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Rocket Lab to Build U.S. Launch Site at Wallops Island, Virginia

posted by chromas on Thursday October 18 2018, @09:00PM   Printer-friendly
from the packs-a-wallop dept.

takyon writes:

Rocket Lab selects Wallops for U.S. launch site

Small launch vehicle company Rocket Lab announced Oct. 17 that it will build its second launch pad, and first in the United States, at Wallops Island in Virginia.

The company, headquartered in the United States but with much of its operations in New Zealand, said it will build Launch Complex (LC) 2 at the Mid Atlantic Regional Spaceport, located at NASA's Wallops Flight Facility here. Construction of the pad is set to start almost immediately, with the company planning a first launch from the site in the third quarter of 2019.

Rocket Lab selected Wallops after what Rocket Lab Chief Executive Peter Beck called an "exhaustive nationwide search" for a launch site to complement its existing facility in New Zealand, known as LC-1. The company announced four finalists in July that included Wallops as well as Cape Canaveral in Florida, Vandenberg Air Force Base in California and Pacific Spaceport Complex – Alaska.

Wallops Island.

Also at Ars Technica.

Previously: Rocket Lab Plans to Build its Next Launch Site in the US

Related: NASA Awards Launch Contracts to Rocket Lab and Virgin Orbit

Original Submission

 
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  • (Score: 4, Informative) by tftp on Thursday October 18 2018, @11:05PM (2 children)

    by tftp (806) on Thursday October 18 2018, @11:05PM (#750698) Homepage

    The mass of RP-1 in Falcon is 119.1 metric tons. Per this formula [scientificamerican.com] we can expect about 300-350 tons of CO2 .

    To compare a rocket to a single car we just need to figure out how much 119.1 m.tons of fuel would be in gallons (gasoline and kerosine are very similar.) It is 0.78–0.81 g/cm3. Using 0.80 we get 95,280,000 cm3 or, thanks to Wolfram Alpha, 25,170 gallons. This is the fuel load of one Falcon.

    If one family drives about 100 miles daily (36,500 miles per year) in an average modern car (30 mpg), they need 1,216 gallons per year. Dividing the fuel load of Falcon to this, we get 20.69 families. Thus, your statement "it releases more CO2 than 70,000 typical families will release in a whole year" is a bit exaggerated.

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  • (Score: 1) by NateMich on Thursday October 18 2018, @11:43PM

    by NateMich (6662) on Thursday October 18 2018, @11:43PM (#750717)

    "it releases more CO2 than 70,000 typical families will release in a whole year"

    Of course he was actually referring to them breathing.

  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday October 19 2018, @12:05AM

    by Anonymous Coward on Friday October 19 2018, @12:05AM (#750724)

    What sort of family drives 100 miles per day? We're talking about normal people, not Al "Use It or Lose It" Gore. Changing your calculation to a more realistic 20 miles daily, five times per week, with a fuel efficient car at 42mpg, and you get a lot closer to the original poster's 70,000 number.