SpaceX Eyes Cape Canaveral Launch Pad for Starship Rocket
SpaceX, the aerospace manufacturer and space transportation company founded by Elon Musk, is eyeing one of the largest launch pads at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station as a potential new home for its Starship launch vehicle. The company is currently in the process of conducting an environmental review for its proposal to take over Space Launch Complex 37 (SLC-37) at Cape Canaveral.
The environmental review includes three in-person public meetings and one virtual meeting scheduled for March to collect comments from local residents. Federal agencies, led by the Department of the Air Force, will then develop an environmental impact statement to evaluate how Starship launch and landing operations will affect the land, air, and water around SLC-37.
However, before any major construction can begin to convert SLC-37 for Starship launches, United Launch Alliance (ULA) still has one more Delta IV Heavy rocket to launch from the launch pad in March. Once that launch is complete, ULA will wind down operations at SLC-37 and eventually turn over the facility back to the Space Force.
While SpaceX is considered the leading contender to take over SLC-37, ULA has also expressed interest in maintaining a presence at the launch pad. ULA’s new Vulcan rocket, which debuted last month, uses a different launch pad a few miles up the coast from SLC-37. The company may want to continue using a rocket processing hangar just south of the Delta IV launch pad for storage and horizontal processing of Vulcan rockets.
SLC-37 has a rich history dating back to the 1960s when NASA used the site for eight flights of the Saturn I and Saturn IB rockets in preparation for the Apollo program. Boeing later moved in to ready SLC-37 for the Delta IV rocket, which has since flown 34 times from the launch pad. If SpaceX takes over the pad, the facility will likely undergo extensive demolition and construction as Starship does not require the existing infrastructure.
In the event that SpaceX is not cleared to use SLC-37, the company has considered building a brand new launch pad designated Space Launch Complex 50. This new launch pad would be built on undeveloped land north of SLC-37 and south of SpaceX’s primary launch pad for the Falcon 9 rocket.
SpaceX’s interest in setting up shop at SLC-37 demonstrates the company’s commitment to developing a second base for Starship on Florida’s Space Coast. In 2022, SpaceX constructed a launch tower and launch mount for Starship at Launch Complex 39A (LC-39A) located at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center. However, progress at LC-39A has been slow as teams focused on Starship test flights from South Texas.
Elon Musk envisions Starship as the rocket that will make his dream of building a settlement on Mars possible. He has also touted Starship as a vehicle for point-to-point travel on Earth. Starship is designed to be fully and rapidly reusable, with both the Super Heavy booster and Starship upper stage returning to Earth for propulsive landings. Starship launch pads will double as landing pads.
Before these dreams can become a reality, Starship needs to successfully reach orbit. SpaceX has conducted two full-scale Starship test flights, but neither made it into orbit. The company hopes to achieve a near-orbital mission with the third Starship test launch, potentially as soon as early March.
SpaceX plans to build a second Starship launch tower at its Starbase test site in Cameron County, Texas, in the near-term. Additionally, there is a partially-built launch tower at LC-39A, and now SpaceX has set its sights on SLC-37.
One of the first operational applications for Starship will be to serve as a human-rated lunar lander for NASA’s Artemis program. SpaceX is developing a version of Starship to ferry astronauts to and from the Moon’s surface, but in order for Starship to reach the Moon, it needs to be refueled in low-Earth orbit. This will require multiple refueling flights using a tanker version of Starship, all launching in a matter of weeks.
To make all of this possible, SpaceX needs to build more launch pads. While the company has reconsidered several of its Starship launch pad ideas, its interest in SLC-37 suggests that it still has big plans for Starship in Florida.