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TRANSFORMATIONAL SPACEPORT & RANGE TECHNOLOGIES

Today there are 22 spaceports throughout the world and yet, unlike other transportation enterprises, the majority operate independently of one another. Each spaceport and range has its own uniqueness, catering to the vehicle specific designs and Agency or organization specific missions. A lack of an integrated national approach coupled with today’s paradigm where ground and launch operations infrastructure (also known as spaceport and range systems) is funded at the implementation phase of vehicle architectures causes the U.S. space access capability to be operations-intensive and extremely expensive. Revolutionary advancements in the reduction of cost and time to access space will not be realized without significant technological breakthroughs in the ground processing, launch operations, and air traffic control/range operation systems. For the only operational reusable launch vehicle (RLV), the Space Shuttle, more than 4 months are spent preparing the vehicle for its mission, which typically is less than two weeks in duration. In addition, costs associated with ground processing and launch operations equate to more than 45% 60% of the overall life cycle costs for the program. An operational paradigm shift in spaceport and range is required if space access is to ever move more towards airport-like efficiencies. The space transportation system must be designed as a system rather than employing a “patchwork” approach of focusing on one vehicle architecture at a time rather than addressing a “suite” of architectures. Future vehicle architectures are steadily growing more diverse thus requiring a “master plan” for space transportation infrastructure that employs more flexible, responsive ground operations and launch technologies. The infusion of enabling technologies can help reduce the life cycle cost of the program as well as improve responsiveness. With architectures such as crewed and cargo-only, expendable and reusable, orbital and suborbital using a combination of propellants, a variety of launch locations, in addition to the current programs, these emerging vehicles will drive the need for upgrades to the spaceport and range infrastructure towards more flexible, interoperable, responsive infrastructure.