Florida’s Space Coast is seeing continued activity behind the scenes to prepare for upcoming flights of New Glenn, Stoke Space’s Nova, ULA’s Atlas V, and the resumption of SpaceX Falcon 9 launches.
Exploration Park during the July 12 flyover. Blue Origin’s campus dominates the scene but the Airbus/OneWeb factory is in the background. (Credit: Max Evans for NSF/L2)
Blue Origin
As New Glenn and its NASA Mars-bound EscaPADE payload are being prepared for launch no earlier than Sept. 29, 2024, important activity has occurred at Launch Complex 36 (LC-36) on the Cape Canaveral Space Force Station.
Earlier this month, the New Glenn transporter-erector (TE) was tested as part of flight preparations, and the New Glenn simulator stood up on the pad for the first time without the assistance of the TE. The tests involved smaller and larger retractions away from the rocket and a rapid retraction during launch, presumably similar to the SpaceX Falcon family TE assemblies in Florida.
In addition to the TE work, a first stage engine section test article is near the pad as well, while the second stage TE has been moved from its storage position for possible use in testing the stage before integration and flight. A second stage outfitted with two BE-3U engines has been seen in the factory, having been shown by Blue Origin CEO Dave Limp in a photograph.
The foundation for Lunar Plant 1 is being laid here. (Credit: Max Evans for NSF/L2)
Near LC-36’s entrance, the historic Hangar O is planned for replacement, and the company has filed for a permit to demolish the building. The existing 790-square-meter facility is to be replaced by a new 850-square-meter hangar and a dry retention pond. It is not yet known what purpose this new facility will serve.
While work is being done at LC-36, Blue Origin has also been laying the foundation for its Lunar Production Facility — also known as Lunar Plant 1 — which is to build hardware related to the Artemis lunar landing program. Possible “Blue Moon” lander test hardware has also been seen recently.
Other work has also been going on at Exploration Park, such as a new parking garage to accommodate large numbers of employees and contractors expected to work on various Blue projects at the Cape.
Possible New Glenn stage simulator seen during the flyover on July 12. (Credit: Max Evans for NSF/L2)
Two transporter rigs have been seen at Exploration Park, and it is thought that one of them will be used to transport New Glenn’s second stage to LC-36 before its preflight tests. New Glenn’s first stage is expected to be on the move soon as well and may be having its seven BE-4 engines installed.
Blue Origin has also been preparing at sea for upcoming New Glenn flights. New Glenn’s first stage is designed to be recovered and reused, and a landing attempt could occur as soon as its first flight.
The ship Harvey Stone will serve as the company’s recovery and support vessel, while the 115 m long and 45 m wide Landing Platform Vessel 1 barge will be where the New Glenn first stage lands. Both vessels are currently in France but are expected to return to Florida in the near future.
Stoke Space’s LC-14 seen here during the flyover. (Credit: Julia Bergeron for NSF/L2)
Stoke Space
Stoke Space is developing a fully reusable medium launch vehicle named Nova, which is expected to make its first flight next year. The Nova vehicle is to fly from Launch Complex 14 (LC-14) — the pad that hosted Mercury-Atlas launches, including Friendship 7, the flight that made astronaut John Glenn the first American in orbit.
After an environmental assessment of the site, a finding of no significant impact (FONSI) was issued in May 2024 by the US Space Force. A nearly 700-page environmental assessment document with numerous details about the Nova vehicle and its operations was released along with the FONSI.
Hopper 2 takes to the skies in a mix of fire and ice. (Credit: Stoke Space)
Stoke Space has now begun moving into LC-14, and the company plans to build a horizontal integration building with a payload integration facility attached to it. Nova will use a TE like Falcon family vehicles, to be rolled out to the pad horizontally before being erected.
A set of catenary towers to protect against lightning strikes will be built, as well as a water tower for a deluge system and storage tanks for helium and nitrogen. Liquid and gaseous oxygen, hydrogen, and natural gas storage will be provided as these are the propellants the Nova vehicle’s elements will use.
The first two flights of Nova are planned for 2025, while 10 flights are planned for both 2026 and 2027. Initial flights of Nova will be expendable, with full reusability of the first and second stages coming later. This is similar to the path the Falcon 9 took for partial reuse to become part of the system, with close to seven years elapsing between Falcon 9’s first flight and its first reuse.
The SpaceX Roberts Road facility with the iconic Kennedy Space Center VAB in the background. (Credit: Julia Bergeron for NSF/L2)
SpaceX
Despite Falcon 9’s current grounding, work is continuing on the company’s Roberts Road facility as well as the conversion of Pad 39A back to Falcon 9 single stick operations after the Falcon Heavy GOES-U launch. Tests of equipment to fuel Intuitive Machines spacecraft have also been done recently.
Space Launch Complex-40, the most active launch pad in the world, is temporarily not in use due to the Falcon 9 pause in flights, but a new set of tanks and vaporizers has been seen there. Pad 39A has new liquid oxygen tanks, while no new work has been seen at the Starship launch tower and pad installation.
A C-130 Hercules flying by SLC-37 at the Cape Canaveral Space Force Station. (Credit: Julia Bergeron for NSF/L2)
Eventually, it is planned to fly up to 44 Starship missions per year from Pad 39A in addition to 25 Starship missions a year from Starbase. Space Launch Complex-37 is also scheduled to be used for Starship launches — up to 76 times a year. The former ULA complex looks similar to when it did after the last Delta 4 Heavy flew out of there, though a new clearing west of this complex has been seen. It is not yet known if this clearing is related to Starship activity.
SpaceX is focusing its Starship efforts on its Starbase facility in Texas at present, though in the future there will be a new catch tower, air separation unit, and a natural gas liquefaction plant. A ship quick disconnect arm for the launch tower remains at the Roberts Road facility, though it may now be obsolete.
Elements of Starbase’s former suborbital pad tank farm are seen at the Roberts Road facility. (Credit: Julia Bergeron for NSF/L2)
Elements of Starbase’s suborbital tank farm have also been seen at the Roberts Road facility, showing that there is a two-way exchange of hardware between the company’s Florida and Texas facilities. No launch tower elements remain at Roberts Road; the modules making up a new launch tower are all now in Texas.
A new parking lot has been built by the HangarX2 building to accommodate workers, and the facility is being used for Dragon processing. A Cargo Dragon — possibly C209 — has been seen moving toward HangarX2, while a Crew Dragon — possibly Resilience, the vehicle to be used for the Polaris Dawn mission — has been seen moving from Roberts Road to another hangar for launch preparations.
Falcon 9 B1076 at Port Canaveral following the Turksat-6A mission. (Credit: Julia Bergeron for NSF/L2)
HangarX2’s north extension is to host Starship heat shield manufacturing and production, and is known internally as “the bakery.” It is likely to replace the Cidco Road facility used for this purpose as SpaceX consolidates operations to Roberts Road. This consolidation and expansion will be aided by a recent FONSI granted after an environmental review.
SpaceX’s maritime fleet is all in port due to the recent grounding, while B1076 was seen in a vertical position after the Turksat-6A mission. This downtime means that routine maintenance is likely being performed to prepare the fleet for the resumption of Falcon 9 flights expected in the not-too-distant future.
Pad 41 seen here with a mobile launcher, likely for Vulcan. (Credit: Julia Bergeron for NSF/L2)
ULA, Relativity, and others
A mobile launcher (ML) has been seen on Pad 41. It is thought that this ML may be for the United Launch Alliance Vulcan vehicle, while the ML that the Atlas V uses is likely inside the vehicle integration facility as part of the USSF-51 flight preparations. USSF-51 is scheduled to fly on Tuesday, July 30, aboard an Atlas V 551 rocket. ULA’s Spaceflight Processing and Operations Center is also having work done on it to increase its vertical space.
Relativity continues to work on converting the Launch Complex 16 facility from supporting its Terran 1 vehicle, which flew once in a failed attempt to reach orbit, to the Terran R partially reusable rocket. Cranes appear to be working on the new launch pad’s foundation.
Relativity’s LC-16 work shown here from the flyover. (Credit: Julia Bergeron for NSF/L2)
The Airbus OneWeb facility at Exploration Park has seen significant progress in its expansion since NSF’s last flyover. Most of the new walls are now in place for the 4,500 square meter expansion project, with preparations for adding the roof underway.
By the Launch and Landing Facility, the Amazon Kuiper payload processing facility has progressed and appears to be much more complete. Many bridge cranes seen previously now appear to have been moved into the building, which is over 9,300 square meters and which will support Kuiper satellite pre-launch processing and encapsulation.
Pad 39B with the ML-1 mobile launcher for the SLS Block 1 being proof tested for the Artemis II flight. (Credit: Max Evans for NSF/L2)
Finally, preparations continue for Artemis II, the first human flight to the vicinity of the Moon since December 1972, scheduled to fly no earlier than September of next year. The mobile launch platform for this flight is being tested at Pad 39B, while the second mobile launch platform — for SLS Block 1B — has had more steel and scaffolding added to its base. Plumbing is also seen staged next to the platform before installation on the platform.
(Lead image: The Blue Origin launch pad at LC-36. Credit: Max Evans for NSF/L2)