Elon Musk’s SpaceX and Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin may soon be sparring over a stretch of land along the California coast that the Space Force wants to see turned into a launch site for massive rockets.
Officials at the sprawling Vandenberg Space Force Base about 150 miles north of Los Angeles have asked for proposals from space firms to build a launch complex for so-called heavy or super-heavy spacecraft on a desolate stretch at the base’s southern tip.
Both Starbase-headquartered SpaceX and Kent, Washington-based Blue Origin are expected to submit bids to develop the future site for their giant rockets – Starship and New Glenn respectively.
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Though it could be the first West Coast site for either of the vehicles, a competition over launch infrastructure wouldn’t be the first for the two billionaires and their space companies.
Starship currently launches from its base in South Texas, but SpaceX is building launch facilities in Florida, as well.
Florida
In 2013, Blue Origin balked at SpaceX’s plans for an exclusive lease for Launch Complex 39A at Kennedy Space Center, Florida, a historic pad previously used for the Apollo and Shuttle programs. The Government Accountability Office denied the protest and NASA awarded a 20-year-lease to SpaceX for the site.
Since then, SpaceX has retrofitted 39A for Falcon 9 rockets and has built a Starship launch tower at the site, which is part of the company’s plans for the giant spacecraft’s growing footprint.
While SpaceX builds and launches the 400-foot-tall Starship at Starbase – where it has a manufacturing facility, test site and two launch towers – it’s also building another Starship factory, or Gigabay, at Kennedy, as well as two additional launch towers at nearby Cape Canaveral Space Force Station.
For its part, Blue Origin flies its New Glenn from LC-36 at Cape Canaveral but doesn’t yet have a West Coast facility.
‘A strategic advantage’
The recent “request for information” pits the companies against each other in their proposals to develop the new site known as Space Launch Complex 14 – or SLC-14. Blue Origin and SpaceX lead the current list of contenders, which may grow to include others like Relativity Space and United Launch Alliance.
“A heavy/super-heavy launch capability at (Vandenberg) offers a strategic advantage to the (Space Force), enabling the deployment of larger, more capable military satellites and facilitating rapid response missions during national security emergencies,” said the request. Adding such capabilities “enhances resilience, diversifies the government’s portfolio, and accelerates satellite constellation reconstitution due to increased lift capacity.”
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The space service wants to add a site capable of launching “heavy” payloads – from 44,000 pounds to 110,200 pounds – or “super-heavy” payloads above that size. It’s seeking proposals for spacecraft not already operating at the base to increase what it calls “launch diversity.”
SpaceX routinely launches Falcon 9s from Vandenberg. It’s retrofitting SLC-6, a site at the base originally intended for the Space Shuttle, for Falcon 9 and Falcon Heavy launches, and some have speculated it could eventually be a good fit for Starship.
So far, there’s been no official comment about expanding Starship operations to California.
Rocket Cargo
According to SpaceX, Starship can carry as much as 150 tons to orbit, but that’s still to be proven. The military is investing in using the craft to carry payloads anywhere on Earth in an hour or less, a concept it calls Rocket Cargo or “point-to-point delivery.”
In its request, the service asked vendors to identify “unique capabilities” such as “point-to-point delivery, payload return, survivability, (and) reuse.”
SpaceX hasn’t tried to land a Starship that’s been to space on solid ground yet, but it has successfully landed and reused the craft’s lower-stage booster. It’s also had controlled splashdowns of Starship in the Indian Ocean.
Unlike Starship, the upper stage of Blue Origin’s New Glenn wasn’t designed for reuse, however, it can reuse its lower stage.
The selected company will be responsible for completing environmental reviews, including an Environmental Impact Statement, under federal laws before the service will issue a lease. Such environmental reviews often take years.
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The service expects the vendors to have the site operational within five years of signing the lease.
SpaceX launched its 11th Starship from South Texas in October and said it intends to launch its next one before April.
Blue Origin had a successful second launch of New Glenn from Florida on Nov. 13.
It also operates a launch site near Van Horn for its smaller New Shepard rocket for space tourism.
This article originally published at Elon Musk’s SpaceX, Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin are likely competitors for California launch site.
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