America’s Spaceports: Power and Peril
The United States is home to the largest and most complex network of spaceports in the world.
This growing web offers a wide range of capabilities, from novel horizontal launch operations at Spaceport America to the far more common vertical launches like those that lift off from the Kennedy Space Center (KSC) complex in Florida.
NASA’s Kennedy Space Center as seen from space by astronaut Scott Kelly in 2016. Source: NASA.
This network is the beating heart of the $200 billion US space economy that supports over 375,000 jobs, because without access to space, there is no space economy.
Many of these newer spaceports are intended to be economic development engines, positioning states to reap the benefits of a growing 21st century space economy.
This network is currently undergoing an unprecedented boom in launch volume, driven largely (but not entirely) by SpaceX and the growth of large satellite mega-constellations such as Starlink.
As commercial launch demand has jumped, it has become an open question as to how long America’s spaceports can maintain the pace. The National Spaceports Policy Report noted that 83% of launch traffic occurs at federal facilities such as KSC and Vandenburg, all of which are operating near capacity.
FAA forecasted growth in combined launch & re-entry operations in years ahead. Note the vast majority of most operations are launches. Source: FAA.
It is also important to note the type of launches that are responsible for this growth.
For all the hype surrounding horizontal launch options (and the number of new spaceports built for those vehicles), over 90% of launches in the US are still vertical launches. With fewer facilities offering full vertical launch capabilities, this creates additional pressure points in the US spaceport network.
This growth has not come without challenges, and there are significant concerns facing the US spaceport ecosystem in the years ahead. Aging infrastructure at key nodes, capacity limitations, and potential public backlash all threaten the recent growth in the number of US spaceports.
Overview: America’s Spaceports
According to the FAA there are 20 licensed spaceports in the United States of varying sizes and capacities.
Note that just because a spaceport has a launch license it does not mean there are active launches occurring there, only that a site is licensed to do so by the federal government. To learn more visit the FAA Office of Spaceports.
Alaska Pacific Spaceport Complex
California Mojave Air & Spaceport
California Vandenburg Space Force Base
Colorado Colorado Air & Spaceport
Florida Space Florida Launch Complex 46
Florida Cecil Air & Space Port
Florida Space Coast Regional Airport
Georgia Spaceport Camden
New Mexico Spaceport America
Oklahoma Oklahoma Spaceport
Texas Boca Chica (SpaceX)
Texas Houston Spaceport
Texas Midland Spaceport
Virginia Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport
Virginia Wallops Flight Facility
Map of American spaceports as of September 2022. Source: FAA
These spaceports range from simple converted airports to the world-class Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Some offer both vertical and horizontal launch capabilities, while some are only certified to handle re-entry and can’t conduct launches at all.
The map above makes it clear that spaceports are not evenly distributed around the country, with the vast majority in the southern and southwestern US. Most are also either near an ocean coastline or are in largely unpopulated areas, which is important in terms of launch safety.
Spaceports also have a diverse political representation at the federal level, with advocates in members of both parties. This includes Speaker of the House Kevin McCarthy, who represents the Mojave Air & Spaceport in California.
Recently, a bipartisan group of Senators who represent spaceports introduced a new bill that would establish a dedicated funding arm within the Department of Transportation specifically for spaceports. Yet even this bipartisan group of representatives may not be enough to spare NASA from painful budget cuts this year.
These spaceports have also been proliferating more rapidly in recent years. The graph below illustrates the strong growth in the number of licensed US spaceports, with more than half of these facilities receiving their first license in the last 20 years.
Source: Astralytical
This recent proliferation of spaceports is also quite visible when breaking down spaceport launch licenses granted by decade. As of this writing there are still 6+ years left in the 2020s, yet this decade already has more newly licensed spaceports than any other except the 2010s.
Source: Astralytical
Many of these newer spaceports have been riding the commercial spaceport wave, aiming to attract new investors from out of state and establish themselves as new growth markets for the space sector.
Some have succeeded, others are still waiting for early promises to bear fruit.
Spaceport Houston is perhaps the most intriguing example of this new generation of US spaceports. While it has yet to conduct any significant launches, it has been attracting major new tenants including Collins Aerospace, Axiom Space, and Intuitive Machines. There have been robust new partnerships with academia and the creation of thousands of jobs, all the hallmarks of a successful spaceport operation.
Other new projects have taken longer to build momentum. The Oklahoma Spaceport in Burns Flat began taking shape in 2006 around the same time as Spaceport America, but almost 20 years later had gone undeveloped and laid largely dormant. By 2022 there were some sparks of new life at the site, but Oklahoma serves as a cautionary tale that not all spaceports are destined for rapid growth.
These spaceports also have a wide range of capabilities. Many older spaceports are vertical launch, like the Pacific Spaceport Complex in Alaska which is a non-federal launch site that hosts vertical launch small rockets intended for polar orbits.
The previously mentioned Spaceport America and Spaceport Oklahoma are horizontal launch facilities, with massive runways intended to service newer prototype horizontal launch spacecraft like Virgin Galactic’s SpaceShipOne.
First launched in 2004, SpaceShipOne the first private spacecraft ever developed and one that takes off and lands horizontally like a traditional aircraft. Source: National Air & Space Museum
Overall the American spaceport network is diverse and growing rapidly, with new projects hoping to get in on the rapidly growing US launch market.
Rising Risks
The primary risk to America’s spaceports is sharply increasing demand outpacing spaceport capacity, putting intense strain on a network already in need of additional resources and significant upgrades.
In recent years there have been numerous warning signs that America’s oldest and most used spaceport infrastructure needs an expansion and an upgrade.
The March 2023 article “Cape Congestion: World’s busiest spaceport stretched to its limits,” by Jeff Foust from SpaceNews highlights some of the increasingly serious limitations facing America’s busiest spaceports, the Kennedy Space Center in Florida and the Vandenburg Space Force Base in California.
According to Col. James Horne, deputy director of launch and range operations for the Space Force’s Space Systems Command,
“The infrastructure to support those launch sites…(such as power, commodities and roads)...is aging. We’re talking about 1960s infrastructure that we operate on today…There’s billions of dollars of infrastructure investment that your federal ranges need.”
This growing list of maintenance needs at KSC includes bridges that haven’t been upgraded to carry heavier loads and an aging power grid that may not be able to handle growth at the center, particularly SpaceX’s massive new Starship pad.
This reality of wear and tear and the need for continuing investments in the physical infrastructure of spaceports was highlighted in a May 2023 analysis by Greg Autry and Bryce Kennedy.
The article stressed that “these spaceports require upgraded pads, increased electrical power, better roads, and enhanced logistics for an expanding volume and variety of fuels, LOX, and other consumables.”
Some of the most used spaceports in the US are also the oldest, and the bill is coming due for significant investments and upgrades, with no guarantee that Congress is in any way interested in paying.
There are also limitations on one of the spaceport network's most critical assets: people.
According to Major General Stephen Purdy, director of launch and range operations for the Space Force’s Space Systems Command,
“People remain our biggest issue. At some point, we are going to run out of people and time to support commercial launches on the Eastern and Western Ranges…We’re not prepared or manned to support launch rates of 90 (the estimated number of launches on the Eastern Range in 2023)...I project we’re going to be in the multiple hundreds here on a couple years.”
There are also lessons to be learned from watching SpaceX develop the Boca Chica spaceport site in South Texas.
While environmental concerns rumbled for years in the background as the site developed, they went mainstream during the spectacular semi-successful test of Starship this past April. The resulting explosion spread particulate matter for miles and resulted in numerous lawsuits being filed that could potentially disrupt development at the entire site.
Boca Chica is not the only spaceport site facing potentially critical challenges due to environmental concerns and concerted opposition.
It’s clear that the American spaceport network is running up against significant obstacles just as it reaches the busiest period in its history.
Voters Aren’t Sold on Spaceports
One potential obstacle for further spaceport growth may indeed be the general public itself. Voters across the country are generally pro-space but have given mixed results when asked to support spaceport projects with their own tax dollars, and the intensity of that support is often lacking.
The 2000s and 2010s saw voters approve a number of space related measures that demonstrated public support for spaceport expansion. In 2008 New Mexico expressed a split verdict on spaceport development when some counties voted for a sales tax increase to support Spaceport America, while others voted against it.
View of Spaceport America from the runway. The facility would not have been possible without early support from voters in a series of county sales tax referenda. Source: SpaceportAmerica.
A more emphatic result occurred in Georgia in March 2022. Spaceport Camden was a proposal that arose in 2012 from local officials to build a spaceport in coastal Camden County, the site of NASA testing in the 1960s.
Despite years of development and support from state legislators, there were vocal local concerns about environmental risks and local economic development priorities.
When the County attempted to purchase land for the spaceport, opponents gathered signatures to force a referendum. In March of 2022, 72% of voters rejected the land purchase, effectively killing the project. While only 17% of voters had turned out (only 12.5% of all local voters), the Georgia Supreme Court upheld the referendum when County officials tried to challenge the vote.
Most spaceports aren’t put to the voters for straight up or down approval, but the results we do have indicate voters aren’t necessarily sold on spaceports.
Innovative Solutions On The Horizon?
One truly innovative way around many of these challenges is rather exotically simple: launch rockets offshore.
The Spaceport Company is building an offshore launch platform that aims to be “high-cadence, fast-turnaround, (and) cost-effective,” with a focus on servicing the growing Defense Department segment of the launch market.
The company is making great strides, conducting the 1st ever US commercial launch from US territorial waters in May of 2023 in the Gulf of Mexico. They announced a partnership with Vaya Space in April 2023 and received a Defense Department contract in June 2023, and their next step is to develop a platform capable of launching a rocket to orbit.
When reached for comment Spaceport Company Founder & CEO Tom Marotta said, “We have a development path and conceptual designs that can serve any size launch vehicle and operate in any area in the ocean, including on the equator,” opening the door to some tantalizing new US launch capabilities.
Describing the pressures on current launch infrastructure as “acute,” Marotta does not believe that it is possible to meet future demand simply by upgrading existing spaceports, a conclusion echoed by the Defense Department.
With the collapse of Virgin Orbit and Virgin Galactic years behind schedule, it is clear the horizontal launch market is not capable of taking on excess launch demand and it may fall to innovative new firms like the Spaceport Company to solve the launch capacity dilemma.
Questions for the Future of America’s Spaceports
The coming years promise to tell a fascinating story for American spaceports, with a number of major questions rising in importance:
Will the spaceport building boom continue, or will dedicated opposition begin stifling network growth?
Will Congress provide the necessary funds to maintain and upgrade America’s spaceport network, or will budget threats put a cap on growth?
Will innovative programs like the Spaceport Company and their off-shore platform deliver on their promises to relieve spaceport congestion?
One of the most important dynamics shaping the American space economy in the 21st century is the quality and capacity of its spaceport network. Aging infrastructure at key spaceport nodes, capacity limitations and mismatched capabilities, Congressional disinterest, and potentially potent public backlash all threaten the recent surge in launch growth.
Time will tell if the sector innovates through these hurdles or if the American spaceport boom whimpers out.
Patrick Chase is a space writer, political junkie, and lifelong space enthusiast.
Astralytical has assisted two spaceport development projects. Contact Astralytical for your spaceport development or analysis needs.