Kodiak Launch Complex

The Kodiak Launch Complex (KLC) is a commercial rocket launch facility for sub-orbital and orbital space launch vehicles owned and operated by the Alaska Aerospace Corporation, a public corporation of the State of Alaska.[1][2] The facility is located on Kodiak Island, Alaska.

The launch facility has handled 14 launches since it opened in 1991—most of those for the US government, with 100 percent success rate to date. As of April 2010, two launches are planned for 2010.[3][4]

Contents

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 3,700 acres (15 km2) of state-owned land. A third launch pad is planned which would allow the facility to support quick launches of satellites: under 24 hours to launch from 'go ahead'.[3]

Launch history

The first orbital launch from the Kodiak Launch Complex 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 September 30, 2001.[5]

Launch Date (UTC) Vehicle Payload Launch pad Result Remarks
1 September 30, 2001 Athena I Starshine 3, Sapphire, PCSat, and PICOSat Pad ?? Success
14 November 19, 2010 06:48 Minotaur IV FASTSAT, STPSat 2, Radio Aurora Explorer, O/OREOS CubeSat Pad ?? Success [4]
Scheduled launches

References

  1. ^ Alaska Aerospace Corporation—History and Organization, 2009, accessed 2010-04-26.
  2. ^ "Kodiak Readies for Quick Launch". Aviation Week. http://www.aviationweek.com/aw/video/?fr_story=79de6a57e6c5f464b63870eed8c6162caeeac501&rf=rss. 
  3. ^ a b Kodiak Readies for Quick Launch, Aviation Week, April 2010, accessed 2010-04-26. "Alaska's remote Kodiak Launch Complex is state-of-the-art, has a perfect mission record, and will soon be able to launch a satellite-carrying rocket within 24 hours of mission go-ahead."
  4. ^ a b NASA Launches Nanosatellite to Study Life in Space, Technology Review, November 2010, accessed 2011-03-30. "The tiny propellant-free satellite will conduct astrobiology research. "
  5. ^ NASA: Kodiak Star 2001

External links