Pacific Spaceport Complex – Alaska

Template:Short description Template:Use American English Template:Use dmy dates Template:Infobox launch pad Template:United States space program sidebar The Pacific Spaceport Complex – Alaska (PSCA), formerly known as the Kodiak Launch Complex (KLC), is a dual-use commercial and military spaceport for sub-orbital and orbital launch vehicles.<ref name=nsf20160825/> The facility is owned and operated by the Alaska Aerospace Corporation, a corporation owned by the government of Alaska,<ref name="aacho2009" /><ref name="aw201004" /> and is located on Kodiak Island in Alaska.

The spaceport opened in 1998 and has supported 31 (up to January 2023) launches, most of those for the U.S. government. The site was closed for two years following a launch failure that caused significant damage to parts of the spaceport. It reopened in August 2016.

History

Following the incorporation of the Alaska Aerospace Development Corporation in 1991 by the Alaska state legislature, plans were begun for the spaceport, known during development as the Alaska Orbital Launch Complex. Construction on the site began in January 1998, and the first launch took place in August 1998 from temporary accommodations at the site.<ref name="Waite2012">Template:Cite conference</ref>

After a launch failure in August 2014 damaged the launch tower, payload processing facility and integrated processing facility,<ref name="dispatch20140825" /> Alaska Aerospace made plans to repair and upgrade the facilities to support larger rockets, but Governor Bill Walker stopped work in December 2014 as part of an order to address a state budget shortfall.<ref name="junempire20141228" /> Repairs to the facility were funded by state insurance at a cost of US$26–29 million.<ref name="adn20150420">Template:Cite news</ref> During efforts to repair the facilities, the spaceport was formally renamed to "Pacific Spaceport Complex – Alaska" in an announcement made on 14 April 2015.<ref name="ads20150414">Template:Cite news</ref> The facility was formally re-dedicated on 13 August 2016, to celebrate the completion of repairs.<ref name="nsf20160825">Template:Cite news</ref>

In mid-2016, the Alaska Aerospace Corporation "signed a multi-year contract with the Missile Defense Agency (MDA) for multiple launches from the PSCA through 2021". The arrangement includes a sole-source contract for two flight tests of the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) system. Two private companies, Rocket Lab and Vector Space Systems, were considering using the spaceport for commercial launches as early as 2019.<ref name="nsf20160825" /> Another private company, Eclipse Orbital, was working with the Alaska Aerospace Corporation to prepare for flight operations of their "Corona" launch vehicle in 2020. As of 2022, however, none of these companies have launched anything from Alaska.

Indian private space company Agnikul Cosmos signed a memorandum of agreement with Alaska Aerospace Corporation to test launch their Agnibaan rocket from the Pacific Spaceport Complex. The launch from Alaska was expected to take place from 2022 onwards. Under the agreement, Alaska Aerospace and AgniKul will work together to secure several regulatory approvals including US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) launch licensing, US export control, and will comply with export laws & regulations in India to receive necessary clearances from the Indian authorities as well. The aim is to define launch vehicle-spaceport interfaces, related procedures and conduct at least one test launch from PSCA.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

On 19 November 2021, Astra's LV0007 rocket achieved orbit from the Pacific Spaceport Complex.<ref name="nsf-20211120" />

Launch facilities

The Kodiak spaceport has two launch pads with a mission control center that includes 64 workstations with high-speed communications and data links. There is a clean room for preparing satellites for launch, a fully enclosed 17-story-tall rocket assembly building and two independent range and telemetry systems. The complex sits on Template:Convert of state-owned land. Launch pad 1 is designed for orbital launches, while launch pad 2 is intended for sub-orbital launches.<ref name="aw201004" />

In 2010, Alaska Aerospace Corp. developed a concept plan for a third launch pad, which would allow the facility to support quick launches of satellites: under 24 hours to launch from "go ahead".<ref name="aw201004" />Template:Update after

Launch history

The first orbital launch from the PSCA was an Athena I rocket which carried out the Kodiak Star mission for NASA and the Space Test Program, launching Starshine 3, Sapphire, PCSat, and PICOSatS on 30 September 2001.<ref name="kodiakstar" />

Launches from Kodiak Launch Complex

No.	Date (UTC)	Vehicle	Payload	Pad	Orbital/Suborbital	Result	Remarks
1	Template:Dts 01:32	First stage: Aerojet SR-19-AJ-1 Second stage: Hercules M57A1	Template:Abbr<ref name="gsp-ait1" />	LP-2	Suborbital	Template:Success<ref name="donyoung1998" />	Mission for the U.S. Air Force. Carried various experiments and instruments, including a "Global Positioning System antenna, Honeywell GPS Measure Unit, Electromagnetic Radio Tomography experiment, Langmuir probe and an Air Force nosetip".<ref name="donyoung1998" />
2	Template:Nowrap 21:00<ref name="Bowles2000" />	First stage: Castor 4B Second stage: Hercules M57A1	Template:Abbr<ref name="fas19990910" /><ref name="gsp-ait2" />	LP-2	Suborbital	Template:Success<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref> || Mission for the U.S. Air Force. Carried various experiments and instruments, including a Langmuir probe, the Boston Rocket Ionospheric Tomography Experiment, an interceptor seeker, and calibration equipment.<ref name="fas19990910" />
3	Template:Dts<ref name="alaskaGovBudget">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation	CitationClass=web }} Template:PD-notice</ref> || Aries 47<ref name="gsp-aries" /> || Template:Abbr-1 || LP-2 || Suborbital || Template:Success<ref name="alaskaGovBudget" /> || Mission for the U.S. Air Force.
4	Template:Dts 02:40<ref name="kodiakstar" />	Athena I (LM-001)	Template:Unbulleted list	LP-1	Orbital	Template:Success	Kodiak Star mission for Lockheed/NASA; first orbital launch from Kodiak.
5	Template:Dts 18:12	Polaris A-3 Template:Abbr-1<ref name="gsp-stars" />		LP-2	Suborbital	Template:Failure	West Coast Risk-Reduction Flight (WCRRF) for the U.S. Army.<ref name="gsp-stars" /> Rocket exploded 56 seconds after launch.<ref name="dispatch20140825" />
6	Template:Dts<ref name="DOD2002">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref> || Aries 49<ref name="gsp-aries" /> || QRLV-2 || LP-2 || Suborbital || Template:Success<ref name="DOD2002" /> || Mission for the U.S. Air Force.
7	Template:Dts 04:45<ref name="Wilke2006" />	Polaris A-3 STARS-1<ref name="gsp-stars" />		LP-2	Suborbital	Template:Failure	Template:Abbr-13c mission for Missile Defense Agency (MDA). Target successfully launched from Kodiak, but interceptor failed to launch from Kwajalein.
8	Template:Dts 06:22<ref name="Wilke2006" />	Polaris A-3 STARS-1<ref name="gsp-stars" />		LP-2	Suborbital	Template:Failure	IFT-14 mission for MDA. Target successfully launched from Kodiak, but interceptor failed to launch from Kwajalein.
9	Template:Dts 16:09	Polaris A-3 STARS-1<ref name="gsp-stars" />		LP-2	Suborbital	Template:Success	Template:Abbr-01 mission for MDA.
10	Template:Dts 17:22	Polaris A-3 STARS-1<ref name="gsp-stars" />		LP-2	Suborbital	Template:Success	Template:Abbr-02 mission for MDA. Both the target at Kodiak and interceptor at Kwajalein successfully launched.<ref name="mda20060901" />
11	Template:Dts 14:15	Polaris A-3 STARS-1<ref name="gsp-stars" />		LP-2	Suborbital	Template:Failure	FTG-03 mission for MDA. Target missile from Kodiak flew off course and interceptor was not launched.
12	Template:Dts 20:01	Polaris A-3 STARS-1<ref name="gsp-stars" />		LP-2	Suborbital	Template:Success	FTG-03a mission for MDA. Successful intercept.
13	Template:Dts 22:47<ref name="theage20080719" />	Polaris A-3 STARS-1<ref name="gsp-stars" />		LP-2	Suborbital	Template:Success	FTX-03 mission for MDA. Target launched from Kodiak was tracked by land-based, sea-based and space-based tracking systems. Navy and Air Force units simulated interceptor shootdowns.<ref name="sfgate20080718" />
14	Template:Dts 20:04	Polaris A-3 STARS-1<ref name="gsp-stars" />		LP-2	Suborbital	Template:Success	FTG-05 mission for MDA. Successful intercept of a target launched from Kodiak by an interceptor launched from Vandenberg Air Force Base.<ref name="mda20081205" />
15	Template:Dts 01:25<ref name="space20101119" />	Minotaur IV	Template:Unbulleted list	LP-1	Orbital	Template:Success	STP-S26 mission for the U.S. Air Force. Included a Hydrazine Auxiliary Propulsion System (HAPS) to move vehicle to a secondary orbit after ejecting payloads.
16	Template:Dts 15:49<ref name="nsf20110927" />	Minotaur IV+	TacSat-4	LP-1	Orbital	Template:Success	Mission for the U.S. Air Force.
17	Template:Dts ~08:00	Polaris STARS IV<ref name="AHW-enviro" />	Advanced Hypersonic Weapon	LP-2	Suborbital	Template:Failure	Flight Test 2 for the U.S. Army's AHW program. Flight terminated by range safety four seconds after launch due to rocket anomaly.<ref name="dispatch20140825" /><ref name="Reuters20140826" /> Kodiak's LP-1 launch tower, payload processing facility, and integrated processing facility suffered damage due to the termination.<ref name="dispatch20140825" />
18	June 2017	Unknown	Unknown	Unknown	Suborbital	Unknown	citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>
19	July 2017	Unknown	Unknown	Unknown	Suborbital	Unknown	FET-01 mission for the MDA<ref name=launchmanifest/>
20	20 July 2018	Astra Rocket 1.0	Unknown	LP-2	Suborbital	Template:Failure	P120 mission for a commercial sponsor<ref name=launchmanifest/> Astra
21	29 November 2018	Astra Rocket 2.0	Unknown	LP-2	Suborbital	Template:Failure	citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref> for Astra
22	26 July 2019	Arrow III		LP-2	Suborbital	Template:Success	In a joint Israeli-American test conducted by the Israeli Air Force and Missile Defense Agency, the Arrow 3 system successfully intercepted 3 "enemy" rockets, one of them outside the atmosphere. The tests demonstrated Arrow 3's ability to intercept exo-atmospheric targets.<ref name="Judson 2019">Template:Cite news</ref><ref name="Ahronheim 2019">Template:Cite news</ref>
23	26 July 2019	Arrow III		LP-2	Suborbital	Template:Success	In a joint Israeli-American test conducted by the Israeli Air Force and Missile Defense Agency, the Arrow 3 system successfully intercepted 3 "enemy" rockets, one of them outside the atmosphere. The tests demonstrated Arrow 3's ability to intercept exo-atmospheric targets.<ref name="Judson 2019" /><ref name="Ahronheim 2019" />
24	26 July 2019	Arrow III		LP-2	Suborbital	Template:Success	In a joint Israeli-American test conducted by the Israeli Air Force and Missile Defense Agency, the Arrow 3 system successfully intercepted 3 "enemy" rockets, one of them outside the atmosphere. The tests demonstrated Arrow 3's ability to intercept exo-atmospheric targets.<ref name="Judson 2019" /><ref name="Ahronheim 2019" />
25	12 September 2020 03:19	Rocket 3		citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref> || Orbital || Template:Failure || First test mission for the Astra Rocket 3.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>
26	15 December 2020 20:55	Rocket 3		LP-3B	Orbital	Template:Failure	citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>
27	28 August 2021 22:35	Rocket 3	STP-27AD1	LP-3B	Orbital	Template:Failure	citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>
28	21 October 2021	Unknown	FT-3	LP-1	Suborbital	Template:Failure	citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>
29	20 November 2021 06:16	Rocket 3	STP-27AD2	LP-3B	Orbital	Template:Success	citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>
30	15 March 2022 16:22	Rocket 3	S4 CROSSOVER, OreSat0, SpaceBEE × 16	LP-3B	Orbital	Template:Success	citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>
31	10 January 2023 23:27	RS1	VariSat-1A, 1B	LP-3C	Orbital	Template:Failure	citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>

• Additional sources: Center for Defense Information,<ref name="cdi20070618" /> Missile Defense Agency<ref name="mda-iftfaq" />

The list above contains all launches, orbital and suborbital, up to January 2023.

External links

• Pacific Spaceport Complex – Alaska website by the Alaska Aerospace Corporation
• Alaska Aerospace Development Corporation Annual Reports from 2002 to present hosted by the Alaska State Publications Program.
• Economic impact of the Alaska Aerospace Development Corporation on the Kodiak Island Borough and the State of Alaska 2006 hosted by the Alaska State Publications Program.
• Environmental monitoring report, FTG-02 launch : Kodiak Launch Complex, Kodiak, Alaska / prepared for Alaska Aerospace Development Corporation (2007) hosted by the Alaska State Publications Program.
• Environmental monitoring report, FT-04-1 launch : Kodiak Launch Complex, Kodiak, Alaska (2006) hosted by the Alaska State Publications Program.