WASHINGTON — Florida’s Space Coast capped off a record-breaking yr with 93 launches from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station and NASA’s Kennedy Space Center, up from 74 launches in 2023.
Brig. Gen. Kristin Panzenhagen, commander of the Eastern Range and Space Delta 45, credited the accelerated tempo to improvements by each Space Launch Delta 45 and the personal sector. “We’ve been capable of attain these loopy numbers by leveraging automation, modernizing infrastructure, and streamlining processes,” Panzenhagen advised SpaceNews.
Space Launch Delta 45, based mostly at Patrick Space Force Base, Florida, is a unit of the United States Space Force chargeable for managing house launch operations on the East Coast.
Elon Musk’s SpaceX accounted for 88 of the 93 launches from the Eastern Range in 2024, with United Launch Alliance (ULA) performing 5.
SpaceX skilled an unprecedented launch tempo, finishing 134 business and authorities missions in 2024 — 62 from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, 26 from Kennedy Space Center, and 46 from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California. The firm additionally performed 4 take a look at flights of its next-generation Starship car from its Texas facility.
To deal with the surge in exercise, Space Launch Delta 45 carried out new processes to cut back the turnaround occasions between launches, Panzenhagen mentioned. SpaceX’s automated flight security applied sciences have been pivotal, she added, slicing the personnel and time required for pre-launch preparations.
The Space Force’s Space Systems Command lately launched the “One Falcon” initiative to handle SpaceX’s speedy cadence. The program unifies personnel throughout the Eastern and Western Ranges, permitting groups to help launches from both coast. “This cross-training effort permits us to surge assets the place wanted and totally make the most of the expertise on that staff,” Panzenhagen mentioned.
Ripple results on nationwide safety
While solely 4 of the 93 missions that lifted off from the Eastern Range in 2024 have been nationwide safety house launches, the excessive business launch quantity has oblique advantages for navy operations.
Innovations in business house — from infrastructure investments to speedy response capabilities — improve resilience and responsiveness for nationwide safety missions, Panzenhagen mentioned. She highlighted the latest “Rapid Response Trailblazer” RRT-1 mission the place SpaceX launched a GPS satellite tv for pc in a compressed timeline, for instance of this synergy.
While SpaceX missions proceed to dominate the manifest, the Space Coast is getting ready for elevated competitors within the nationwide safety launch sector. Blue Origin, backed by Amazon.com founder Jeff Bezos, is poised to debut its New Glenn rocket in early 2025. The firm turned a nationwide safety house launch supplier in 2024 and should full a profitable inaugural flight to compete for process orders underneath the contract. “Anytime we will get a brand new firm and a brand new rocket design into the combination, it improves our resiliency,” Panzenhagen mentioned.
Meanwhile, ULA’s Vulcan Centaur awaits certification to fly nationwide safety missions. The rocket accomplished two flights in 2024 however encountered an anomaly with one among its strong boosters. Panzenhagen emphasised the collaborative relationship between the Space Force and ULA, stating, “We’re working with them by means of the engineering course of and stay up for seeing Vulcan fly.”
The rocket, designed to switch the corporate’s Atlas 5 and Delta 4 autos, represents an important element of the Space Force’s technique to keep up a number of launch choices.
