Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport

The Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport (MARS) is a commercial space launch facility located at the southern tip of NASA's Wallops Flight Facility on Wallops Island in Virginia, just east of the Delmarva Peninsula and south of Chincoteague, Virginia, United States.

The Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport and, in the background, NASA's Wallops Flight Facility as seen in September 2012.

Background

The General Assembly of the Commonwealth of Virginia created the Virginia Commercial Space Flight Authority (VCSFA), also known as Virginia Space, in 1995 to promote the development of the commercial space flight industry, economic development, aerospace research, and Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM) education throughout the Commonwealth.[1]

In 1997, Virginia Space entered into a Reimbursable Space Act Agreement with NASA, which provided for permitted use of land on NASA Wallops Island for the MARS launch pads. Virginia Space also applied for and was granted an FAA license to launch to orbit. This led to the establishment of the Virginia Space Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport (MARS), located on the southern portion of NASA Wallops Island. MARS is approved for launch azimuths from 38° to 60°, making it an ideal location from which to launch to the International Space Station (ISS).[1]

In July 2003, Governors Robert Ehrlich of Maryland and Mark Warner of Virginia signed an agreement that directed the Secretary of Commerce and Trade of Virginia and the Secretary of Business and Economic Development of Maryland to form a working group to develop a concept and implementation plan for joint governance, operation, and administration of the commercial spaceport at Wallops Island.[1]

In 2007, NASA selected Virginia-based Orbital Sciences Corporation (Northrop Grumman) to participate in the Commercial Orbital Transportation Services (COTS) program and then selected Orbital for a follow-on Commercial Resupply Service (CRS) contract to build and demonstrate a new rocket, Antares, to resupply the International Space Station (ISS). The CRS contract authorized eight missions from 2012 to 2015 carrying approximately 20,000 kg of cargo to ISS as well as disposal of waste. These launches were to take place from the new state-of-the-art MARS Pad 0A.[1]

On MARS Pad 0B, VCSFA made modifications and upgrades to launch the NASA Lunar Atmosphere and Dust Environment Explorer (LADEE) mission to the Moon in mid-2013 on a new Orbital Sciences Minotaur V launch vehicle. Also in mid-2013, the USAF launched ORS-3 from MARS Pad 0B.[1]

MARS is one of only several sites licensed by the FAA Office of Commercial Space Transportation to launch to orbit. Additionally, Virginia is home to the NASA Langley Research Center (LARC) and National Reconnaissance Office (NRO), and as such is a recipient of a large portion of the Federal budget for Space. Finally, according to the Information Technology and Innovation Foundation, Virginia ranks first in the number of scientists and engineers as a percentage of the workforce, third in the concentration of high-tech jobs as a percentage of the workforce, and sixth in non-industry investment in research and development.[1]

Facilities
The launch Pad 0A with Antares rocket. At left is a water tower for supplying water for sound suppression.

The Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport has three active launch pads.

The launch pad 0B with Minotaur V rocket in September 2013.

The Launch pad 0A (LP-0A) was built for the Conestoga rocket, which made its only flight in 1995.[2] The launch tower was subsequently demolished in September 2008,[3] and has now been rebuilt for use by the Northrop Grumman Innovation Systems Antares.[4] The pad modifications for Antares included the construction of a Horizontal Integration Facility for launcher/payload mating and a wheeled transporter/erector that will "roll out and erect the rocket on its launch pad about 24 hours prior to launch".[4]

Launch pad 0B (LP-0B) became operational in 1999,[5] and was subsequently upgraded with the construction of a mobile service tower, which was completed in 2004.[6] It remains active, and is currently used by Minotaur rockets.

The facility suffered significant damage during the 28 October 2014 Antares launch failure, according to NASA officials in the immediate aftermath.[7] Preliminary estimates for rebuilding the pad indicated the cost should be no more than US$20 million .[8] By May 2015, that estimate had been revised down to US$13 million and repairs were expected to be completed by September or October 2015 with the next planned launch in March 2016.[9] On September 30, 2015, the spaceport announced repairs on pad 0A had been completed.[10]

In October 2018, Rocket Lab announced that it had selected MARS as its second launch site, called Rocket Lab Launch Complex-2. The company began construction in February 2019, together with the Virginia Commercial Space Flight Authority (Virginia Space). On December 12, 2019, Rocket Lab said it had built and completed Launch Complex-2 and is ready to support missions just 10 months later, a new launch pad near Pad 0A, with the first launch scheduled for the third quarter of 2020.[11] At a press conference on the same day at the NASA Wallops Flight Facility, the Space Test Program of the United States Air Force (now United States Space Force) was announced as the first customer for the Electron launch vehicle. The mission will see a single research and development micro-satellite.[12] The new launch complex also has an integration facility.[13]

Launch history
LaunchDate (UTC)VehiclePayloadLaunch padResultRemarks
123 October 1995, 22:02Conestoga 1620Meteor recoverable experimental satellitePad 0AFailureThe only orbital launch attempt of Conestoga.
216 December 2006, 12:00Minotaur ITacSat-2 / GeneSat-1Pad 0BSuccess[14]
324 April 2007, 06:48Minotaur INFIREPad 0BSuccess[14]
422 August 2008, 09:10 ALV X-1Hy-BoLT / SOAREX-VIPad 0BFailure[15]Suborbital launch.
519 May 2009, 23:55 Minotaur ITacSat-3Pad 0BSuccess
630 June 2011, 03:09Minotaur IUSAF ORS-1 SatellitePad 0BSuccess
721 April 2013, 21:00Antares 110Cygnus Mass SimulatorPad 0ASuccess[16]
87 September 2013, 03:27Minotaur VLADEE mission to Lunar orbitPad 0BSuccess
918 September 2013, 14:58Antares 110Cygnus Orb-D1
COTS Demo Mission		Pad 0ASuccess[17]
1020 November 2013, 01:15Minotaur IORS 3, STPSat3Pad 0BSuccess
119 January 2014, 18:07[18][19][20]Antares 120Cygnus CRS Orb-1Pad 0ASuccessFirst Cygnus.
ISS re-supply mission.
1213 July 2014, 16:52[21]Antares 120Cygnus CRS Orb-2Pad 0ASuccessISS re-supply mission.
1328 October 2014, 22:22[22]Antares 130Cygnus CRS Orb-3Pad 0AFailure[23]Pad damaged by explosion and fire.
1417 October 2016, 23:45 [24]Antares 230Cygnus CRS OA-5Pad 0A (rebuilt)SuccessISS re-supply mission.
1512 November 2017, 12:19Antares 230Cygnus CRS OA-8EPad 0ASuccessISS re-supply mission.
1621 May 2018, 08:44Antares 230Cygnus CRS OA-9EPad 0ASuccessISS re-supply mission.
1717 November 2018, 09:01Antares 230Cygnus NG-10Pad 0ASuccessISS re-supply mission.
1817 April 2019, 16:46Antares 230Cygnus NG-11Pad 0ASuccessISS re-supply mission.
192 November 2019, 13:59Antares 230+Cygnus NG-12Pad 0ASuccessISS re-supply mission.
2015 February 2020, 20:21Antares 230+Cygnus NG-13Pad 0ASuccessISS re-supply mission.
2115 July 2020, 13:46 [25]Minotaur IVNROL-129Pad 0BSuccessClassified National Reconnaissance Office payload.
223 October 2020, 02:16Antares 230+Cygnus NG-14Pad 0ASuccessISS re-supply mission.

See also

References
  1. "History of MARS". www.vaspace.org. Retrieved 28 October 2020.
  2. Wade, Mark. "Wallops Island LA0A". Encyclopedia Astronautica. Archived from the original on 2008-11-20. Retrieved 2009-01-21.
  3. "Launch Tower Demolition". GMB. Archived from the original on 2009-02-21. Retrieved 2009-01-21.
  4. Kyle, Ed (2011-05-14). "Taurus 2". Space Launch Report. Retrieved 2011-12-19.
  5. "Facilities". Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport. Archived from the original on October 16, 2008. Retrieved 2009-01-21.
  6. "Launch Pad 0-B" (PDF). Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport. Archived from the original (PDF) on July 4, 2008. Retrieved 2009-01-21.
  7. Botelho, Gerg. "Unmanned NASA-contracted rocket explodes; damage was 'significant'". CNN. Retrieved 2014-10-28.
  8. Foust, Jeff (2014-11-21). "Virginia May Seek Federal Funds for Wallops Spaceport Repairs". Space News. Retrieved 2014-12-01.
  9. Leone, Dan (May 15, 2015). "With $2 Million Left on Wallops Repair Bill, NASA and Virginia Look to Orbital ATK To Dig Deeper". Space News. Retrieved July 19, 2015.
  10. "Completion Of Repairs at the Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport Launch Pad 0A". vaspace.org. September 30, 2015.
  11. "Rocket Lab tests Electron on new Virginia launch pad". SpaceNews.com. 2020-04-30. Retrieved 2020-05-24.
  12. "Updates". Rocket Lab. Retrieved 28 October 2020.
  13. "Rocket Lab | Our Launch Sites". Rocket Lab. Retrieved 2018-12-30.
  14. Wade, Mark. "Wallops Island LA0B". Encyclopedia Astronautica. Archived from the original on 2011-11-15. Retrieved 2011-12-19.
  15. Tennant, Diane (22 Aug 2008). "NASA destroys rocket shortly after launch at Wallops Island". Virginian-Pilot. Retrieved 2 November 2014.
  16. "Antares Maiden Soar Pierces Virginia Sky and delivers NASA SmartPhone Pioneer Nanosats to Orbit - Universe Today". 24 April 2013. Retrieved 12 September 2018.
  17. Clark, Stephen. "Antares launches private mission to space station". Spaceflightnow.com.
  18. "ORB-1: Antares successfully launches Cygnus en route to ISS – NASASpaceFlight.com". www.nasaspaceflight.com. Retrieved 12 September 2018.
  19. "Northrop Grumman Corporation". Northrop Grumman. Retrieved 12 September 2018.
  20. "NASA - NSSDCA - Spacecraft - Details". nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov. Retrieved 28 October 2020.
  21. Beutel, Allard (3 April 2015). "NASA Cargo Launches to Station Aboard Orbital Resupply Mission". Retrieved 12 September 2018.
  22. "Antares Launch Postponed to Oct. 28 – Orbital ATK". blogs.nasa.gov. Retrieved 12 September 2018.
  23. "Teams investigate failure of unmanned rocket off Virginia coast". CNN.
  24. Beutel, Allard (17 October 2016). "Orbital ATK Launches NASA Resupply Mission to Space Station". Retrieved 12 September 2018.
  25. Koehler, Keith (15 July 2020). https://www.nasa.gov/wallops/2020/feature/minotaur-iv-launches-from-wallops. Retrieved 15 July 2020. Missing or empty |title= (help)
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