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Roger Gilbertson / SpaceX
A Falcon 9 sits on its launch pad at Cape Canaveral, Fla.
Update for 10:35 a.m. ET April 10: SpaceX is looking closely at south Texas as the locale for its third launch pad, following Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida and Vandenberg Air Force Base in California. However, the California-based company says it hasn't ruled out other options elsewhere.
"SpaceX is considering multiple potential locations around the country for a new commercial launch pad," company spokeswoman Kirstin Brost Grantham said in an email. "The Brownsville area is one of the possibilities."
The potential site near Brownsville in Cameron County, at Texas' southern tip, came to light in the Federal Aviation Administration's notice of intent to move ahead with an environmental impact statement and other regulatory proceedings. The document was published in the Federal Register on Tuesday, and an advance copy was noted on Monday in Clark Lindsey's RLV and Space Transport News.
SpaceX has been planning to build a purely commercial launch site for months. "We do think we need three launch sites in order to handle all of the launch demand that we have been able to get," company founder Elon Musk told me last summer. Musk said he was considering sites in Texas as well as Florida, Puerto Rico and Hawaii, among other locations.
The fact that the Cameron County site will be the subject of a costly environmental study, as well as a May 15 public hearing in Brownsville, suggests that it's a serious contender if not yet the final selection. The FAA's notice says SpaceX would plan up to 12 launches a year from the site, involving its Falcon 9 rocket as well as the Falcon Heavy, which is currently under development. "A variety of smaller reusable suborbital launch vehicles" would also be launched, the FAA said.
Two Falcon 9's have been launched over the past couple of years from Cape Canaveral, and the third one is due for liftoff on April 30 with the International Space Station as its destination. SpaceX's Vandenberg operation will use the Falcon Heavy for military satellite launches. Musk has said most of the commercial launches on SpaceX's manifest would be shifted to the third launch site. "Just as there are Air Force bases and commercial airports ... there's some logic to separation," he told me.
SpaceX's rocket development facility is based in McGregor, Texas, which is about 400 miles north of Cameron County.
The process of approving and building a launch complex could take several years. Already, some of the commenters on RLV and Space Transport News have noted there are a number of oil rigs surrounding the proposed Cameron County site, which could complicate launch operations. The site is also near a wildlife management area and Brazos Island State Park.
Last July, a judge from neighboring Willacy County told Harlingen's Valley Morning Star that an unnamed aerospace company was negotiating with the county to lease a launch site there.
"They have to be close to water, away from populated areas," County Judge John F. Gonzalez Jr. was quoted as saying. "They have to have at least a 3-mile clear zone around the launch site. ... If it doesn't work out here, there are a couple sites in Cameron County. But they would have to buy up some houses there."
If SpaceX's plans for Cameron County are similar to what was being planned for Willacy County, the economic impact could be significant. "They'll be investing up to $50 million and hiring 100 to 200 full-time people, from low-end labor up to electrical engineers," Gonzalez said last year. "Wages will be at least 30 percent above the local norm."
This report was updated to reflect SpaceX's statement that other sites are still under consideration.
Alan Boyle is msnbc.com's science editor. Connect with the Cosmic Log community by "liking" the log's Facebook page, following @b0yle on Twitter or adding Cosmic Log's Google+ page to your circle. You can also check out "The Case for Pluto," my book about the controversial dwarf planet and the search for other worlds.
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I would not approve that sight in Texas ....
They should try to find a location closer to the coast line ....
Any new location should be away from or not surrounded by small towns and small working farms ....
Even though the population seems to be small ....
It is still a surrounding population ....
Thanks Alan ....
Cameron County is on the coast --- it is the very southern tip of Texas.
There is a huge advantage to having your launch facility as near the equator as possible and launching in an easterly direction to take advantage of the earth's rotation. This includes launches servicing the ISS, and most "working orbits." Cameron County is actually significantly south of Kennedy Space Center.
If you compare identical launches from Cameron County and Vandenberg to the ISS, you will see that you can launch almost twice the weight from Texas as from California.
Nearness to the equator and being able to launch in an easterly direction are big issues. Other places, such as Woomera in Australia are limited almost exclusively to Polar and Molinya orbits.
You missed the "why" Alan.
I don't feel Alan missed anything ....
The sight seems to be about 20 or so miles inland ....
South Padre Island is on the coast of Texas ....
South Padre island is about 20 miles east of Brownsville ....
Cape Canaveral is right on the coast ....
bigben, I believe you typed ion "Cameron, tx" to google maps, which is in fact in the center of texas and would be a terrible launch site. If you type "
Cameron County, TX" it goes to a very different place on the coast of TX, which is where they are actually talking about building the site.
tiny mixup =)
@ bigbenalaska It should be Cameron County's decision, we don't live there. There would be a definate boost to their economy. I just hope the Zetas and friends stay away. There could be security issues.
internet commenter ....
I'm still finding it to be about 20 miles inland , (Cameron County, TX) ....
Cape Canaveral is right on the coast ....
The new sight in Texas should be also ....
That's all ....
I live in the area, brownsville is surrounded by water, from the gulf to the rio grande, on the outskirts of the city there is pleanty of 3 mile spaces to set up a launch site
Launch sites in California do not launch Westward over the Pacific. They launch toward the East, over the U.S.
Whether or not the launch site in Brownsville is 20 miles or one mile from the Gulf is irrelevant. If a rocket gets off the launch pad, it will in all probability fall at least 20 miles down range.
The Soviets/ Russians always launch over land.
That's smart on SpaceX end. Lyndon Johnson did the same thing in regards to NASA during the moon race. Political support (even considering Kennedy's legacy) was lukewarm at best for something so expensive and with such questionable odds of success.
In order to "make it easier to stomach", Johnson had an interesting habit of spreading out NASA construction contracts far and wide ensuring that each supporting member had jobs and investment back home to fall back on if questioned by a constituent.
In the end, NASA became the biggest driver of success, both scientifically and economically for the next four decades, something I should think we would be interesting in repeating.
Texas is a very large state. I am sure they can find a site near the southern part of the state that will allow most of the flight path to be over the Gulf of Mexico. I may even be a ble to see part of it from here in Louisiana!!
whoa !! the Space Cowboy is pardners w/ the Texas Tea bunch...Congrats !!!
Why not put the launch area in a state that doesn't have fires, drought, tornados, hurricanes, in general a state that God doesn't hate or does this make to much sense. The only thing that Texas has is millions of minimun wage jobs which SpaceX probably finds apeasing. I am sure with a few donations to the republican political party the Texas politicans might be able pass a new law with a new lower minimun wage that the politicans can say they are creating jobs, this would truly make Texas the place for SpaceX launch pad. I say let Texas secede from the union and make Bush the king of the new Texas.
Gary, all that is very nice, but political correctness doesn't change the fact that until we have SSTO (or at least TSTO with flyback first stages) you need to be on a coast because you will drop stuff downrange...
And, until we have propulsion so sophisticated that taking advantage of Earth's rotation (the closer to the equator, the better) is insignificant and doesn't matter anymore, then you need to be as far south in the 48 states for an easterly launch as you can. And in spite of hurricane risks, it's also preferable to launch where cold weather is a minimal factor (again, near equator), But for simplicity and security, you still want to be on US territory.
Latitude and range safety, trump. That's why not.
Israel takes a big performance hit when launching satellites, because the Mediterranean is a good east-west launch range, but they're at the wrong end of it, and have to launch over it against Earth's rotation. Anything else means dropping first stages or launch failures on people that already don't like them...
In that case, politics does trump.
Gary Hanson, rhetoric with no substance.
Gary, let me ask you this: what states are not effected by fires, droughts, tornadoes, floods, hurricanes, earthquakes, tsunamis or any other disaster? Before you answer "Wyoming is not effected by tsunamis or hurricanes", consider the impact to the entire country if a tsunami hit the West Coast.
There's always some nutjob that has to interject politics into every issue. Take a hike.
TEXAS !!! Are you kidding. Let them look at PIPELINES that leak.
There are better PLACES Like NEW MEXICO that NEED THE BUSINESS !!!
The HELL with TEXAS YAHOOS !
Musk talks BIG but the launchs other than goverment do not exist, want he wants always is gonerment or state funding. look at his electric car is there a big demand no???
His big launch vehicle will not get off the ground without "NASA" funding and DELTA IV is already flying and payloads other than goverment are few and far between