Kodiak Launch Complex

From Infogalactic: the planetary knowledge core
Jump to: navigation, search
Athena I vehicle with Kodiak Star mission outside the Launch Service Structure in 2001.
Launch Service Structure at Kodiak

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 16 launches since it opened in 1998, most of those for the U.S. government.

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. Launch pad 1 is designed for orbital launches, while launch pad 2 is intended for sub-orbital flights. 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'.[2]

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.[3] After a launch failure in August 2014,[4] Alaska Aerospace made plans to repair and upgrade the facilities to support larger rockets, but Governor Bill Walker stopped work in December 2014 as part of an order to address a state budget shortfall.[5]

Launches from Kodiak Launch Complex
No. Date (UTC) Vehicle Payload Pad Result Remarks
1 November 6, 1998
01:32		 First stage: Aerojet SR-19-AJ-1
Second stage: Hercules M57A1		 ait-1[6] LP-2 Mission for the U.S. Air Force. Carried various experiments and instruments, including a "Global Positioning System antenna, Honeywell GPS Measure Unit, Electromagnetic Radio Tornography experiment, Langmuir probe and an Air Force nosetip".[7]
2 September 15, 1999
21:00[8]		 First stage: Castor 4B
Second stage: Hercules M57A1		 ait-2[9][10] LP-2 Mission for the U.S. Air Force. Carried various experiments and instruments, including a Langmuir probe, the Boston Rocket Ionospheric Tomography Experiment, an interceptor seeker, and calibration equipment.[9]
3 March 19, 2001 Aries 47[11] QRLV-1 LP-2 Mission for the U.S. Air Force.
4 September 30, 2001
02:40[3]		 Athena I (LM-001)
LP-1 Success Kodiak Star mission for Lockheed/NASA; first orbital launch from Kodiak.
5 November 9, 2001
18:12		 Polaris A-3 STARS-1[12] LP-2 Failure West Coast Risk-Reduction Flight (WCRRF) for the U.S. Army.[12] Rocket exploded 56 seconds after launch.[4]
6 April 24, 2002 Aries 49[11] QRLV-2 LP-2 Mission for the U.S. Air Force.
7 December 15, 2004
04:45[13]		 Polaris A-3 STARS-1[12] LP-2 Failure IFT-13c mission for MDA. Target successfully launched from Kodiak, but interceptor failed to launch from Kwajalein.
8 February 14, 2005
06:22[13]		 Polaris A-3 STARS-1[12] LP-2 Failure IFT-14 mission for MDA. Target successfully launched from Kodiak, but interceptor failed to launch from Kwajalein.
9 February 23, 2006
16:09		 Polaris A-3 STARS-1[12] LP-2 Success FTX-01 mission for MDA.
10 September 1, 2006
17:22		 Polaris A-3 STARS-1[12] LP-2 Success FTG-02 mission for MDA. Both the target at Kodiak and interceptor at Kwajalein successfully launched.[14]
11 May 25, 2007
14:15		 Polaris A-3 STARS-1[12] LP-2 Failure FTG-03 mission for MDA. Target missile from Kodiak flew off course and interceptor was not launched.
12 September 28, 2007
20:01		 Polaris A-3 STARS-1[12] LP-2 Success FTG-03a mission for MDA. Successful intercept.
13 July 18, 2008
22:47[15]		 Polaris A-3 STARS-1[12] LP-2 Success FTX-03 mission for MDA. Target launched from Kodiak was tracked by land-, sea- and space-based tracking systems. Navy and Air Force units simulated interceptor shootdowns.[16]
14 December 5, 2008
20:04		 Polaris A-3 STARS-1[12] LP-2 Success FTG-05 mission for MDA. Successful intercept of a target launched from Kodiak by an interceptor launched from Vandenberg AFB.[17]
15 November 20, 2010
01:24[18]		 Minotaur IV
LP-1 Success STP-S26 mission for the U.S. Air Force. Included a Hydrazine Auxiliary Propulsion System (HAPS) to move vehicle to a secondary orbit after ejecting payloads.
16 September 27, 2011
15:49[19]		 Minotaur IV+ TacSat-4 LP-1 Success Mission for the U.S. Air Force.
17 August 25, 2014
~08:00[20]		 Polaris STARS IV[21] Advanced Hypersonic Weapon LP-1 Failure Flight Test 2 for the U.S. Army's AHW program. Flight terminated by range safety four seconds after launch due to rocket anomaly.[4][20][22] Kodiak's LP-1 launch tower, payload processing facility, and integrated processing facility suffered damage due to the termination.[4]
  • Additional sources: Center for Defense Information,[23] Missile Defense Agency[24]

References

  1. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  5. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  6. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  7. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  8. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  9. ↑ 9.0 9.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  10. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  11. ↑ 11.0 11.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  12. ↑ 12.0 12.1 12.2 12.3 12.4 12.5 12.6 12.7 12.8 12.9 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  13. ↑ 13.0 13.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  14. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  15. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  16. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  17. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  18. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  19. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  20. ↑ 20.0 20.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  21. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  22. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  23. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  24. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.

External links

Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.

Retrieved from "https://infogalactic.com/w/index.php?title=Kodiak_Launch_Complex&oldid=3680450"