engine is capable of 220 newtons (50 pounds-force) thrust, using nitrous oxide

and isopropyl alcohol as propellants. This engine

has completed 216 runs with a cumulative burn

time of more than 812 seconds. XCOR designed

this engine for use as a maneuvering thruster on

spacecraft. A 67-newton (15-pound-force) engine,

designated XR2P1, using nitrous oxide and ethane

as propellants, was initially built to test the design

of proposed larger engines. With a cumulative burn

time of 103 minutes, this engine has completed in

excess of 1,189 runs. It continues to serve as a

workhorse engine for a wide variety of experiments,

crew training activities, and educational demonstrations. The XR2P1 has run on oxygen and nitrous

oxide oxidizers, with propane, ethane, kerosene,

turpentine, and a variety of alcohols.33

In April 2002, XCOR acquired selected intellectual property assets of the former Rotary Rocket

Company. These assets included a 22,250-newton

(5,000-pound-force) LOX/kerosene engine developed and tested by the company as well as hydrogen

peroxide engine technology. XCOR has completed

development of their fourth-generation igniter with

integral valves and is now developing composite

LOX tank technology with inherent materials compatibility and superior structural effectiveness. A

piston pump suitable for use with LOX/kerosene,

alcohol, or both, fuels is currently under development and will be merged with the XR4K5 engine.

In August 2005 XCOR

successfully completed its

first series of tests on the

3M9 223-newton (50-poundforce) thrust rocket engine

fueled by methane and liquid

oxygen. The engine tests

consisted of 22 engine firings totaling 65 seconds. The longest engine firing

was 7 seconds. This first series of tests were done

with self-pressurizing propellants. Pressure-fed and

pump-fed versions are also in development. 

The advantages of a methane-fueled engine

include long-term on-orbit storage, higher density

than hydrogen engines, higher performance than

kerosene engines, and the potential for using methane

derived from the Martian atmosphere as a fuel source.

Future generations of the 3M9 engine are intended

for use as Reaction Control Systems (RCS) and

satellite maneuvering systems. The engine tests took

place at XCOR’s facilities at Mojave Spaceport.34

Liquid Engines–Microcosm, Inc.

Microcosm is developing a family of liquidpropellant rocket engines for its Scorpius series of

ELVs and other users (see the ELV section for a

description of Scorpius). The company has built a

pressure-fed, ablatively cooled, 22,250-newton

(5,000-pound-force) thrust engine using liquid oxygen and jet fuel as propellants. This engine was

successfully tested on the company’s SR-S and

SRXM-1 sounding rockets launched in January

1999 and March 2001. The engine will also be used

as the upper stage engine for the Sprite Mini-Lift

orbital vehicle should that vehicle move into final

development.

Enabling Technologies 2006 U.S. Commercial Space Transportation Developments and Concepts

34 Federal Aviation Administration Office of Commercial Space Transportation

Liquid Oxygen/

Methane Engine
2006 U.S. Commercial Space Transportation Developments and Concepts Enabling Technologies

Federal Aviation Administration Office of Commercial Space Transportation 35

In May 2005 Microcosm successfully completed a series of tests of an 89,000-newton (20,000-

pound-force) low-cost ablative composite rocket

engine for responsive launch vehicle applications.

Several engines underwent a series of tests ranging

from 1 second to 30 seconds in duration with multiple injectors, chambers, and operating pressures.

The testing was the combined effort of Microcosm;

Sierra Engineering of Carson City, Nevada, which

designed the injector for the engine; and the AFRL

facilities at Edwards Air Force Base where the tests

were conducted. This engine will be used on the

booster pods and sustainer stage of the Microcosm

Eagle SLV included in the DARPA and USAF

FALCON Small Launch Vehicle Program.35

In addition, a new 356,000-newton (80,000-

pound-force) engine has started development under

an AFRL SBIR Phase 1 contract. Both the 20,000-

pound-force and 80,000 pound-force engines are

follow-on developments to the successful 5,000-

pound-force engines. All are ablative chamber,

LOX/Jet A propellant engines designed for very

low-cost, robust design margins, moderate chamber

pressures, high reliability, and expendable applications.

Liquid Engines–MB-XX–Pratt &

Whitney Rocketdyne

Rocketdyne Propulsion &

Power, part of Pratt & Whitney’s

Space Propulsion division operating

as Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne (a

wholly owned subsidiary of United

Technologies Corporation), is developing new technologies and engines

for space launch vehicles. In August

2005, United Technologies

Corporation (UTC) acquired Rocketdyne Propulsion

& Power from The Boeing Company. Rocketdyne

is developing advanced health management systems, new materials, advanced processes, and new

components that enable rocket engines to be safer

and more reliable. These technologies are being

demonstrated on development engines, such as the

Integrated Powerhead Demonstrator engine with the

USAF and NASA, and on the new MB-XX upper

stage engine to verify their characteristics.

NASA refocused its 2003 efforts on the Vision

for Space Exploration in 2004, halting work on the

RS-84 to study and determine the type of vehicle

and propulsion required to return the U.S. to the

Moon and prepare to go to Mars. Rocketdyne is

evaluating various propulsion options to meet the

Vision for Space Exploration requirements and to

enable significant improvements in current ELVs.

Areas under consideration include the reliable

SSME; the proven J-2S Saturn engines from the

Apollo era; a derivative of the Delta 4 launch vehicle engine, the RS-68; RS-84 technology; and the

MB-XX upper stage engine.36

The MB-XX is being demonstrated on funding from Boeing and Mitsubishi Heavy Industries

for potential application to the Vision for Space

Exploration launch vehicle or upgrades to today’s

EELVs. Rocketdyne completed PDR on the RS-84

rocket engine, which is the first reusable hydrocarbon staged combustion rocket engine. This engine

is designed to produce 4,728,889 newtons

(1,064,000 pounds-force) of thrust at sea level with

a design life of 100 missions.

The MB-60 engine is the first member of the

MB-XX family to begin development, and is targeted

for use on the Delta 4 launch vehicle.37 This multiplerestart engine is designed to produce 267,000 newtons (60,000 pounds-force) of thrust (vacuum), and 

a nominal specific impulse of 467 seconds.

Aerospike Liquid Engine–Garvey

Spacecraft Corporation

During 2005, GSC and California State

University, Long Beach (CSULB) conducted several

notable small launch vehicle R&D activities through

their partnership in the California Launch Vehicle

Education Initiative. Using a single-chamber, liquidpropellant, annular aerospike engine concept 

Low-cost, ablative composite rocket engine

MB-XX Engine
developed by CSULB, the

GSC/CSULB team validated the

basic design and ignition sequence

with a successful static fire test at the

Reaction Research Society’s Mojave

Test Area (MTA) in June 2003. The

team then mounted one of these

4,444-newton (1,000-pound-force)

thrust LOX/ ethanol ablative engines

onto their Prospector 2 vehicle and

proceeded to conduct the first-ever

powered liquid-propellant aerospike

flight test at the MTA in September 2003. In response

to several issues observed during that flight, modifications were made to the engine fabrication process.

Another flight test with the Prospector 4 vehicle

followed in December 2003. Performance was

entirely nominal, resulting in complete recovery 

of the vehicle and key trajectory data.

These CALVEIN flight tests represent the

first steps toward obtaining the critical empirical

data needed to validate whether the predicted benefits of such aerospike engines versus those equipped

with standard bell-shaped nozzles can be achieved.

This goal had been one of the primary objectives of

the X-33 program, which featured the XRS-2200

linear aerospike engine.

The CSULB students are now investigating a

next-generation aerospike engine design, featuring a

more traditional multi-chamber design. This design

will enable the large expansion ratios required to

fully evaluate engine performance throughout the

entire flight regime of an orbital launch vehicle.

As part of an evaluation of fuels for the NLV

that could provide greater performance than the

ethanol used in the current CALVEIN research

vehicles, the team has identified propylene as a

promising candidate meriting further attention.

Liquid oxygen and propylene have the potential to

provide higher specific impulse than the traditional

LOX/RP-1 propellant combination. Unlike another

alternative hydrocarbon that has received extensive

discussion (methane), propylene can achieve comparable densities to that of RP-1 when chilled to

cryogenic temperatures. A widely available commodity because of its role as a feedstock in the plastics

industry, propylene also has favorable characteristics

with respect to toxicity and environmental hazards.

Some of the potential concerns about propylene,

most notably its potential for polymerization, are

only relevant for turbopump-fed regenerative

engines. Therefore, those concerns are not issues

for the pressure-fed NLV stages that feature ablative and radiative engine chambers.

The GSC/CSULB conducted a series of static

fire tests at the MTA to identify logistics and handling issues associated with propylene and to evaluate a preliminary engine design for the NLV second

stage. Preliminary results confirm that the ignition

sequence is more susceptible to a hard start than

liquid oxygen and ethanol. For this initial phase of

testing, the propylene has been at ambient temperatures. A round of follow-on testing will evaluate

several different ignition sequences and engine performance with propylene at cryogenic conditions.

Upon successful completion of that phase of

research, the team plans to conduct a LOX and

propylene flight test using a modified version of the

Prospector-class vehicles.38

The next important milestone was achieved

by the joint industry-academic team in December

2004 when they conducted their initial launch and

recovery of a full-scale flight development unit for

NLV. The Prospector 5 vehicle, and early version of

the NLV first stage, was launched and then recovered by parachute.39

Integrated Powerhead

Demonstrator–NASA

The Integrated Powerhead Demonstrator

(IPD) is a joint venture between NASA and the

Integrated High Payoff Rocket Propulsion

Technologies program, managed for DoD by the

AFRL at EAFB. This project is the first phase of a

full-scale effort to develop a flight-rated, full-flow,

hydrogen-fueled, staged combustion rocket engine

in the 1.1-million-newton (250,000-pound-force)

thrust class. The IPD will employ dual preburners

that provide both oxygen-rich and hydrogen-rich

staged combustion. Such combustion is expected to

keep engines cool during flight, achieve high system efficiency, and reduce exhaust emissions. 

Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne is developing

the liquid-hydrogen fuel turbopump and the demonstrator’s oxygen pump, main injector, and main

combustion chamber. Aerojet Corporation of

Sacramento, California, designed and tested the

Enabling Technologies 2006 U.S. Commercial Space Transportation Developments and Concepts

36 Federal Aviation Administration Office of Commercial Space Transportation

Aerospike

engine static

fire test 
oxidizer preburner, which

initiates the combustion

process with oxygen-rich

steam. Aerojet also is

responsible for development

of the demonstrator engine’s

fuel preburner, designed to

supply the fuel turbopump’s

turbine with hot, hydrogen-rich steam. BoeingRocketdyne will lead overall system integration

once component-level development and testing are

complete. The IPD underwent integrated testing at

Stennis Space Center from late 2004 through

September 2005, and in April 2005 NASA

announced that it was successfully fired during an

initial full-duration test.40

Hybrid Rocket Motors–SpaceDev, Inc.

In 1998, SpaceDev, Inc.,

of Poway, California, acquired

exclusive rights to the intellectual

property of the American

Rocket Company, which had

developed hybrid rocket motor

systems in the 1980s. SpaceDev

is currently developing a series

of small hybrid motors, using HTPB rubber or

polymethyl methacrylate (Plexiglas) as solid fuel

and storable nitrous oxide as a gaseous oxidizer.

SpaceDev completed tests in August 2001 of a

small hybrid rocket motor that is designed for use

in the company’s Maneuver and Transfer Vehicle,

an upper stage that can move small spacecraft, such

as secondary payloads on larger launch vehicles,

from GTO, LEO or GEO. In May 2002, the AFRL

awarded SpaceDev a contract to develop a hybrid

propulsion module to deploy small payloads from

the Space Shuttle. In September 2003, Scaled

Composites announced that it had selected SpaceDev

for propulsion support for its SpaceShipOne project.

In a series of flights in late 2004, SpaceDev’s hybrid

rocket motor powered SpaceShipOne to suborbital

space twice in two weeks, thus propelling it to win

the Ansari X Prize. In October 2004, SpaceDev was

awarded about $1.5 million to proceed with Phase 2

of its SBIR contract from the AFRL to continue its

hybrid rocket motor-based small launch vehicle

project. The company is presently in the fabrication

phase of the first test article for this upper-stage

hybrid propulsion system.41

Hybrid Propulsion Systems–Lockheed

Martin-Michoud

Hybrid motors of the 1.1-million-newton

(250,000-pound-force) thrust class are being studied

for possible use on current and future launch vehicles.

Funding for the hybrid team came from the DoD

Technology Reinvestment Program, NASA monetary

and in-kind support, and contributions of industry

team members.42

In November 2003, Lockheed Martin-Michoud

Operations was awarded a six-month study contract

from DARPA as part of the USAF FALCON program

to assess hybrid propulsion applications for a responsive small launch vehicle. This study concluded in

May 2004. In September 2004, FALCON competitors began a 10-month design phase to be followed

by a down-select to possibly two competitors, and 

a winning design to be selected in 2007. Lockheed

Martin-Michoud’s all-hybrid two-stage vehicle will

deliver a payload up to 455 kilograms (1,000 pounds)

to LEO and, if selected, will establish hybrid

propulsion as a viable space launch booster technology. The core booster stage will generate approximately 1.4 million newtons (320,000 pounds-force)

of thrust and the second stage approximately 133,333

newtons (30,000 pounds-force) of thrust to meet

mission objectives using a HTPB and LOX motor.

Staged combustion hybrid technologies have

been demonstrated on the ground by Lockheed

Martin-Michoud Operations in over 600 ground

tests of small and large diameter motor firings at

the NASA Stennis Space Center and MSFC.

Lockheed Martin-Michoud has six patents and more

than $10 million of internal R&D invested to date.

Hyper-X Series Vehicles–NASA

On March 27, 2004,

four decades of supersoniccombustion ramjet (scramjet)

propulsion research culminated in a successful flight

of the X-43A hypersonic

technology demonstrator, the first time a scramjetpowered aircraft had flown freely. On November

16, 2004, an identical scramjet-powered X-43A

repeated this feat.

2006 U.S. Commercial Space Transportation Developments and Concepts Enabling Technologies

Federal Aviation Administration Office of Commercial Space Transportation 37

IPD test at NASA

Stennis Space Center 

SpaceDev hybrid

propulsion system

X-43A/Hyper X 
Chemical rocket systems combust a fuel and

oxygen mixture to produce thrust. By carrying

everything needed for combustion, these engines

can operate in the vacuum of space. Conventional

turbojets also burn fuel and an oxidizer, but the oxidizer comes from the atmosphere. Without the need

for oxidizer tankage, these engines are lighter than

rockets but cannot operate in rarified air or a vacuum. For vehicles intended to conduct powered

flight from the Earth’s surface up to space and

back, such as RLVs, an engine capable of operating

throughout changing atmospheric conditions is the

ideal propulsion solution.

NASA’s Langley Research Center in Hampton,

Virginia, has managed the Hyper-X program to

develop air-breathing rocket technology since 1997.

The vehicle is the result of collaboration between

ATK-GASL, which built the airframe and engine,

and Boeing Phantom Works, which constructed the

thermal protection system.

Other technology efforts have flown scramjet

engines, but those engines were permanently affixed

to the carrier rockets. Supersonic combustion ramjets,

or scramjets, are air-breathing engines with no

moving parts, similar to ramjets. Unlike ramjets,

however, scramjets only operate at supersonic speeds.

The gaseous hydrogen burning engines of the X-43A

were enclosed in a 3.7 meter (12 feet) long airframe

and propelled the vehicle at velocities of approximately Mach 7 and Mach 10. The 3.7-meter (12-foot)

long vehicle has accelerated to Mach 7 (for the first

flight) or Mach 10 (for the final flight) by the first

stage of an Orbital Sciences Corporation Pegasus

XL launch vehicle. Then, the X-43A separates from

the booster for independent flight at high speed.43

The whole stack was dropped from NASA’s B-52B

carrier aircraft.

During a successful test flight conducted in

2004, the NASA B-52 aircraft released the vehicle

at an altitude of 12.2 kilometers (7.6 miles) to reduce

the aerodynamic loads on the control surfaces of

the booster. The X-43A was boosted to a test flight

altitude of 29 kilometers (18 miles) by a modified

Pegasus XL rocket. Then, it separated for a 10-

second period of scramjet-powered flight. The

flight achieved a speed of Mach 6.83.

The Hyper-X program not only proved the

maturity of scramjet technology but also recorded

valuable environmental data on hypersonic flight.

During the second and final X-43A flight in

November 2004, a speed of Mach 9.8 was reached.

The resulting vehicle skin temperatures of 1,982

degrees Celsius (3,600 degrees Fahrenheit) were 

far above the melting point of conventional aircraft

structures and required a thermal protection system.

Because existing wind tunnels are incapable of 

generating Mach 10 airflow, the final X-43A flight

provided a one-of-a-kind opportunity for research

into this flight regime. The X-43A proved that the

United States can produce air-breathing vehicles

capable of sustained actively controlled flight at

hypersonic speeds.

In October 2005, Alliant Techsystems received

a five-year, $15 million contract from NASA’s

Aeronautics Research Mission Directorate to 

conduct hypersonic aero-propulsion research, test,

and evaluation in specially designed wind-tunnels

that replicate the atmospheric conditions aircraft

experience if traveling at speeds up to Mach 20.

Hypersonic vehicles promise to enable future

RLV systems, such as two-stage-to-orbit systems.

In addition to serving as RLV propulsion, hypersonic

engines may enable production of hypersonic 

munitions for the military.

Propellant Production–Andrews

Space, Inc.

Andrews Space, Inc., 

of Seattle, Washington, has

developed an In-flight

Propellant Collection System,

the “Alchemist” Air Collection

and Enrichment System

(ACES), which generates 

liquid oxygen (LOX) through the separation of

atmospheric air. ACES takes high-pressure air from

turbofan jet engines flying at subsonic speeds and

liquefies it by passing the air through a series of heat

exchangers cooled by liquid nitrogen, liquid hydrogen,

or both. Then, using a fractional distillation process,

liquid oxygen is separated into its constituent parts

and stored in propellant tanks for use by liquid

hydrogen and LOX rocket engines. 

AlchemistTM ACES allows horizontal take-off

and landing launch vehicles to leave the ground

without oxidizer, dramatically reducing their takeoff weight, increasing payload capability, or both.

Enabling Technologies 2006 U.S. Commercial Space Transportation Developments and Concepts

38 Federal Aviation Administration Office of Commercial Space Transportation

Gryphon with orbiter
Since it allows vehicles to take off without LOX on

board-minimizing vehicle takeoff weight-the ACES

technology is critical for Horizontal Takeoff,

Horizontal Landing (HTHL) architectures to meet

NASA’s next-generation safety, economic, and

operational goals with existing air-breathing and

rocket propulsion systems. Because LOX represents

a significant fraction of take-off weight, this

approach allows a dramatically smaller launch 

vehicle for a given payload size.

The company has proposed AlchemistTM

ACES in conjunction with its two-stage-to-orbit

RLV design—known as Gryphon–as well as for 

use in other horizontal take-off launch vehicles.

Andrews Space carried out initial studies of the

AlchemistTM ACES technology using internal funds,

then under a NASA SBIR contract. Detailed feasibility studies and risk analyses were carried out

under a NASA SLI contract. 

Critical components for the ACES system 

are presently in prototype hardware development at

Andrews under a DARPA seedling contract. Future

work involving design, fabrication, and test of a

subscale all-up ACES system on board a flight

vehicle is now in the planning stage. ACES was

first demonstrated in the 1960’s for the USAF

Aerospaceplane program.44

2006 U.S. Commercial Space Transportation Developments and Concepts Enabling Technologies

Federal Aviation Administration Office of Commercial Space Transportation 39
Launch and reentry sites—often referred to as

“spaceports”—are the nation’s gateways to and from

space. Although individual capabilities vary, these

facilities may house launch pads and runways as well

as the infrastructure, equipment, and fuels needed

to process launch vehicles and their payloads before

launch. The first such facilities in the United States

emerged in the 1940s when the federal government

began to build and operate space launch ranges and

bases to meet a variety of national needs. 

While U.S. military and civil government

agencies were the original and still are the primary

users and operators of these facilities, commercial

payload customers have become frequent users of

federal spaceports as well. Federal facilities are 

not the only portals to and from space. Indeed, the

commercial dimension of U.S. space activity is 

evident not only in the numbers of commerciallyprocured launches but also in the presence of 

non-federal launch sites supplementing federally

operated sites. 

Since 1996, FAA/AST has licensed the 

operations of five non-federal launch sites. These

spaceports have served both commercial and government payload owners. To date about $165 million

has been invested into non-federal spaceports across

the nation. The activity is primarily funded by the

individual states with private sponsorship and some

federal government support. An average of $2.8

million is spent yearly operating the established,

licensed spaceports and $270,000 towards the

development of each proposed spaceport.45

Table 3 shows which states have non-federal,

federal, and proposed spaceports. Non-federal and

federal spaceports capable of supporting launch and

landing activities that currently exist in the United

States are also described. A subsection detailing

state and private proposals for future spaceports

with launch and landing capabilities is included. 

Non-Federal Spaceports 

with FAA/AST Licenses 

While the majority of licensed launch activity

still occurs at U.S. federal ranges, much future launch

and landing activity may originate from private or

state-operated spaceports. For a non-federal entity

to operate a launch or landing site in the United

States, it is necessary to obtain a license from the

federal government through FAA/AST. To date,

FAA/AST has licensed the operations of five nonfederal launch sites, all of which are described in

this subsection. Three of these are co-located with

federal launch sites, including the California

Spaceport at VAFB, Florida Space Authority (FSA)

at Cape Canaveral, Florida, and MARS (originally

the Virginia Space Flight Center) at Wallops Flight

Facility (WFF), Virginia. The first orbital launch

from an FAA/AST-licensed site occurred on

January 6, 1998, when a Lockheed Martin Athena

2, carrying NASA’s Lunar Prospector spacecraft,

successfully lifted off from FSA’s LC-46. Table 4

summarizes the characteristics of FAA/AST

licensed spaceports. 

Spaceports 2006 U.S. Commercial Space Transportation Developments and Concepts

40 Federal Aviation Administration Office of Commercial Space Transportation

Spaceports

Table 3: Spaceport Summary by State

State Non-federal Federal Proposed

Alabama

Alaska

California

Florida

Kwajalein

New Mexico

Oklahoma

Texas

Virginia

Washington

Wisconsin
California Spaceport 

On September 19, 1996, the California

Spaceport became the first commercial spaceport

licensed by FAA/AST. In June 2001, FAA/AST

renewed the spaceport’s license for another five

years. The California Spaceport offers commercial

launch and payload processing services and is operated and managed by Spaceport Systems International

(SSI), a limited partnership of ITT Federal Service

Corporation. Co-located at VAFB on the central

California coast, SSI signed a 25-year lease in 1995

for 0.44 square kilometers (0.17 square miles) of

land. Located at latitude 34o North, the California

Spaceport can support a variety of mission profiles

to low-polar-orbit inclinations, with possible launch

azimuths ranging from 220 degrees to 165 degrees. 

Initial construction of the California Spaceport’s

Commercial Launch Facility began in 1995 and was

completed in 1999. The design concept is based on

a “building block” approach. Power and communications cabling was routed underground to provide

a launch pad with the flexibility to accommodate a

variety of launch systems. Additional work was

completed in 2004 to build a rolling access gantry

to support Minuteman and future Peacekeeper space

booster derivatives. Although the facility is configured to support solid-propellant vehicles, plans are

in place to equip the launch facility with support

systems/commodities required by liquid-fueled

boosters. The current SLC-8 configuration consists

of the following infrastructure: pad deck, support

2006 U.S. Commercial Space Transportation Developments and Concepts Spaceports

Federal Aviation Administration Office of Commercial Space Transportation 41

California Spaceport

Spaceport Location Owner/Operator Launch Infrastructure Development Status

California 

Spaceport

Vandenberg 

AFB, California

Spaceport Systems 

International

Existing launch pads, runways, 

payload processing facilities, 

telemetry and tracking equipment.

Work completed in 2004 to build a rolling access 

gantry to support Minuteman and future 

Peacekeeper space booster derivatives. New SLC-8 

gantry installed in 2005.

Kodiak Launch 

Complex

Kodiak Island, 

Alaska

Alaska Aerospace 

Development 

Corporation

Launch control center, payload 

processing facility, and integration 

and processing facility. Orbital and 

suborbital launch pads. Maintenance 

and storage facility. Limited range 

support infrastructure (uses mobile 

equipment).

AADC purchased in 2005 two Mobile Telemetry 

Systems to augment primary range safety system. 

Second suborbital launch pad, motor storage facility 

and improved fiber-optic connectivity to continental 

U.S. are planned. Paving of improved road 

scheduled for completion in 2007.

Spaceport 

Operated by 

FSA

Cape 

Canaveral, 

Florida

Florida Space 

Authority

One launch complex, including a pad 

and a remote control center; a small 

payload preparation facility; and an 

RLV support facility.

Has invested over $500 million to upgrade launch 

sites, build an RLV support complex adjacent to the 

Shuttle Landing Facility, develop a new space 

operations support complex, and build a state-of-theart research facility at Kennedy Space Center.

Mid-Atlantic 

Regional 

Spaceport

Wallops Island, 

Virginia

Virginia Commercial 

Space Flight 

Authority

Two orbital launch pads, payload 

processing and integration facility 

vehicle storage and assembly 

buildings, on-site and downrange 

telemetry and tracking, and payload 

recovery capability.

Significant upgrades to Pad 0B were completed in 

2005 to make it fully compatible with liquid as well as 

solid fueled launch vehicles. The Movable Service 

Structure on Pad 0B was validated in 2005 to 

support Minuteman and Peacekeeper-derived launch 

vehicles. Phase I development of new Multipurpose 

Processing Facility (MPF) and Liquid Fueling Facility 

(LFF) were completed in 2005.

Mojave Airport Mojave, 

California

East Kern Airport 

District

Air control tower, 3 runways, rotor 

test stand, engineering facilities, high 

bay building. Easy access to 

restricted airspace. Runway extended 

to 12,500 feet.

FAA/AST approved site license. Scaled Composites’ 

SS1 has launched from this site for the Ansari X 

Prize competition.

Table 4: Licensed Non-federal Spaceports: Infrastructure and Status

Spaceport
Spaceports 2006 U.S. Commercial Space Transportation Developments and Concepts

42 Federal Aviation Administration Office of Commercial Space Transportation

equipment building, launch equipment vault, launch

duct, launch stand, access tower, communications

equipment, and Integrated Processing Facility (IPF)

launch control room as well as the required Western

Range interfaces needed to support a launch. The

final SLC-8 configuration awaits future customer

requirements. When fully developed, the SLC-8

Launch Facility will accommodate a wide variety

of launch vehicles, including the Minuteman-based

Minotaur and Castor 120-based vehicles, such as

Athena and Taurus. 

Originally, the focus of the California

Spaceport’s payload processing services was on the

refurbishment of the Shuttle Payload Preparation

Room. Located near SLC-6, this large clean room

facility was originally designed to process three

Space Shuttle payloads simultaneously. It is now

leased and operated by the California Spaceport 

as the Integrated Processing Facility (IPF). Today,

payload-processing activities occur on a regular

basis. The IPF has supported booster processing,

upper stage processing, encapsulation, and commercial, civil, and USAF satellite processing and their

associated administrative activities. The IPF can

handle all customer payload processing needs. This

includes Delta 2, Delta 4, and Atlas 5-class payloads

as well as smaller USAF and commercial payloads

as required. 

The spaceport has received limited financial

support from the state in the form of grants. In 2000,

it received about $180,000 to upgrade the east breech

load doors in the IPF transfer tower. The modification was completed in March 2001. The new transfer

tower can accommodate 18-meter (60-foot) payloads.

This will enable SSI to process and encapsulate

satellites in support of the EELV program. In May

2001, SSI received approximately $167,000 to

upgrade the satellite command and telemetry systems.

The state of California has also provided some 

support for California Spaceport business. In 2001,

legislation was passed to remove the “sunset” clause

on tax exemptions for commercial satellites and

boosters launched from VAFB, including California

Spaceport. 

The California Spaceport provides payload

processing and orbital launch support services for

commercial, civil, and government users, including
EELV customers. The California Spaceport provided payload-processing services for NASA satellites

including Landsat 7 (1996), TIMED/Jason (2001),

and Aqua (2002). The California Spaceport’s first

polar launch was JAWSAT, a joint project of the Air

Force Academy and Weber State University, on a

Minotaur space launch vehicle in July 2000. To date,

the site has launched three Minotaur launch vehicles,

most recently in September 2005. In 2002, SSI won

a 10-year USAF satellite-processing contract for

Delta 4 class 4- and 5-meter (13- and 16-foot) 

payloads. This contract complements an existing

10-year NASA payload-processing contract for

Delta 2 class 3-meter (10-foot) payloads. SSI is

working with several launch providers for National

Missile Defense support. 

The National Reconnaissance Office has contracted with SSI to provide payload processing until

2011. This includes Delta 4 and Atlas 5 EELV-class

payload processing support for multiple missions to

be launched from VAFB. NASA and commercial

Delta-class payloads are also processed at the IPF

for launch on the Delta 2 and launched from SLC2W on VAFB. In 2003 through 2004, the California

Spaceport continued improvements to the IPF and

supported USAF Pathfinders, including the EELV

5 M Pathfinder. In 2004, SSI was awarded three

new Minotaur launches for 2005 and 2006, and a

new Indefinite Delivery/Indefinite Quantity contract

to support future Minotaur task orders.46

In 2005, SSI supported two payload processing

flows through the Integrated Processing Facility and

two successful Minotaur launches from SLC-8. 

A third Minotaur is scheduled for launch in March

2006.47 A new gantry was also installed at SLC-8 

in 2005. 

Kodiak Launch Complex 

In 1991, the Alaska state legislature created

the Alaska Aerospace Development Corporation

(AADC) as a public company to develop aerospacerelated economic, technical, and educational opportunities for the state of Alaska. In 2000, the AADC

completed the $40-million, two-year construction

of the Kodiak Launch Complex at Narrow Cape on

Kodiak Island, Alaska. The first licensed launch site

not co-located with a federal facility, Kodiak Launch

Complex (KLC) was also the first new U.S. launch

site built since the 1960s. Owned by the state of

Alaska and operated by the AADC, the Kodiak

Launch Complex received initial funding from the

USAF, U.S. Army, NASA, the state of Alaska, and

private firms. Today, it is self-sustaining through

launch revenues and receives no state funding; the

state of Alaska provides tax-free status and has contributed the land that the spaceport resides on. 

Kodiak provides a wide launch azimuth and

unobstructed downrange flight path. Kodiak’s markets are military launches, government and commercial telecommunications, remote sensing, and

space science payloads weighing up to 1,000 kilograms (2,200 pounds). These payloads can be 

delivered into LEO, polar, and Molniya elliptical

orbits. Kodiak is designed to launch up to Castor

120-based vehicles, including the Athena 1 and 2,

and has been used on a number of occasions to

launch military suborbital rockets. 

Kodiak facilities currently include the Launch

Control Center; the Payload Processing Facility,

which includes a class-100,000 clean room, an 

airlock, and a processing bay; the Launch Service

Structure and orbital Launch Pad 1; the Spacecraft

and Assemblies Transfer Facility and suborbital

Launch Pad 2; the Integration and Processing

Facility; and the Maintenance and Storage Facility.

These facilities allow the transfer of vehicles and

payloads from processing to launch without exposure

to the outside environment. This capability protects

both the vehicles and the people working on them

from exterior conditions, and allows all-weather

launch operations. 

2006 U.S. Commercial Space Transportation Developments and Concepts Spaceports

Federal Aviation Administration Office of Commercial Space Transportation 43

Athena Launch Pad 1
Kodiak has conducted eight launches since

1998. The first launch from Kodiak was a suborbital

vehicle, Atmospheric Interceptor Technology 1, built

by Orbital Sciences Corporation for the USAF in

November 1998. A second launch followed in

September 1999. In March 2001, a Quick Reaction

Launch Vehicle (QRLV) was launched from the

Kodiak Launch Complex. A joint NASA-Lockheed

Martin Astronautics mission on an Athena 1 was the

first orbital launch from Kodiak, taking place on

September 29, 2001. In November 2001, a Strategic

Target System vehicle was launched. However,

because of a launch anomaly, the vehicle was

destroyed. In April 2002, Orbital Sciences launched

a second QRLV for the USAF. 

Most recently, on February 13, 2005, MDA

launched the IFT-14 target missile, one of several

rockets from Kodiak to test the U.S. missile defense

system. This followed the 2003 signing of a five-year

contract between MDA and AADC to provide launch

support services for multiple launches in connection

with tests of the nation’s missile defense system.

The next launch is scheduled for winter of 2006.

The KLC Range Safety and Telemetry System

(RSTS) was delivered in September 2003 and

upgraded in 2005. The RSTS consists of two fully

redundant systems: one for on-site, the other for offaxis. Each part of the RSTS consists of two 5.4-meter

(17.7-foot) dishes with eight telemetry links featuring

command destruct capabilities. The Kodiak RSTS

number 1 system will be located on a newlyconstructed multi-elevation antenna field that also

supports customer-unique instrumentation. During

2005, Kodiak procured two Mobile Telemetry

Systems that will augment the RSTS with additional

telemetry receiving capability. Operational evaluation

tests have been completed on the RSTS as of

September 2005, and certification will be granted

upon successful operation as backup to the prime

range safety system in 2006.

During 2005, Kodiak completed the

Maintenance and Storage Facility with an additional

investment of $10 million in grant funding. Future

expansion plans include a possible second suborbital

launch pad, motor storage facility, and increased

fiber-optic bandwidth to the continental U.S. Paving

of improved roadways to the Kodiak Launch

Complex is scheduled to be completed by 2007.

Located at latitude 57o North, Kodiak Launch

Complex occupies a 12.4-square kilometer (4.8-

square mile) site about 438 kilometers (272 miles)

south of Anchorage and 40 kilometers (25 miles)

southwest of the city of Kodiak. The launch site

itself encompasses a nearly five-kilometer (threemile) area around Launch Pad 1. 

The AADC is also supporting development of

ground station facilities near Fairbanks, Alaska, in

cooperation with several commercial remote-sensing

companies. The high-latitude location makes the

Fairbanks site favorable for polar-orbiting satellites,

which typically pass above Fairbanks several 

times daily.48

Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport 

The Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport (MARS)

traces its beginnings to the Center for Commercial

Space Infrastructure, created in 1992 at Virginia’s

Old Dominion University to establish commercial

space research and operations facilities in the state.

The Center for Commercial Space Infrastructure

worked with WFF to develop commercial launch

infrastructure at Wallops. In 1995, the organization

became the Virginia Commercial Space Flight

Authority (VCSFA), a political subdivision of the

Commonwealth of Virginia, focused on promoting

growth of aerospace business while developing a

commercial launch capability in Virginia. 

Virginia and Maryland began to cooperatively

conduct future development, operate, and promote

the MARS under a bi-state agreement executed

between the two governors in July 2003. (Hence,

the name change from the Virginia Space Flight

Spaceports 2006 U.S. Commercial Space Transportation Developments and Concepts

44 Federal Aviation Administration Office of Commercial Space Transportation

Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport
Center to MARS). Maryland was provided two seats

on the Board of Directors of the Virginia Commercial

Space Flight Authority by the Governor of Virginia.

Maryland is given equal representation with Virginia

members on the Spaceport Committee. Maryland

participates with Virginia in funding the operation

of the spaceport.49

On December 19, 1997, FAA/AST issued

VCSFA a launch site operator’s license for the

MARS. This license was renewed in December

2002 for another five years. The MARS is designed 

to provide “one-stop shopping” for space launch

facilities and services for commercial, government,

scientific, and academic users. In 1997, VCSFA

signed with NASA a Reimbursement Space Act

Agreement to use the Wallops center’s facilities in

support of commercial launches. This 30-year

agreement allows VCSFA access to NASA’s payload integration, launch operations, and monitoring

facilities on a non-interference, cost reimbursement

basis. NASA and MARS personnel work together

to provide launch services, providing little, if any,

distinction in the areas of responsibility for each. 

VCSFA has a partnership agreement with

DynSpace Corporation, a Computer Sciences

Corporation company, of Reston, Virginia, to operate

the spaceport. Funded by a contract with the state

and through any spaceport revenues, DynSpace

operates MARS for the VCSFA. The state maintains ownership of the spaceport’s assets. MARS is

located at WFF under a long-term use agreement

for real estate on which the Goddard Space Flight

Center has made real property improvements. The

VCSFA receives the majority of its funding from

operations. The remainder of its support comes from

the states of Maryland and Virginia (approximately

50 percent of the 2005 operating budget). 

VCSFA owns two launch pads at Wallops.

Launch pad 0B, its first launch pad, was designed

as a “universal launch pad,” capable of supporting a

variety of small and medium ELVs with gross liftoff

weights of up to 225,000 kilograms (496,000 pounds)

that can place up to 4,500 kilograms (9,900 pounds)

into LEO. Phase 1 construction of launch pad 0B,

including a 1,750-square-meter (18,830-square-foot)

pad made of reinforced concrete, above-ground flame

deflector, and launch mount, took place between

March and December 1998. In 2003, MARS 

committed to the design and construction of a new

34.4-meter (113-foot) Mobile Service Structure. The

new $1.3 million Mobile Service Structure offers

complete vehicle enclosure, flexible access, and can

be readily modified to support specific vehicle

operations. The site also includes a complete command, control, and communications interface with

the launch range. A USAF OSP Minotaur mission 

is currently scheduled for this site. 

In March 2000, MARS acquired a second pad

at WFF, launch pad 0A. EER Systems of Seabrook,

Maryland, built this site in 1994 for its Conestoga

launch vehicle. The Conestoga made one launch

from launch pad 0A in October 1995 but failed to

place the METEOR microgravity payload into orbit.

MARS started refurbishing launch pad 0A and its

25-meter (82-foot) service tower in June 2000. Launch

pad 0A will support launches of small ELVs with

gross liftoff weights of up to 90,000 kilograms

(198,000 pounds) and that are capable of placing up

to 1,350 kilograms (3,000 pounds) into LEO.

Completion of the refurbishing project is pending

future business opportunities. From its location on

the Atlantic coast, MARS can accommodate a wide

range of orbital inclinations and launch azimuths.

Optimal orbital inclinations accessible from the site

are between 38° and 60°; other inclinations, including

SSO, can be reached through in-flight maneuvers.

Launch pad 0A can support a number of small

solid-propellant boosters, including the Athena 1,

Minotaur, and Taurus. Launch pad 0B can support

larger vehicles, including the Athena 2. MARS also

has an interest in supporting future RLVs, possibly

using its launch pads or three runways at WFF.50

MARS also provides an extensive array of

services including the provision of supplies and

consumables to support launch operations, facility

scheduling, maintenance, inspection to ensure timely

and safe ground processing and launch operations,

and coordination with NASA on behalf of its customers. Construction of Service Gantry Launch Pad

0B has been completed. MARS is in the process of

constructing a $4 million logistics and processing

facility at WFF, capable of handling payloads of up

to 5,700 kilograms (12,600 pounds); Phase I will be

completed in December 2005. The facility, which

includes high bay and clean room environments, is

currently in construction. In conjunction with WFF,

MARS is adding a new mobile Liquid Fueling

Facility capable of supporting a wide range of liquid2006 U.S. Commercial Space Transportation Developments and Concepts Spaceports

Federal Aviation Administration Office of Commercial Space Transportation 45
fueled and hybrid rockets. Construction of the LFF

is in the final integration and test phase, with Phase

I achieving completion in July 2005.51

Mojave Airport 

Mojave Airport in Mojave, California, became

the first inland launch site licensed by the FAA on

June 17, 2004, allowing Mojave Airport to support

suborbital launches of RLVs. The East Kern County,

California, government established the Mojave

Airport in 1935. The original facility was equipped

with taxiways and basic support infrastructure for

general aviation. A short time after its inception, the

Mojave Airport became a Marine Auxiliary Air

Station. The largest general aviation airport in Kern

County, Mojave Airport is owned and operated by

the East Kern Airport District, which is a special

district with an elected Board of Directors and a

General Manager. The airport serves as a Civilian

Flight Test Center, the location of the National Test

Pilot School (NTPS), and a base for modifying

major military jets and civilian aircraft. The NTPS

operates various aircraft, including high-performance

jets, single- and twin-engine propeller airplanes, and

helicopters. Numerous large air carrier jet aircraft

are stored and maintained at the Mojave Airport. 

The Mojave Airport consists of three runways

with associated taxiways and other support facilities,

Runway 12-30, Runway 8-26, and Runway 4-22.

Runway 12-30 is 2,896 meters (9,502 feet) long and

is the primary runway for large air carrier jet and

high-performance civilian and military jet aircraft.

Runway 8-26 is 2,149 meters (7,050 feet) long and is

primarily used by general aviation jet and propeller

aircraft. Runway 4-22 is 1,202 meters (3,943 feet)

long and is used by smaller general aviation propeller

aircraft and helicopters. Beginning in November

2005, Runway 12-30 will be extended to a total

length of 3,810 meters (12,500 feet) through an FAA

$7.5 million grant; this extension is a critical element

of the spaceport’s expansion program aimed at the

recovery of horizontal landing RLVs.52

Major facilities at the Mojave Airport include

the terminal and industrial area, hangars, offices,

maintenance shop, and fuel services facilities. Rocket

engine test stands are located in the northern portion

of the airport. Aircraft parking capacity includes 600

tie downs and 60 T-hangars. The Mojave Airport also

includes aircraft storage and a reconditioning facility

and is home to several industrial operations, such as

BAE Systems, Fiberset, Scaled Composites, AVTEL,

XCOR Aerospace, Orbital Sciences Corporation, IOS,

and General Electric. Mojave Airport also features

several test stands, an air traffic control tower, a

rocket test stand, some engineering facilities, and 

a high bay building. 

In the last three years, XCOR Aerospace 

performed flight tests at this facility, including 

multiple successful tests with the EZ-Rocket. XCOR

Aerospace had three rocketplane test flights up to

3,657 meters (12,000 feet) in 2002. In addition, rocket

engines of up to 133,000 newtons (30,000 poundsforce) of thrust were tested at the site in 2002 and

2003. The EZ-Rocket was successfully demonstrated

in October 2005 at the Countdown to the X Prize

Cup in Las Cruces, New Mexico. In December 2005,

the EZ-Rocket made a record-setting point-to-point

flight, departing from the Mojave Airport, and 

gliding to a touchdown at a neighboring airport 

in California City.53

On the 100th anniversary of the Wright

Brothers’ first powered flight, December 17, 2003,

Scaled Composites, LLC, flew SpaceShipOne from

Mojave Airport, breaking the speed of sound in the

first manned supersonic flight by an aircraft developed privately by a

small company. On

June 21, 2004, Scaled

Composites flew its

SpaceShipOne suborbital vehicle from the

Mojave Airport, reaching 100 kilometers (62

miles) and becoming

Spaceports 2006 U.S. Commercial Space Transportation Developments and Concepts

46 Federal Aviation Administration Office of Commercial Space Transportation

SpaceShipOne

Mojave Airport
the first private, manned rocket to reach space.

SpaceShipOne then flew from Mojave, past the

boundary of space, fully loaded to meet the Ansari X

Prize qualifications, on September 29 and again on

October 4, 2004. Brian Binnie piloted SpaceShipOne

to 112 kilometers (69 miles), winning the $10-million

Ansari X Prize and smashing the 107,960-meter

(354,200-foot) altitude record set by the X-15 

airplane in the 1960s.54

Spaceport Operated by 

Florida Space Authority

Established by the state

of Florida as the Spaceport

Florida Authority in 1989,

the Florida Space Authority

(FSA), renamed as such in

January 2002, is empowered

like an airport authority to

serve the space launch

industry and is responsible

for statewide space-related

economic and academic

development. The FSA

occupies and operates space

transportation-related facilities on approximately .036

square kilometers (.014 square miles) of land at the

Cape Canaveral Air Force Station (CCAFS), owned

by the United States Air Force (USAF). FAA/AST

first issued the state organization a license for spaceport operations on May 22, 1997, and renewed the

license in 2002 for another five years. 

Under an arrangement between the federal

government and FSA, excess facilities at CCAFS

have been licensed to FSA for use by commercial

launch service providers on a dual-use, non-interference basis. FSA efforts have concentrated on the

CCAFS Launch Complex-46 (LC-46), a Trident

missile launch site. LC-46 has been modified to

accommodate a variety of small launch vehicles, and

has already successfully launched the Athena 1 and

Athena 2 rockets. With further modifications, LC-46

could accommodate vehicles carrying payloads in

excess of 1,800 kilograms (4,000 pounds) to LEO. 

Currently, LC-46 is configured for Castor 120

or similar solid-motor-based vehicles. The infrastructure can support launch vehicles with a maximum

height of 36 meters (120 feet) and diameters ranging

from 1 to 3 meters (3 to 10 feet). An Athena 2, 

carrying the NASA Lunar Prospector, was the first

vehicle launched into orbit from the spaceport in

January 1998. This was followed by launch of the

ROCSAT satellite on an Athena 1 in January of 1999.

To date, FSA has invested over $500 million

in new space industry infrastructure development in

Florida. FSA has upgraded LC-46, built an RLV

support complex (adjacent to the Shuttle Landing

Facility at KSC), and developed a new space operations support complex. Additionally, FSA financed

$292 million for Atlas 5 launch facilities at CCAFS

LC-41, financed and constructed the $24 million

Delta 4 Horizontal Integration Facility for Boeing

at LC-37, and provided financing for a Titan 4 

solid rocket motor storage and processing facility.

Additionally, the state of Florida financed the Space

Life Sciences Lab, a $26 million state-of-the-art

research facility at KSC.

As part of an overall effort to expand use of

the Cape for R&D and educational activities, FSA

obtained a five-year license from the Air Force to

use LC-47. This launch complex was upgraded to

support a significant number of suborbital launch

vehicles carrying academic payloads for research

and training purposes. 

FSA is required by legislation to implement

and update the Space Master Transportation Plan,

which was developed in 2002 after the Florida

Legislature recognized space launch as an official

mode of the state’s transportation system. The Plan

is a continuing work in progress, requiring updating

and implementation.

In late 2004, FSA submitted an improved

spaceport cargo transportation issue for inclusion 

in the Brevard County’s Fiscal Year 2005-2009

Transportation Improvement Program. The creation

of this five-year transportation plan is required by

the Florida Department of Transportation (FDOT)

to identify transportation-related improvements to

the Spaceport and its intermodal connections to the

surrounding community. FSA continued to support

its request for an additional lane on the existing I-95

exit ramp for improved ingress and egress (eastbound towards the Spaceport) to State Road 407

(SR 407) for space-related cargoes. FSA supported

the FDOT throughout the year to justify the

redesign of SR 407/ I-95 interchange as a space2006 U.S. Commercial Space Transportation Developments and Concepts Spaceports

Federal Aviation Administration Office of Commercial Space Transportation 47

Super Loki launch 

at LC-47
related transportation project in Brevard County’s

TIP. This project, which has been linked with the

County’s top priority project, the six-lane widening

of I-95, is considered a part of Florida’s Strategic

Intermodal System (SIS). The project’s preliminary

study phase is complete and will enter the design

phase in later years. 

The state of Florida has continued to take great

strides to include space planning in all of its longterm transportation planning efforts and has looked

to FSA to provide space policy advice. In 2005, FSA

Executive Director Capt. Winston Scott was

appointed to sit on the Florida Transportation Plan

(FTP) Update Steering Committee. The FTP is the

long-range plan that identifies Florida’s transportation system’s goals and objectives for the next 20

years. The FTP addresses needs of the entire state

transportation system and provides the policy

framework for allocating over $100 billion in funding

to be spent on meeting the transportation needs of

residents, tourists and business people through 2025.

FSA’s presence on the steering committee facilitated

the FDOT’s inclusion of space needs in upcoming 

planning processes. 

FSA is in the inception stage of developing an

innovative, flexible and cost-friendly “Commercial

Spaceport” within the state of Florida to attract

commercial launch companies to the state. This

commercial spaceport is also intended to accommodate the growing need for rapid response launch

vehicles and the launching of smaller payloads 

for government, commercial and academic users.

During 2005 FSA conducted a study to determine

the feasibility and economic benefits of developing

a commercial spaceport in Florida. The analysis

included a market assessment of the number and

types of launch vehicles that could possibly use

such a facility, and concluded that a new commercial

spaceport is feasible from both a market and technical

standpoint. In the next decade, a Florida commercial

spaceport is expected to primarily benefit economically from the suborbital space tourism market, which

will generate increased economic activity, earnings,

and jobs, and raise Florida’s profile as a space state.

FSA is investigating the possibility of having

specific Florida airports apply for an FAA Launch

Operators license to support horizontally-launched

spacecraft. FSA believes this will be beneficial in

attracting space tourism companies utilizing horizontal launch technology, such as Richard Branson’s

Virgin Galactic. Several statewide airports have

shown great interest in participating in space tourism. 

Federal Spaceports 

Since the first licensed commercial orbital

launch in 1989, the federal ranges have continually

supported commercial launch activity. The importance of commercial launches is evident in the

changes taking place at federal launch sites. Launch

pads have been developed with commercial, federal,

and state government support at the two major 

federal sites for U.S. orbital launches for the latest

generation of the Delta and Atlas launch vehicles,

including the EELVs. Cape Canaveral Spaceport

(consisting of CCAFS and NASA KSC) hosts pads

for Delta 2, Delta 4, and Atlas 5. VAFB currently

accommodates the Delta 4, and a pad to support the

Atlas 5 completed construction in 2005. 

Recognizing that the ranges are aging, the U.S.

government is engaged in range modernization. This

effort includes the ongoing Range Standardization

and Automation program, a key effort to modernize

and upgrade the Eastern Launch and Test Range at

CCAFS and the Western Range at VAFB. The USAF,

Department of Commerce, and FAA signed a

Memorandum of Agreement in January 2002 that

established a process for collecting commercial sector

range support and modernization requirements,

communicating them to the USAF, and considering

them in the existing USAF requirements process.

Table 5 summarizes the characteristics of federal

spaceports. 

Cape Canaveral Air Force Station 

The 45th Space Wing, headquartered at nearby

Patrick AFB, conducts launch operations and provides

range support for military, civil, and commercial

launches at the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station

(CCAFS). The 45th Space Wing is the host organization for Patrick AFB, CCAFS, Antigua Air Station,

Ascension Auxiliary Air Field, and many mission

partners. The Wing is part of Air Force Space

Command at Peterson AFB, Colorado, and reports

to the 14th Air Force at VAFB. 

The Wing manages the Eastern Launch and

Test Range (ELTR), provides launch and tracking

facilities, safety procedures and test data to a wide

variety of users. It also manages launch operations

Spaceports 2006 U.S. Commercial Space Transportation Developments and Concepts

48 Federal Aviation Administration Office of Commercial Space Transportation
for DoD space programs. Users include the USAF,

Navy, NASA, and various private industry contractors. The ELTR also supports Shuttle launches from

NASA KSC.

With its mission partners, the Wing processes

a variety of satellites and launches them on Atlas 5,

Delta 2, and Delta 4 ELVs. The Wing also provides

support for the Space Shuttle program and U.S.

Navy submarine ballistic missile testing. 

The 45th Space Wing was established

November 12, 1991. Its origins date back to 1950

with the Army and Air Force’s establishment of the

Joint Long Range Proving Ground. A year later, the

Air Force assumed full control of the new facility,

designating it the Air Force Missile Test Center. In

1964, it was renamed the Air Force Eastern Test

Range, and in 1979 it became the Eastern Space

and Missile Center. The Eastern Space and Missile

Center became part of Air Force Space Command

in October 1990 when the Air Force transferred

space and launch responsibilities from Air Force

Systems Command to Air Force Space Command. 

Today, CCAFS encompasses active launch

complexes for Delta 2, Delta 4, Atlas 5, and sounding rocket launch vehicles. Launch Complex 40 for

Titan 4 and Launch Complex 36 for Atlas 2/3 were

deactivated in 2005. 

2006 U.S. Commercial Space Transportation Developments and Concepts Spaceports

Federal Aviation Administration Office of Commercial Space Transportation 49

Spaceport Location Owner/Operator Launch Infrastructure Development Status

Cape Canaveral 

Air Force Station 

(CCAFS)

Cape Canaveral, 

Florida

U.S. Air Force Telemetry and tracking facilities, jet and 

Shuttle capable runways, launch pads, 

hangar, vertical processing facilities, and 

assembly building.

RLV and ELV spaceport is operational.

Edwards AFB California, near 

Mojave

U.S. Air Force Telemetry and tracking facilities, jet and 

Shuttle capable runways, operations 

control center, movable hangar, fuel 

tanks, and water tower.

Site is operational.

NASA Kennedy 

Space Center

Cape Canaveral, 

Florida

NASA Launch pads, supporting Space Shuttle 

operations, the Vehicle Assembly 

Building (VAB), and the Shuttle Landing 

Site is operational.

Reagan Test Site Kwajalein Island, 

Republic of the 

Marshall Islands

U.S. Army Telemetry and tracking facilities, range 

safety systems, runway, control center.

Site is operational.

Vandenberg AFB Vandenberg 

AFB, California

U.S. Air Force Launch pads, vehicle assembly and 

processing buildings, payload 

processing facilities, telemetry and 

tracking facilities, control center 

engineering, user office space, Shuttlecapable runways.

VAFB has agreements with several 

commercial companies. Existing infrastructure 

is operational. Operational EELV pads in 2005.

Wallops Flight 

Facility

Wallops Island, 

Virginia

NASA Telemetry and tracking facilities, heavy 

jet-capable runway, launch pads, vehicle 

assembly and processing buildings, 

payload processing facilities, range 

control center, blockhouses, large 

aircraft hangars, and user office space.

Site is operational supporting many suborbital 

flight projects annually, with several orbital 

missions planned beginning in 2006. Mobile 

liquid fueling facility under development.

White Sands 

Missile Range

White Sands, 

New Mexico

U.S. Army Telemetry and tracking facilities, runway 

engine and propulsion testing facilities. 

Class-100 clean room for spacecraft 

parts.

NASA flight test center is operational. RLVspecific upgrades will probably be required. 

Signed a Memorandum of Agreement with 

State of New Mexico regarding cooperation 

on Southwest Regional Spaceport project.

Table 5: Federal Spaceports Infrastructure and Status

Cape Canaveral Air Force Station

Spaceport
The ELTR is used to gather and process data on a

variety of East Coast launches and deliver it to range

users. To accomplish this task, the range consists of

a series of tracking stations located at CCAFS,

Antigua Air Station, and Ascension Auxiliary Air

Field. The range also uses the Jonathan Dickinson

and the Malabar Tracking Annexes on the Florida

mainland. These stations may be augmented with a

fleet of advanced range instrumentation aircraft as

well as a site located in Argentia, Newfoundland.55

The CCAFS supported six launches 

through December 2005, including the NASA

Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter satellite on an Atlas

5; the Inmarsat 4-F1 commercial telecommunications satellite, also on an Atlas 5; and a National

Reconnaissance Office payload on the last Atlas 3B.

Edwards Air Force Base 

Located in California, Edwards Air Force

Base (EAFB) is the home of more than 250 first

flights and about 290 world records. It was the

original landing site for the Space Shuttle. The first

two Shuttle flights landed on Rogers Dry Lake, a

natural hard-pack riverbed measuring about 114

square kilometers (44 square miles). Unfortunately,

the normally dry lakebed was flooded in 1982, 

rendering the site unavailable for the third Shuttle

landing. (The Space Shuttle landed at White Sands,

New Mexico instead.) Today, NASA prefers to use

KSC as the primary landing site for the Space

Shuttle and uses EAFB as a back-up site. Today

EAFB is DoD’s premier flight test center, leading

in unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV), electronic warfare, and directed energy test capabilities. 

Within the last five years, EAFB has been the

home of more than 10 experimental projects, among

them the X-33 airplane. Before its cancellation, the

X-33 airplane was to use EAFB as a test site. In

December 1998, NASA completed construction of a

launch site at EAFB. The site consisted of an X-33-

specific launch pad, a control center to be used for

launch monitoring and mission control, and a movable hangar where the vehicle was to be housed and

serviced in a horizontal position. The site was

equipped with hydrogen and nitrogen gas tanks, as

well as liquid hydrogen and oxygen tanks capable

of holding more than 1.1 million liters (291,000

gallons) of cryogenic materials. 

Today Edwards is the home of the F/A-22

Raptor; the X-43 Hyper-X; the X-45 JUCAS, a UAV;

and the Airborne Laser system.56

The federal government is investing several

million dollars to refurbish and modernize two large

scale rocket test stands at the AFRL’s Edwards

Research Site. One is a component test stand and

the other is an engine test stand. Plans are also being

developed to continue refurbishing additional rocket

stands in the future for purposes of rocket testing. 

EAFB, along with NASA’s co-located, premier

aeronautical flight research facility, Dryden Flight

Research Center, hosts other NASA reusable Xvehicle demonstration programs. In 2001, NASA

used a Pegasus XL launch vehicle to conduct a test

of the X-43A demonstrator. NASA used a helicopter

to conduct seven successful X-40A flight tests during

2001. In 2004, NASA transferred the X-37 program

to DARPA, which is expected to conduct drop tests

in 2005. 

NASA Kennedy Space Center

Established as NASA’s

Launch Operations Center

in July 1962, Kennedy

Space Center (KSC) today

serves as the primary

launch site for NASA’s

manned space missions.

Major KSC facilities comprise LC-39B, supporting

Space Shuttle operations;

the Vehicle Assembly

Building (VAB), where the

Spaceports 2006 U.S. Commercial Space Transportation Developments and Concepts

50 Federal Aviation Administration Office of Commercial Space Transportation

Edwards Air Force Base

NASA KSC LC-39B
Shuttle is integrated; and the Shuttle Landing Facility.

NASA’s expendable launch vehicles are flown primarily from CCAFS and VAFB with support from

the USAF. Additional rocket flights are conducted

from WFF, Kodiak Launch Complex, and the Reagan

Test Site.

Space Shuttle Discovery’s return to flight 

mission launched from KSC on July 26, 2005, after

a two-and-a-half year hiatus during which Shuttle

thermal protection systems were redesigned for

enhanced safety and reliability.

Reagan Test Site 

Located in Kwajalein Island, part of the

Republic of the Marshall Islands, the U.S. Army’s

Reagan Test Site (RTS) is within the DoD Major

Range and Test Facility Base. The advantages of

RTS include its strategic geographical location,

unique instrumentation, and capability to support

ballistic missile testing and space operations. RTS

is completely instrumented to support space launch

customers with radar, telemetry, optics, and range

safety systems. With nearly 40 years of successful

support, RTS provides a vital role in the research,

development, test, and evaluation effort of America’s

missile defense and space programs. RTS currently

supports space launch operations for Orbital Sciences

Corporation, SpaceX, and the Missile Defense

Agency (MDA). Orbital Sciences Corporation 

will be launching a Pegasus rocket with the USAF

C/NOFS payload in 2006. SpaceX will be launching its Falcon 1 launch vehicle with the USAF

FalconSat-2 payload in early 2006.57

Vandenberg Air Force Base 

In 1941, the U.S. Army activated this site near

Lompoc, California, as Camp Cook. In 1957, Camp

Cook was transferred to the Air Force, becoming the

nation’s first space and ballistic missile operations

and training base. In 1958, it was renamed VAFB in

honor of General Hoyt S. Vandenberg, the Air Force’s

second Chief of Staff. VAFB is currently the headquarters of the 30th Space Wing and the Air Force

Space Command organization responsible for all

DoD space and missile activities for the West Coast.

All U.S. satellites destined for near-polar orbit

launch from the Western Range at VAFB. The 30th

Space Wing, Range Operations Control Center, 

provides flight safety, weather, scheduling, and

instrumentation control, along with target designation

information and tracking data to and from inter- and

intra-range sensors in real or near-real-time for 

missile and space launch support. Range tracking

capabilities extend over the Pacific Ocean as far

west as the Marshall Islands, with boundaries to the

north as far as Alaska and as far south as Central

America. Vandenberg is host to the 14th Air Force

Headquarters.

VAFB infrastructure used for space launches

includes a 4,500-meter (15,000-foot) runway, boat

dock, rail lines, launch facilities, payload processing

facilities, tracking radar, optical tracking and telemetry

facilities, and control centers. The 401-square-kilometer (155-square-mile) base also houses numerous

government organizations and contractor companies

in over 1,000 buildings. VAFB hosts a variety of

federal agencies and attracts commercial aerospace

companies and activities, including the California

2006 U.S. Commercial Space Transportation Developments and Concepts Spaceports

Federal Aviation Administration Office of Commercial Space Transportation 51

Vandenberg Air Force Base

Kwajalein Island
Spaceport effort. The 30th Space Wing supports

West Coast launch activities for the USAF, DoD,

NASA, and various private industry contractors.

For the development of launch infrastructure for the

EELV program, VAFB has partnered with Boeing

and Lockheed Martin. Boeing has renovated Space

Launch Complex 6 (SLC-6) from a Space Shuttle

launch pad into an operational facility for Delta 4.

Construction at SLC-6 has included enlarging the

existing mobile service tower and completing the

construction of the West Coast Horizontal Integration

Facility, where the Delta 4 is assembled. 

Current launch vehicles using VAFB include

Delta 2, Delta 4, Titan 4, Atlas 5, Taurus, Minotaur,

Pegasus XL; and Falcon 1 families. NASA operates

SLC-2, from which Boeing Delta 2 vehicles are

launched. The first Delta 4 launch from Vandenberg

is planned for 2006.58 The final Titan 4B was

launched from SLC-4E in October 2005. 

Lockheed Martin has renovated SLC-3E from

an Atlas 2 launch pad into an operational facility

for Atlas 5. The upgrades started in January 2004,

which include adding 9 meters (30 feet) to the

existing 61-meter (200-foot) mobile service tower

to accommodate the larger rocket and replacing the

crane capable of lifting 20 tons with a crane that

can lift 60 tons. The first Atlas 5 launch from

Vandenberg is planned for 2006 and will deploy a

classified payload for the National Reconnaissance

Office (NRO). 

Orbital Sciences Corporation’s Taurus is

launched from 576-E. Pegasus XL vehicles are

processed at Orbital Sciences’ facility at VAFB then

flown to various worldwide launch areas. Minotaur

is launched from the California Spaceport and has

plans for two launches in the next two years. The

DARPA Streak satellite was successfully launched

on a Minotaur from SLC-8 in September 2005. A

new commercial launch vehicle, Falcon, being

developed by SpaceX, plans to launch from VAFB

in 2006.

During 2005, Lockheed Martin “safed” and

deactivated SLC-4 West, which served as the launch

pad for Titan 2 since 1988, under a $3-million Air

Force contract. SLC-4 East, which hosted the Titan 4,

saw its final launch in October 2005, after which it

will be used to support responsive launch vehicles.

The USAF will dismantle portions of the site no

longer needed for future vehicles in 2006. Finally,

the last Peacekeeper launch, scheduled for May 2005,

was cancelled, and the Peacekeeper program has

been deactivated at 30th Space Wing. Vandenberg

supports numerous ballistic programs including

Minuteman, Peacekeeper and MDA test/operational

programs.

VAFB is also upgrading its range instrumentation and control centers to support the space launch

industry. Scheduled for completion by 2010, these

upgrades will automate the Western Range and 

provide updated services to the customer. 

At this time, VAFB has active partnerships

with seven private commercial space organizations

in which VAFB provides launch property and launch

services. The private companies use the government

or commercial facilities to conduct payload and

booster processing work. VAFB houses three 

commercially-owned facilities/complexes: Boeing’s

Horizontal Integration Facility, Spaceport Systems

International’s (SSI) California Spaceport and

Payload Processing Facility, and Astrotech’s

Payload Processing Facility.59

Wallops Flight Facility 

The National Advisory Committee for

Aeronautics, the predecessor of NASA, established

an aeronautical and rocket test range at Wallops

Island, Virginia, in 1945. Since then, over 15,000

rocket launches have taken place from the WFF,

which is operated for NASA by the Goddard Space

Flight Center, Greenbelt, Maryland. 

Spaceports 2006 U.S. Commercial Space Transportation Developments and Concepts

52 Federal Aviation Administration Office of Commercial Space Transportation

Wallops Flight Facility
WFF’s primary mission is to serve as a

research and test range for NASA, supporting scientific research, technology development flight testing,

and educational flight projects. WFF, however, also

heavily supports the Department of Defense (DoD)

and commercial industry with flight projects ranging

from small suborbital vehicles to orbital launch

vehicles. In addition to rockets, WFF’s integrated

Launch Range & Research Airport enables flight

operations of UAVs and other experimental craft.

WFF also frequently serves as a down-range site

for launches conducted from Cape Canaveral.

The first orbital launch occurred in 1960, when

a Scout launch vehicle deployed Explorer 9 to study

atmospheric density. There have been 29 orbital flight

attempts from Wallops. The retired Scout made its

last orbital launch from WFF in 1985. Since then,

WFF has supported the launch of the launch of 

the Conestoga 1620 in 1995 as well as numerous

Pegasus missions. Additionally, WFF’s fully-capable

Mobile Range has supported orbital launches from

the worldwide locations, including a Pegasus from

the Canary Islands in 1997 and a Lockheed Martin

Athena 1 from Kodiak, Alaska, in 2001. The NearField Infra-Red Experiment is scheduled for launch

from Wallops in 2006, and other Minotaur-class

missions are under consideration. 

WFF is also heavily engaged in supporting

both DoD and commercial interests in the emerging

small ELV community, such as those supported by

the DARPA FALCON program. During 2005, WFF’s

Research Range supported in excess of 700 flight

projects, ranging from rocket launches to aircraft

and UAV fight tests; of these events, approximately

50 were rocket-related.

MARS is co-located at WFF as a tenant, and

the organizations collaborate on certain projects to

jointly provide mission services, particularly focusing on small commercial ELVs. Jointly, WFF and

MARS offer two orbital and numerous suborbital

launch pads, a range control center, three blockhouses,

numerous payload and vehicle preparation facilities,

and a full suite of tracking and data systems. In

support of its research and program management

responsibilities, Wallops also contains numerous

science facilities, a research airport, and flight 

hardware fabrication and test facilities.

WFF continues a significant range 

modernization and technology program, begun in

2002, involving upgrades to its Range Control Center

and tracking systems, a new 1,115-square-meter

(12,000-square-foot) multi-user high-bay payload

processing and integration facility, and a mobile

liquid fueling system. WFF engineers are also

actively pursuing new range technologies that will

increase responsiveness and lower costs, such as

space-based communications systems and an

autonomous flight termination system.60

White Sands Missile Range 

Once exclusively military, White Sands

Missile Range today attracts other government

agencies, foreign nations, and private industry to its

world-class test facilities. It is the largest overland

test range in America, operated by the U.S. Army

and includes agencies such as at NASA’s White

Sands Test Facility. Situated 26 kilometers (16 miles)

northeast of Las Cruces, New Mexico, the range

covers 8,100 square kilometers (3,127 square miles).

Since its establishment in 1945, the range has

fired more than 44,500 missiles and rockets. Almost

1,200 of those were research and sounding rockets.

White Sands has seven engine test stands and precision cleaning facilities, including a class-100 clean

room for spacecraft parts.

Test operations are run out of the new J.W. Cox

Range Control Center. This $28-million facility was

designed to meet current and future mission requirements with the latest networking, computing and

communications for effective interaction between

test operations and customers.

2006 U.S. Commercial Space Transportation Developments and Concepts Spaceports

Federal Aviation Administration Office of Commercial Space Transportation 53

White Sands Missile Range
White Sands is also the Space Shuttle’s tertiary

landing site after KSC and EAFB. This landing site

consists of two 11-kilometer (6.8-mile) long, 

gypsum-sand runways.61

In 2002, the U.S. Army/WSMR and the 

state of New Mexico signed a Memorandum of

Agreement supporting the development of the

Southwest Regional Spaceport. This agreement

enables the spaceport to share resources and integrate

launch scheduling and operations with the U.S.

Army test range.

Proposed Non-federal Spaceports 

Several states plan to develop spaceports

offering a variety of launch and landing services.

Two common characteristics of many of the proposed

spaceports are inland geography—a contrast to the

coastal location of all but one present-day U.S.

spaceports—and interest in hosting RLV operations.

Table 6 describes specific efforts to establish nonfederal spaceports, which are in various stages of

development. 

Gulf Coast Regional Spaceport 

The Gulf Coast Regional Spaceport

Development Corporation (GCRSDC) has proposed

constructing a spaceport in Brazoria County, Texas,

80 kilometers (50 miles) south of Houston. The

Corporation has identified undeveloped land currently used for agriculture as a potential site and is

working with the private owner of the land to

acquire or lease the property. 

The GCRSDC has in place a phased plan for

development, and is currently focused on short-term

goals of creating infrastructure and securing an FAA

license for suborbital missions. Phase I and Phase II

of the suborbital licensing process has been completed,

using government funding for site selection, environmental analysis, and an in-depth safety analysis of

the site based on the use of different types of launch

systems. Brazoria County is putting in a road and

launch platform, along with a launch control facility.

Mission control will be linked by satellite to nearby

Brazosport College. In the long term, the spaceport

aims to support orbital launches to either polar or 

equatorial orbits.

Local governments invested nearly $300,000 in

the project between 1999 and 2001, primarily for site

selection work. In February 2002, the state approved

the Gulf Coast Regional Spaceport board’s access to

the first installment of $500,000 in state grant money.

The initial $150,000 paid contractor fees for an indepth safety analysis of the site based on the use of

different types of launch systems. The draft development plan has greatly assisted in determining what

infrastructure is necessary.62 In 2005, the State of

Texas awarded the GCRSP a grant for $325,000

and the new scope of work has been approved.63

The Amateur Spaceflight Association (ASA)

launched a 3.7-meter (12-foot) long amateur rocket

from this site in May 2003, and negotiations are

underway with ASA, Texas A&M University, and

several commercial space operations for launch and/

or recovery missions. The web site for the spaceport is www.gulfcoastspaceport.com.

Oklahoma Spaceport 

The state of Oklahoma is developing a broader

space industrial base and a launch site. In 1999, the

Oklahoma state legislature created the Oklahoma

Space Industry Development Authority (OSIDA).

Directed by seven governor-appointed board members, OSIDA promotes the development of spaceport

facilities and space exploration, education, and

related industries in Oklahoma. Currently, the state

of Oklahoma provides operating costs for OSIDA,

but the organization expects to be financially independent in less than five years. In 2000, the Oklahoma

state legislature passed an economic incentive law

offering tax credits, tax exemptions, and accelerated

depreciation rates for commercial spaceport-related

Spaceports 2006 U.S. Commercial Space Transportation Developments and Concepts

54 Federal Aviation Administration Office of Commercial Space Transportation

Amateur Rocket Launch at GCRS Site
2006 U.S. Commercial Space Transportation Developments and Concepts Spaceports

Federal Aviation Administration Office of Commercial Space Transportation 55

Spaceport Location Owner/Operator Launch Infrastructure Development Status

Gulf Coast 

Regional 

Spaceport

Brazoria 

County, Texas

To be determined Road, suborbital launch platform, launch 

control facility.

The Gulf Coast Regional Spaceport 

Development Corporation has proposed 

constructing a spaceport in Brazoria County, 

Texas, 80 kilometers (50 miles) south of 

Houston. FAA suborbital launch site licensing 

process is underway.

Oklahoma 

Spaceport 

Washita 

County, 

Oklahoma

Oklahoma Space 

Industry 

Development 

Authority

4,115-meter (13,500-foot) runway, a 

5,200-square-meter (50,000-squarefoot) manufacturing facility, a 2,7850-

square-meter (30,000-square-foot) 

maintenance and painting hangar, 6 

commercial aircraft hangars including a 

2,787 square meter (30,000 square foot) 

maintenance and paint facility, 39 

hectares (96 acres) of concrete ramp, 

control tower, crash and rescue facility, 

and 435 square kilometers (168 square 

miles) of land available for further 

construction.

The Clinton-Sherman AFB at Burns Flat was 

designated as the future spaceport. OSIDA is 

conducting a safety study of the proposed site 

and operations. An environmental impact study 

is underway.

South Texas 

Spaceport

Willacy County, 

Texas

To be determined No infrastructure at this time. The final Texas Spaceport site has not been 

selected. Three sites are being considered at 

this time. Suborbital rockets have been launched 

near the proposed site.

Southwest 

Regional 

Spaceport

Upham, New 

Mexico

New Mexico 

Spaceport 

Authority

No infrastructure at this time. Plans for this site include a spaceport central 

control facility, an airfield, a maintenance and 

integration facility, a launch and recovery 

complex, a flight operations control center, and a 

cryogenic plant. Environmental and business 

development studies conducted.

Spaceport 

Alabama

Baldwin County, 

Alabama

To be determined No infrastructure at this time. The master plan phase 1 has been completed. 

Phase 2 is expected to be completed by October 

2005. While no land has been acquired for 

Spaceport Alabama, a green field site is under 

consideration in Baldwin County, across the bay 

from the city of Mobile.

Spaceport 

Washington

Grant County 

International 

Airport, 

Washington

Port of Moses 

Lake

4,100-meter (13,452-foot) main runway 

and a 3,200-meter (10,500-foot) 

crosswind runway.

A 121 square kilometer (30,000 acre) potential 

vertical launch site has been identified. An 

Aerospace Overlay Zone has also been 

established in the Grant County Unified 

Development Code. The site is certified as an 

emergency-landing site for the Space Shuttle. 

Additional infrastructure development is pending 

launch customers and market responses.

West Texas 

Spaceport

Pecos County, 

Texas

Pecos 

County/West 

Texas Spaceport 

Development 

Corporation

Greasewood site has an air conditioned 

control center, an industrial strength 

concrete pad, and a 30 x 30 meter (100 

x 100 ft.) scraped and level staging area. 

Broadband Internet on site, controlled 

fenced access, and a 1,295 square 

kilometer (500 square mile) recovery 

area. Airport has 5 runways (2,286 x 30 

meter, or 7,500 x 100 ft.) with hangar 

space.

Development plan approved by State of Texas in 

2005. State has provided $175K in 2005 for 

planning studies. Future infrastructure plans 

include 3,500 foot runway, static engine testing 

facility, and balloon hangar. 

Wisconsin 

Spaceport

Sheboygan, 

Wisconsin

Owner: City of 

Sheboygan; 

Operator: Rockets 

for Schools

A vertical pad for suborbital launches in 

addition to portable launch facilities, 

such as mission control.

Plans for developing additional launch 

infrastructure are ongoing and include creation 

of a development plan that includes support for 

orbital RLV operations. Legislation creating the 

Wisconsin Aerospace Authority is pending.

Table 6: Proposed Non-federal Spaceports: Infrastructure and Status

Spaceport
activities. In 2002, OSIDA, through a third-party

agreement with the FAA, awarded a contract to

SRS Technologies and C.H. Guernsey to prepare 

an environmental assessment. The analysis, completed in 2006, is a critical step toward receiving a

launch site operator license from FAA/AST. 

Clinton-Sherman Industrial Airpark (CSIA),

located at Burns Flat, is the preferred site for a future

launch site in Oklahoma. Existing infrastructure

includes a 4,100-meter (13,500-foot) runway, large

maintenance and repair hangars, utilities, rail spur,

and 12.4 square kilometers (4.8 square miles) of

open land. The city of Clinton has agreed to convey

ownership of the CSIA to OSIDA upon issuance of

a launch site operator license from FAA/AST. The

FAA Southwest Region has reviewed and approved

the transfer upon completion of the EIS and other

contingencies. The launch activities proposed will

not greatly impact the continued use of the CSIA as

an active airport for USAF training and for general

aviation. Oklahoma Spaceport will provide launch

and support services for horizontally launched

RLVs and may become operational in 2006. 

Oklahoma offers several incentives, valued 

at over $128 million over 10 years, to attract space

companies. For example, a jobs program provides

quarterly cash payments of up to five percent of new

taxable payroll directly to qualifying companies for

up to 10 years. Organizations also may qualify for

other state tax credits, tax refunds, tax exemptions,

and training incentives. Rocketplane Limited and

TGV Rockets, Inc. have located in Oklahoma for

their launch vehicle developments. As the first 

corporation that met specific qualifying criteria,

including equity capitalization of $10 million and

creation of at least 100 Oklahoma jobs, Rocketplane

Limited qualified for a $15-million, state-provided

tax credit in early 2004. 

Besides state funding, NASA issued $241,000

to OSIDA for space-related educational grants to 

be used throughout the state. OSIDA has signed

Memoranda of Understanding with several 

companies for use of the Burns Flat site. It is the

goal of the Oklahoma Spaceport to be self-sufficient five years from the date of receiving a launch

site operator’s license from FAA/AST.64

South Texas Spaceport 

Willacy County Development Corporation

was created in 2001 to manage the spaceport site

evaluation and other technical and administrative

elements of the project under a Texas Aerospace

Commission grant. In February 2002, the Texas

Aerospace Commission awarded a $500,000 

contract to the South Texas Spaceport. 

The designated spaceport site is a 405,000-

square-meter (0.16-square-mile) undeveloped site

adjacent to the Charles R. Johnson Airport in Port

Mansfield, approximately 150 kilometers (93 miles)

south of Corpus Christi and 65 kilometers (40 miles)

north of Brownsville. The site initially may support

the suborbital and small orbital launch systems 

currently in service or being developed for service

in the near future, with a long-term focus on RLVs.

All launches will be from spoil islands or barges in

the Mansfield ship channel in the Laguna Madre or

Gulf of Mexico.

In 2003, a 68-kilogram (150-pound) sounding

rocket and a 3.4-meter (11-foot) Super Loki suborSpaceports 2006 U.S. Commercial Space Transportation Developments and Concepts

56 Federal Aviation Administration Office of Commercial Space Transportation

Charles R. Johnson Airport

Oklahoma Spaceport
bital rocket were launched near the site in efforts to

generate awareness and encourage state funding of

the South Texas Spaceport. 

To date, no infrastructure has been built;

future infrastructure improvements are focused on

development of an all weather road to the site, a 18

by 25 meter (60 by 80 foot) metal building, and

utilities. Continuing planning efforts are focused on

the infrastructure needed to support activities of

launch operators with current development programs.

Recently, Texas Spacelines, Inc., entered into

negotiations with the Willacy County Development

Corporation for Spaceport Facilities for the establishment of a permanent launch site in South Texas.65

Willacy County is currently applying for a state

grant for the spaceport building next to Port

Mansfield. It will include two launch pads and a

building as well as all utilities such as water, sewer,

road to and from project.66

Southwest Regional Spaceport 

The state of New Mexico continues to make

significant progress in the development of the

Southwest Regional Spaceport (SRS). Building on

its May 2004 winning bid to host the X Prize Cup

competition, a future international exhibition created by the X Prize Foundation, New Mexico inaugurated this annual event with the Countdown to the

X Prize Cup event in Las Cruces in October 2005.

The Countdown and associated Personal Spaceflight

Expo at New Mexico State University attracted

industry and government attendees from the U.S.,

Europe, and Japan.

The SRS is being developed for use by private

companies and government organizations conducting

space activities and operations. The proposed site of

the spaceport is a 70-square-kilometer (27-squaremile) parcel of open land in the south central part of

the state at approximately 1,430 meters (4,700 feet)

above sea level. The spaceport concept is to support

all classes of RLVs serving suborbital trajectories

as well as equatorial, polar, and ISS orbits, and to

provide support services for payload integration,

launch, and landing. The facility will be able to

accommodate both vertical and horizontal launches

and landings as well as air and balloon launches. In

addition, this facility will include multiple launch

complexes, a runway, an aviation complex, a payload assembly complex, other support facilities,

and, eventually, a cryogenic fuel plant. 

The SRS is supported by the state through the

New Mexico Office for Space Commercialization,

part of the New Mexico Economic Development

Department. In 2002, the state and the U.S. Army

White Sands Missile Range signed a Memorandum

of Agreement supporting the development of the

SRS. This agreement enables the spaceport to share

resources and integrate launch scheduling and operations with the U.S. Army test range. During 2004,

New Mexico and the X Prize Foundation entered into

a long-term partnership to jointly promote emerging

commercial space technologies and spaceport concepts. Between 2001 and 2004, the state legislature

appropriated $10.5 million for spaceport infrastructure development, including environmental studies

and land acquisition, and planning, analysis and

operations. The New Mexico Spaceport Authority

held its first meeting in August 2005 and expects to

receive an FAA spaceport license in 2006.

New Mexico has provided several tax and

business incentives for the spaceport-related industrial activities, including gross receipt deductions,

exemptions from compensating taxes, R&D incentives, industrial revenue bonds, and investment and

job training credits. The first suborbital rocket launch

from the spaceport is scheduled for March 2006.67 In

December 2005, the state of New Mexico and Virgin

Galactic announced a partnership to secure $225

million to build the spaceport, from which Virgin

Galactic plans to operate its passenger-carrying

flights on SpaceShipTwo. Virgin has signed a 20-year

lease on the spaceport, paying $1 million a year in the

first five years and the full cost of operations over

2006 U.S. Commercial Space Transportation Developments and Concepts Spaceports

Federal Aviation Administration Office of Commercial Space Transportation 57

Southwest Regional Spaceport
the remaining years, while New Mexico will invest

$135 million in the spaceport and obtain federal

and state funds.

Spaceport Alabama 

Proposed as a next-generation spaceport,

Spaceport Alabama will be a full-service departure

and return facility supporting orbital and suborbital

space access vehicles. Spaceport Alabama is in the

planning phase under direction of the Spaceport

Alabama Program Office at Jacksonville State

University in Alabama. The Spaceport Alabama

master planning Phase 1 is now complete, and Phase 2

has commenced. Upon completion of the Spaceport

Alabama master plan, which is expected to be by the

end of 2006, a proposal will be presented to the

Alabama Commission on Aerospace Science and

Industry and the Alabama Legislature for formal

adoption. Under the current plan, the Alabama

Legislature would establish the Spaceport Alabama

Authority, which would oversee development of

Spaceport Alabama. While no land has been acquired

for Spaceport Alabama, a greenfield site is under

consideration in Baldwin County, across the bay

from the city of Mobile. This site is seen as ideal for

supporting government and commercial customers

operating next-generation reusable flight vehicles

that are designed for access to LEO, MEO, and GEO.68

Under the current spaceport development plan,

a spaceport facility could become operational within

10 years, depending on market demand. This plan

calls for the establishment of a “total spaceport

enterprise” concept, consisting of a departure and

return facility, processing and support facilities, and

full support infrastructure. An R&D park, a commerce

park, supporting community infrastructure, intermodal

connectivity, and other services and infrastructure

necessary for providing a “turn key” capability in

support of space commerce, R&D, national security,

science, and related services are also included in this

plan. Given that the site currently under consideration

is adjacent to the Gulf of Mexico, Spaceport Alabama

would service primarily RLVs; however, some suborbital ELVs involving scientific and academic missions could be supported. No updates were received

from the spaceport for 2005.

Spaceport Washington 

Spaceport Washington, a public/private partnership, has identified Grant County International

Airport in central Washington, 280 kilometers (174

miles) east of Seattle, as the site of a future spaceport. The airport (formerly Larson AFB and now

owned and operated by the Port of Moses Lake) 

is used primarily as a testing and training facility.

Spaceport Washington proposes to use Grant County

International Airport for horizontal and vertical

take-offs and horizontal landings of all classes of

RLVs. This airport has a 4,100-meter (13,452-foot)

main runway and a 3,200-meter (10,500-foot)

crosswind runway, and is certified as an emergency

landing site for the Space Shuttle. 

An approximately 121-square-kilometer

(30,000-acre) potential vertical launch site has been

identified with multiple ownership (both public and

private). The spaceport has also established an

Aerospace Overlay Zone within the Grant County

Unified Development Code. The purpose of the

Aerospace Overlay zoning is to protect the air and

land space around the area proposed for use as an

aerospace launch and retrieval facility from

obstructions or hazards and incompatible land uses

in the proximity of the Grant County International

Airport. Additional infrastructure development is

pending launch customers and market responses.69

West Texas Spaceport 

The Pecos County/West Texas Spaceport

Development Corporation, established in mid-2001,

is moving forward with the development of a

spaceport 29 kilometers (18 miles) southwest of

Fort Stockton, Texas. Spaceport infrastructure will

Spaceports 2006 U.S. Commercial Space Transportation Developments and Concepts

58 Federal Aviation Administration Office of Commercial Space Transportation

Spaceport Washington
include a launch site with a 4,570-meter (15,000-

foot) safety radius, an adjacent recovery zone (193

square kilometers, or 500 square miles), payload

integration and launch control facilities, and the

Pecos County Airport runway (2,308 meters or

7,500 feet) and hangar complex. The site has access

to over 1,738 square kilometers (4,500 square

miles) of unpopulated range land, and over 3,861

square kilometers (10,000 square miles) of underutilized national airspace.

A joint project with the school district has

made a state-of-the-art technology center available

for Pecos County Aerospace Development Center

users. The Technology Center has multiple monitors,

high-speed Internet service, and full multiplexing

capability. Video can be streamed from the Greasewood or Hudgins launch sites to the Technology

Center to accommodate dignitaries and other officials

in air-conditioned comfort. The Pecos County/West

Texas Spaceport Development Corporation has

access to optical tracking and high-speed video

capability that can record the vehicle’s flight up 

to tens of thousands of feet (depending upon the

vehicle’s size) regardless of its speed.70

In February 2002, the Texas Aerospace

Commission awarded a $500,000 contract to the

West Texas Spaceport. In June 2002, the USAF

approved the site for various test launch projects. JP

Aerospace began launching small suborbital rockets

from the site in October 2002. The University of

Houston Division of Research Agency awarded the

Pecos County/West Texas Spaceport Development

Corporation $80,000 for 2003. 

During 2005 the following spaceport infrastructure was added: an industrial strength concrete

pad, a 31x31 meter (100x100-foot) scraped and

level staging area, broadband Internet on site, and

controlled fenced access. The state of Texas also

approved the spaceport development plan, and 

provided $175,000 in financial support for planning

and development. Flight activity included launches

of NASA Dryden’s DART suborbital rocket, the

TPAE series of suborbital rocket tests, Lockheed

Martin UAV tests, and tests of the Air Force Battle

Lab Near Space Maneuvering Vehicle. 

Future infrastructure plans include the development of a 1,077-meter (3,500 foot) runway, a

static engine test facility, and a hangar for balloon

and wind sensitive activities. Other projects are being

pursued by the Pecos County/West Texas Spaceport

Development Corporation. These projects include the

Blacksky DART program, intended to characterize

the performance of an innovative aerospike nozzle

on a solid rocket motor. Texas A&M University’s

senior-level student aerospace engineering program

gives students the opportunity to build and fly an

advanced design rocket. In addition, the Texas

Partnership for Aerospace Education project supports

middle and high school students to send experiments

fitted inside ping pong balls on balloons to the edge

of space. Additional information on the West Texas

Spaceport is available at aerospacetexas.com.71

Wisconsin Spaceport 

On August 29, 2000, the Wisconsin Department

of Transportation officially approved creation of the

Wisconsin Spaceport, located on Lake Michigan in

Sheboygan, Wisconsin. The city of Sheboygan owns

2006 U.S. Commercial Space Transportation Developments and Concepts Spaceports

Federal Aviation Administration Office of Commercial Space Transportation 59

Spaceport Sheboygan

West Texas Spaceport
the spaceport, which strives to support space research

and education through suborbital launches for 

student projects. 

Suborbital sounding rocket launches to altitudes of up to 55 kilometers (34 miles) have been

conducted at the site. Additionally, Rockets for

Schools, a student program founded in Wisconsin

by Space Explorers, Inc., and developed by the

Aerospace States Association, has conducted suborbital launches at Spaceport Sheboygan since its

inception in 1995. Each year, hundreds of students

from Wisconsin, Illinois, Iowa, and Michigan participate in these launches, which took place most

recently in May 2005. Rockets for Schools is a

firmly established, high-quality program of the

Great Lakes Spaceport Education Foundation. 

The spaceport’s existing infrastructure includes

a vertical pad for suborbital launches in addition to

portable launch facilities, such as mission control,

which are erected and disassembled as needed. The

pier, which the city leased from the U.S. Army

Corps of Engineers for spaceport launches and 

citizens’ enjoyment (i.e. walking and fishing), was

widened and strengthened in 2004. Additionally,

some structures were removed to clear space for 

the construction of a proposed mission control and

education center. 

Plans for developing additional launch infrastructure are ongoing. Future projects include adding

orbital launch capabilities for RLVs. Spaceport developers are in the process of creating a development

plan. Legislation for the creation of the Wisconsin

Aerospace Authority (WAA) was introduced in 

the Wisconsin legislature in October 2005. The 

legislation authorizes the WAA to develop spaceports, spacecraft, and other aerospace facilities in

Wisconsin, to provide spaceport and aerospace

services and allow use of spaceport and aerospace

facilities by others, to promote the aerospace industry

in Wisconsin, and to provide public-private coordination for the aerospace industry in Wisconsin. Under

the current legislation, state funding for the WAA is

provided from the Wisconsin Department of

Transportation’s appropriation for airports and air

navigation. At a public hearing in late November,

legislation for the WAA received wide-ranging 

support. The development of the Great Lakes

Aerospace Science and Education Center at

Spaceport Sheboygan is currently underway.72

Spaceports 2006 U.S. Commercial Space Transportation Developments and Concepts

60 Federal Aviation Administration Office of Commercial Space Transportation
1 International Launch Services press release. “ILS

Launches NRO Payload,” 3 February 2005

(http://www.ilslaunch.com/newsarchives/newsreleases/re

c292/), accessed 3 October 2005.

2 Lockheed Martin press release. “Atlas V Team

Successfully Performs First Propellant Loading and

Simulated Countdown at New West Coast Launch

Facility” 6 June 2005

(http://www.lockheedmartin.com/wms/findPage.do?dsp=

fec&ci=16871&rsbci=0&fti=112&ti=0&sc=400),

accessed 3 October 2005.

3 David, Leonard. “Ex-Cold War Missile May Boost

University-Built Satellites” SPACE.com, 22 September

2005 (http://space.com/missionlaunches/050922_peacekeeper_student.html) accessed 3 October 2005.

4 Turner, Andrew. “Aquarius Low Cost Launch Main

Engine Study” AIAA 3rd Responsive Space Conference

(AIAA RS3-2005-6001), 2005.

5 Communication with E’Prime Aerospace Corporation, 3

October 2005.

6 DARPA press release. “DARPA, Air Force Kick-Off

FALCON Phase II Small Launch Vehicle Effort,” 

15 September 2004

(http://www.darpa.mil/body/news/2004/falcon_ph2_t1.pdf)

accessed 3 October 2005.

7 Lockheed Martin press release. “Lockheed Martin

Successfully Test Fires Second FALCON Small Launch

Vehicle Hybrid Motor,” 16 June 2005 (http://www.lockheedmartin.com/wms/findPage.do?dsp=fec&ci=16895&r

sbci=0&fti=0&ti=0&sc=400), accessed 3 October 2005.

8 David, Leonard. “High Hopes for Low-Cost Rocket After

Successful Launch Test” SPACE.com, 26 May 2005

(http://www.space.com/missionlaunches/050526_prospec

tor6_test.html) accessed 3 October 2005.

9 AirLaunch LLC web site

(http://www.airlaunchllc.com/News.htm), accessed 3

October 2005.

10 Singer, Jeremy. “RASCAL Contractor Pushes ScaledBack Launcher.” Space News, 19 September 2005, p. 20.

11 Singer, Jeremy. “Pentagon Cancels RASCAL Small

Launcher Effort,” SpaceNews.com, 2 February 2005

(http://www.space.com/spacenews/militaryspace/newrascal_020205.html) accessed 3 October 2005.

12 Boeing press release. “Land Launch Receives First Order

with PanAmSat” 28 July 2005

(http://www.boeing.com/news/releases/2005/q3/nr_05072

8t.html) accessed 3 October 2005.

13 NASA press release. “How We’ll Get Back to the Moon”

(http://www.nasa.gov/missions/solarsystem/cev.html),

accessed 3 October 2005.

14 Nammo Raufoss AS press release. “Successful Firing of

Hybrid Rocket at Nammo Raufoss AS” 13 September

2005 (http://www.nammo.com/thenews/n_vis.asp?ID=85),

accessed 3 October 2005.

15 Belfiore, Michael. “Doom Rocket Man Preps for Liftoff”

Wired News, 30 September 2005

(http://www.wired.com/news/space/0,2697,68987,00.html),

accessed 3 October 2005.

16 Van Horn Advocate, “Blue Origin explains launch

details,” (http://www.vanhornadvocate.com/front1.shtml),

accessed 17 June 2005.

17 Levy, David H. “Take A Ride In Space” PARADE

Magazine, 26 June 2005

(http://archive.parade.com/2005/0626/0626_ride_in_space

.html), accessed 3 October 2005.

18 Berger, Brian. “Kistler Future Uncertain as Main Backer

Withdraws” SpaceNews.com, 27 September 2005

(http://www.space.com/spacenews/launchindustry/Kistler

_092705.html), accessed 3 October 2005.

19 Scaled Composites press release. “Branson and Rutan

Form ‘The Spaceship Company’ To Jointly Manufacture

and Market Spaceships for the new Sub-Orbital Personal

Spaceflight Industry”, 27 July 2005

(http://www.scaled.com/news/2005-07-

27_branson_rutan_spaceship_company.htm), accessed 3

October 2005.

20 SpaceX press release. “SpaceX Announces the Falcon 9

Fully Reusable Heavy Lift Launch Vehicle” 8 September

2005 (http://www.spacex.com/press18.php), accessed 3

October 2005.

21 U.S. Air Force, Space and Missile Center. “Hybrid

Launch Vehicle Studies and Analysis” (http://www.losangeles.af.mil/SMC/XR/public/bidderslibrary/documents/hl

varticle5apr05.doc), accessed 3 October 2005.

22 The companies that received a study contract from

NASA for a CEV in 2004 included Andrews Aerospace,

Boeing, Draper Labs, Lockheed Martin, Northrop

Grumman, Orbital Sciences Corp., Schafer Corp, and

t/Space.

23 Collins, John T., Hansen, L.J. and Pollack, J., “SelfConfiguring Network for Launch Vehicle and Satellite

Avionics,” 2004,

(http://www.smad.com/analysis/GOMACPAP.pdf),

accessed 3 October 2005.

24 SpaceDev, Inc. press release, “SpaceDev Awarded Air

Force Research Laboratory Phase I Innovation Research

Contract To Develop Small Launch Vehicle Avionics,” 5

May 2005, (http://www.spacedev.com/newsite/templates/subpage_article.php?pid=513), accessed October 3

2005.

25 t/Space, Inc. press release, “Transformational Space

Corp. (t/Space) and Burt Rutan’s Scaled Composites successfully drop-tested dummy boosters over the Mojave

desert,” 14 June 2005, (http://transformspace.com),

accessed 3 October 2005.

26 Communication with AirLaunch LLC, 3 October 2005.

2006 U.S. Commercial Space Transportation Developments and Concepts Endnotes

Federal Aviation Administration Office of Commercial Space Transportation 61

Endnotes
27 Northrop Grumman press release, “Northrop Grumman,

NASA Complete Testing of Prototype Composite

Cryogenic Fuel Tank,” 7 September 2004.

28 XCOR Aerospace press release. “XCOR Aerospace Wins

$7 Million NASA Contract: Company to Develop

Cryogenic Composite Tank,” 11 April 2005,

(http://www.xcor.com/nasa-contract.html), accessed 

4 October 2005.

29 Orion Propulsion Inc. press release. 1 September 2005,

(http://www.orionpropulsion.com/news.php), accessed 

4 October 2005.

30 ORBITEC press release, “ORBITEC Successfully

Completes Methane/Oxygen Rocket Firing,” 7

November 2005, (http://www.astroexpo.com/News/newsdetail.asp?ID=23134&searchtext=orbitec&ListType=Key

),. accessed 16 December 2005.

31 Communication with AirLaunch LLC, 3 October 2005.

32 Communication with Space Exploration Technologies

Corporation, 15 October 2005.

33 Communication with XCOR Aerospace, 21 July 2004.

34 XCOR Aerospace press release, “XCOR Aerospace

Completes Successful Development of Methane Rocket

Engine,” 30 August 2005,

(http://xcor.com/methane_rocket_engine.html), accessed

4 October 2005.

35 Microcosm, Inc. press release, “Microcosm Completes

Successful Series of Tests on 20,000 lbf Low-Cost

Rocket Engine,” 23 May 2005.

36 Communication with Garvey Spacecraft Corporation, 

15 October 2004.

37 http://www.pratt-whitney.com

38 Communication with Garvey Spacecraft Corporation, 

15 October 2004.

39 http://www.globalsecurity.org/space/systems/nlv.htm

40 http://www.nasa.gov/centers/marshall/news/news/releases/2005/05-062.html

41 Communication with SpaceDev Inc., 28 November 2005.

42 Communication with Lockheed Martin-Michoud, 27 July

2004.

43 Communication with NASA Headquarters, 5 November

2004.

44 Andrews Space Inc. press release, (http://www.andrewsspace.com/content-main.php?subsection=MTAz

45 Quarterly Launch Report, 2nd Quarter 2005, FAA Office

of Commercial Space Transportation, page SR-4.

46 Communication with California Spaceport, 27 September

2004.

47 Communication with Spaceport Systems International,

25 September 2005.

48 Communication with Alaska Aerospace Development

Corporation, 7 October 2005.

49 Communication with the Mid-Atlantic Regional

Spaceport, 20 September 2005.

50 Communication with Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport,

N-134 NASA/GSFC/WFF, 2 July 2004.

51 Communication with the Mid-Atlantic Regional

Spaceport, 20 September 2005.

52 Communication with Mojave Airport Authority, 

6 October 2005.

53 “XCOR Rocket Plane Soars into Record Book”, posted 3

December 2005, (http://www.space.com/missionlaunches/051203_xcor_flight.html), accessed 28 December 2005.

54 Communication with Mojave Airport Authority, 

6 October 2005.

55 Communication with Cape Canaveral Air Force Station

on 30 September 2005.

56 Communication with Edwards Air Force Base, 

10 September 2004.

57 SpaceX News Updates, posted 19 December 2005,

(http://www.spacex.com), accessed 21 December 2005.

58 VAFB Unclassified Launch Schedule (http://mocc.vandenberg.af.mil/launchsched.asp?past= ), accessed 

21 December 2005.

59 Communication with Vandenberg AFB, 7 October 2005.

60 Communication with NASA Wallops Flight Facility, 

11 October 2005.

61 Communication with White Sands Missile Range, 

6 October 2005.

62 Communication with Gulf Coast Regional Spaceport

Development Corporation, 24 September 2004.

63 Communication with the Gulf Coast Regional Spaceport

Development Corporation, 14 October 2005.

64 Communication with Oklahoma Spaceport, 14 October

2005.

65 South Texas Spaceport News September 2004, Texas

Spacelines Inc., (http://home.att.net/~txspacelines/

wsb/html/view.cgi-home.html-.html), accessed

9 September 2004.

66 Communication with County Judge Simon Salinas, 

20 September 2004.

67 Communication with New Mexico Office for Space

Commercialization, 7 October 2005.

68 Communication with Aerospace Development Center, 

23 September 2004.

69 Communication with Spaceport Washington, 

27 September 2005.

70 Pecos County Aerospace Development Center Technical

Description, accessed 30 September 2004.

71 Communication with Pecos County/West Texas

Spaceport Development Corporation, 10 October 2005.

72 Wisconsin Senate Bill 352, introduced 28 September

2005, (http://www.legis.state.wi.us/2005/data/SB352.pdf), accessed 28 December 2005.

Endnotes 2006 U.S. Commercial Space Transportation Developments and Concepts

62 Federal Aviation Administration Office of Commercial Space Transportation
Page 6: 

XCOR EZ-Rocket, courtesy of XCOR Aerospace

Page 7: 

Bigelow Aerospace inflatable space modules, courtesy of

Bigelow Aerospace

Page 9: 

Atlas 5 launch, courtesy of International Launch Services

Page 10: 

Delta 2 launch, courtesy of The Boeing Company

Page 11: 

Delta 4 launch, courtesy of The Boeing Company

Minotaur launch, courtesy of Orbital Sciences

Corporation

Page 12:

Pegasus in flight, courtesy of Orbital Sciences

Corporation

Taurus launch, courtesy of Orbital Sciences Corporation

Titan 4 launch, courtesy of Lockheed Martin Corporation

Zenit 3SL launch, courtesy of Sea Launch Company,

LLC

Page 13

Aquarius vehicle illustration, courtesy of Space

Systems/Loral

Aquarius mission profile, courtesy of Space Systems/Loral

Page 14

Eaglet and Eagle, courtesy of E’Prime Aerospace

Corporation

FALCON, courtesy of Lockheed Martin Corporation

NLV, courtesy of Garvey Spacecraft Corporation

Page 15

Eagle SLV, courtesy of Microcosm, Inc.

Page 16

QuickReach, courtesy of AirLaunch, LLC

Page 17

Zenit 3SLB, courtesy of Sea Launch Company, LLC and

Space International Services

Black Brandt launch, courtesy of Bristol Aerospace

Limited

Oriole, courtesy of DTI Associates

Page 18

Terrier-Orion, courtesy of DTI Associates

HYSR, courtesy of Lockheed Martin Corporation

Page 19

Altaris, courtesy of Sprague Astronautics

Black Armadillo, courtesy of Armadillo Aerospace

Page 20

Neptune, courtesy of Interorbital Systems

Page 21

K-1, courtesy of Kistler Aerospace Corporation

Page 22

Rocketplane XP, courtesy of Rocketplane Limited, Inc.

SpaceShipOne, courtesy of Scaled Composites, LLC

Page 23

Dream Chaser, courtesy of SpaceDev

Page 24

Falcon 1, courtesy of Space Exploration Technologies

Corporation

Falcon 5, courtesy of Space Exploration Technologies

Corporation

Page 25

Falcon 9, courtesy of Space Exploration Technologies

Corporation

Michelle-B, courtesy of TGV Rockets, Inc.

Xerus vehicle concept, courtesy of XCOR Aerospace

Page 26

Space Shuttle, courtesy of NASA

Page 27

Lockheed Martin CEV, courtesy of Lockheed Martin

Corporation

Northrop Grumman-Boeing CEV, courtesy of The

Boeing Company

Page 28

Lockheed Martin-EADS ATV, courtesy of Lockheed

Martin Corporation

SPACEHAB Apex, courtesy of SPACEHAB

Page 29

t/Space CXV, courtesy of t/Space

Page 30

CXV and Booster Drop, courtesy of t/Space

2006 U.S. Commercial Space Transportation Developments and Concepts Photo Credits

Federal Aviation Administration Office of Commercial Space Transportation 63

Photo Credits
Photo Credits 2006 U.S. Commercial Space Transportation Developments and Concepts

64 Federal Aviation Administration Office of Commercial Space Transportation

Page 31

C-17A Dummy Booster Air Drop

Page 32

Subscale Composite Cryogenic Tank, courtesy of

Northrop Grumman

Oxygen/Methane RCS Thruster, courtesy of Orion

Propulsion, Inc.

Page 33

Liquid Oxygen/Propane Engine, courtesy of AirLaunch

LLC

SpaceX Merlin engine, courtesy of Space Exploration

Technologies Corporation

Page 34

Liquid Oxygen/Methane Engine, courtesy of XCOR

Aerospace

Page 35

Low-cost, ablative composite rocket engine, courtesy of

Micrososm, Inc.

MB-XX Engine, courtesy of Pratt & Whitney

Rocketdyne

Page 36

Aerospike engine static fire test, courtesy of Garvey

Spacecraft Corporation

Page 37

IPD test at NASA’s Stennis Space Center, courtesy of

NASA

SpaceDev hybrid propulsion system, courtesy of

SpaceDev, Inc.

X-43A/Hyper X, courtesy of NASA

Page 38

Gryphon with orbiter, courtesy of Andrews Space &

Technology, Inc.

Page 41

California Spaceport, courtesy of Spaceport Systems

International

Page 43

Athena Launch Pad 1, courtesy of Alaska Aerospace

Development Corporation

Page 44

Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport, courtesy of Virginia

Commercial Spaceflight Authority

Page 46

Mojave Airport, courtesy of East Kern Airport District

SpaceShipOne, courtesy of Scaled Composites, LLC

Page 47

Super Loki launch at LC-47, courtesy of Florida Space

Authority

Page 49

Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, courtesy of CCAFS

Page 50

Edwards Air Force Base, courtesy of USAF

NASA KSC LC-39B, courtesy of NASA

Page 51

Kwajalein Island, courtesy of DoD

Vandenberg Air Force Base, courtesy of USAF

Page 52

Wallops Flight Facility, courtesy of NASA

Page 53

White Sands Missile Range, courtesy of U.S. Army

Page 54

Amateur Rocket Launch at GCRS Site, courtesy of Gulf

Coast Regional Spaceport

Page 56

Oklahoma Spaceport, courtesy of Oklahoma Space

Industry Development Authority

Charles R. Johnson Airport, courtesy of Willacy County

Development Corporation

Page 57

Southwest Regional Spaceport, courtesy of New Mexico

Office of Space Commercialization

Page 58

Spaceport Washington, courtesy of Spaceport

Washington

West Texas Spaceport, courtesy of Pecos County/West

Texas Spaceport Development Corporation

Page 59

Spaceport Sheboygan, courtesy of Rockets for Schools