June 11, 2025 • 50 mins
Rocket launches are exciting business, but there’s a LOT that goes on behind the scenes and before the rocket is rolled out to the pad. Learn more from this ‘How Stuff Works’ episode! From encapsulation to assembly and integration, launch processing typically takes two years, but the U.S. government is finding ways to meet the demand for increased cadence. For commercial launchers, government ranges provide infrastructure like roads and control centers, utilities like power and water, and shared commodities like security and weather data – all working toward public and environmental safety. Talking to host Colleen Stover from Aerospace’s Center for Space Policy & Strategy, are two experts from The Aerospace Corporation, Kim Goodwater, Systems Engineering and Integration, and Johanna Malaer, Launch Test Range Operations – located at Vandenberg Space Force Base, California.
This episode is part of the Going Faster Series that discusses various facets of speed, agility, innovation, and rapid deployment in national security, civil, and commercial space.
The Space Policy Show is produced by The Aerospace Corporation’s Center for Space Policy and Strategy. It is a virtual series covering a broad set of topics that span across the space enterprise. CSPS brings together experts from within Aerospace, the government, academia, business, nonprofits, and the national labs. The show and their podcasts are an opportunity to learn about and to stay engaged with the larger space policy community.
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Episode Transcript
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SPEAKER_00 (00:00):
Hello, welcome to the Space Policy Show.
I'm Colleen Stover with theCenter for Space Policy and
Strategy, part of the AerospaceCorporation.
We are now in our fifth year andI'm excited to host the next
(00:21):
installment of our season ongoing faster on rapid launch.
This episode is also part of ourHowStuffWorks sub-series, kind
of explainer videos.
So to start off, the U.S.
posture for commercial first,national security needs for
faster launch, as well as therise in competition in space,
(00:42):
means that government is lookingfor ways to move faster.
Basically, go at the speed ofinnovation.
The increased demand for spacelaunch means that spaceports and
launch ranges need to keep up.
So I've got with me two expertsfrom the Aerospace Corporation,
Kim Goodwater and JohannaMoller.
And they're going to talk usthrough what's involved in
(01:04):
launching a rocket.
Now, remember, if you enjoyedtoday's show and you want to
learn more about the Center'sdeeper research from across the
space enterprise, you can go tocsps.aerospace.org.
And of course, all of our showsare posted on YouTube and
available by podcast.
So to start off, I'm going tostart with you, Johanna.
Can you just introduce yourself?
(01:26):
What part of aerospace do yousupport?
And what are some of yourbackground?
Why did I want you here today totalk?
SPEAKER_02 (01:34):
Yeah.
So my name is Johanna Miller.
Like Colleen said, I work forthe Launch and Test Range System
Program Office over atVandenberg.
So we work on a lot of thespaceport and infrastructure
that supports the launching ofrocket, our aeronautical tests,
and our ballistic missile testsas well.
(01:56):
I previously worked in aerospacein the network systems
department in El Segundo, butI've been at Vandenberg for the
past a little over three years.
SPEAKER_00 (02:08):
Nice.
Thank you.
Thank you.
And Kim, how about you?
SPEAKER_01 (02:12):
So I've been with aerospace for about three years,
but I've been in launchoperations since 2008.
And my area of expertise isreally with launch-based
integration, payload processing,and then integration between the
(02:34):
payload and the launch vehicle.
And by payload, you meansatellite for
SPEAKER_00 (02:39):
the most part.
Satellite.
Group of satellites, even.
Yes, exactly.
Right.
Okay, well, thank you very much.
Thank you guys for being heretoday.
I wanted to just start off with,we're going to kind of start big
and then narrow in.
National security space hasthese buzzwords, if you will,
things like rapid launch,assured access, responsive
(03:03):
launch.
And I think we've kind ofsettled on this tactically
responsive space, which isTACRS.
All of these things are nuancedbetween them, but they're all
basically about going faster andhaving access.
In fact, We were talking earlierabout a small launch demo that
(03:23):
Space Force did last year in2023 with Firefly, a commercial
company called Victus Knox.
And according to GeneralSalzman, the chief of space
operations, it went fromwarehouse to operations in one
week.
And so that demo, this really,you know, this rapid launch kind
of capability.
There's a follow-on missioncalled Victus Hayes, and that's
(03:48):
going to be with Rocket Lab,another commercial company, and
they will do that rapid launch,as well as a kind of rendezvous
and proximity demonstration in2025, later in 2025.
So Kim, I'll start with you.
Why is going faster soimportant?
SPEAKER_01 (04:07):
So I think there are a number of reasons.
First of all, we have kind ofmore players in the industry
now.
We've got a lot of new entrantsin the last five, 10 years.
So there's just a lot moreopportunity for launch and
getting more things up in orbit.
Also, there's been a big pushtowards more proliferated
(04:31):
architecture.
So instead of focusing on...
very unique and specializedlaunch satellites we're kind of
focusing on smaller cheaper uhbigger architectures up in space
(04:52):
and the reason why is becausewhile it's it's cheaper there's
um many versus few right so it'sharder to impact a system you
can't uh The system can recovermore easily if you take one
satellite out or you have onefail on launch.
(05:12):
So resilience is another bigbuzzword.
There's a lot more risktolerance involved with these
proliferated architectures.
So all of this with your biggersatellite networks, it all means
more launches.
And in order to get all of thosesatellites on orbit, you have to
(05:33):
figure out how to launch themmore quickly.
Yeah.
SPEAKER_02 (05:39):
Did
SPEAKER_00 (05:39):
you
SPEAKER_02 (05:39):
want to add something, Giovanna?
Yeah, no, I think Kim hit thebig points with this
introduction, which is anotherbuzzword of the Internet of
Things in space, which is thisbig proliferated mesh, typically
the LEO networks, designing...
LEO meaning low Earth orbit?
(06:00):
Low Earth orbit.
Designing IoT in space justmeans your satellites are your
network infrastructure.
We design things in space withvery similar considerations to
the way that we design networkson the ground, where we want it
quick.
We want it reconfigurable.
A lot of times we want it to beresilient and survivable to
(06:23):
threats.
But I think the big three bigthings that I would say that's
different when they're in spaceare that you have size, weight
and power requirements orconstraints, your SWAT
constraints.
So that determines how muchprocessing power you're going to
get on just a single satellite.
The other is that they're a lotless serviceable because they're
(06:44):
up in space.
And then the third is thatthey're moving very fast and
oftentimes in an unpredictableway.
And so you necessarily need,like Kim indicated, more
satellites to meet the same, youknow, resiliency, reliability,
efficacy, configurability thanyou would need on the ground.
(07:05):
So to get the same design, Iguess, in tents and space, you
just need more satellites, andthat just means more launches.
So we have to be ready to turnthose around quick.
Right, right.
SPEAKER_01 (07:19):
Sorry, can I add to that?
Yeah.
Also with these larger networksof satellites up there and kind
of the philosophy that we'regoing to build them faster and
cheaper, they may notnecessarily be designed to last
as long.
So they need to be repopulatedfaster too.
So they need to be replaced outthere on orbit.
(07:40):
So that also leads to morelaunches.
SPEAKER_00 (07:43):
Right, yeah, that was kind of number two that
Johanna mentioned in terms ofthem not being serviceable.
And they're not meant to benecessarily, right?
I mean, the idea is to replenishthem and you can always be
building in new software orwhatever.
Yeah, and I would actually alsoadd the idea that there's
(08:05):
more...
kind of geopoliticalcompetition, especially with
China, in terms of launchingfaster.
I know China has demonstratedanti-satellite testing.
There's been an increase inelectronic warfare with jamming
and dazzling satellites.
(08:28):
China has also demonstratedactually grappling, where they
launched a satellite that thatpulled, held on to another
satellite, one of their own, andpulled it down into a lower
orbit.
And so all of these things kindof are indicative of maybe the
growth of the idea of thepossibility of orbital warfare.
(08:50):
So, yeah, I think that that's...
SPEAKER_01 (08:53):
I think that kind of lends itself, you mentioned the
TACRS program and...
And that's kind of the genesisbehind that is how can we
respond to a geopolitical eventat a pace that would actually
influence decisions or influenceactivity?
(09:13):
Because our typical integrationperiods wouldn't necessarily be
responsive to geopoliticalevents.
SPEAKER_00 (09:24):
Yeah, yeah.
So we kind of started big andwe, you know, kind of
understanding why going fasteris becoming more necessary in
that kind of worldview andtechnology view.
And I wanted to go a little bitmore narrow and actually talk
about the bases.
So FAA lists nine launch sitesthat are vertical launch sites,
(09:48):
and that's the ones that we knowand love and get excited about.
There's ones that are strictlycommercial, like SpaceX's
Starbase in Texas.
There's the Spaceport of Americain New Mexico.
There's a major nationalsecurity one in Alaska.
There's Wallops Island in thebeautiful state of Virginia,
which I would encourage peopleto go and visit because it's
(10:11):
very close to the shore, likethey all are.
But also, there's the majorlaunch ranges for the federal
government, and that would bethe eastern range and the
western range.
And the eastern range, being atCape Canaveral, they listed in
2024, 93 launches, which is a35% increase over the previous
(10:37):
year.
But only a handful of those areactually national security space
launches.
I think the estimate issomewhere between 5 and 15 on
average, and all the other onesare commercial.
And then there's also theWestern Range, which is
Vandenberg.
And they listed, I believe youguys can correct me if I'm
wrong, 34 launches, around 34launches in 2024.
(10:59):
And those are, again, bothnational security and commercial
launch.
Vandenberg is good for thosepolar orbits, and it's good for
sun synchronous launches becauseit's on the west side, right, of
the country.
But Johanna, I wanted to startwith you.
I've been to Vandenberg.
(11:19):
You and I met there a few yearsago.
It's right on the central coastof California, wine country.
It's absolutely beautiful.
But Johanna, Tell us more aboutthe base itself and what kind
of, if somebody was to visit,what would they actually see
there in terms of launches?
SPEAKER_02 (11:38):
Yeah, so the base itself, I guess you kind of
hinted, so we have all of thesespaceports, you mentioned
wallops, eastern and westernrange and the increase in
launch.
We call ourselves the range onthe east coast and the west
coast because of our heritageand as this DOD missile sort of
(11:59):
test facility base.
But now, like you mentioned,there's this massive uptake in
commercial launch support.
So we are transitioning to thisnomenclature.
We are now joining the spaceportcommunity because of our uptake
in commercial launches.
So the spaceport Vandenberg, aswell as over at the Cape and
(12:23):
Patrick on the Eastern Range,Their two main objectives are
their service provider,essentially, to the vehicle.
So their two big objectives areone, public safety, ensuring
public safety.
And the second is providingdata.
And those go hand in handbecause our big moment as a
(12:43):
spaceport, even though wesupport tests and check out
beforehand is day of launch, howwe provide that data is through
just a mass amount ofinstrumentation.
So if you were to come to thebase, They look very different.
At the coasts, we're, what isit, 99,000 acres of just vast
(13:06):
chaparral, rolling hills, andlittered throughout there is our
instrumentation sites.
So we have radars that supportarea surveillance on both North
Base and South Base.
So you leave the bases and youcross the highway and you'll go
to A different one along thereare our launch facilities as
well.
(13:26):
Up at the top of our mountains,we have at Oak Mountain and
Pillar Point, we haveinstrumentation sites for
telemetry.
We have weather balloons.
So if you come, we launchweather balloons every day, not
just in support of launch, butalso in support of other
government agencies who areinterested in collecting that
data.
So you'll see weather balloonsfloating around.
(13:48):
It looks sleepy, but if you wereto focus, there's a lot of
activity.
I think Kim can talk a littlebit more about the distinction
between our different launchfacilities at North Base and
South Base.
But our instrumentation supportsboth your commercial launches
and your missile tech.
So it's pretty uniformlyscattered.
(14:09):
And we even leverageinstrumentation down at China
Lake, at the NOC,instrumentation up north as
well.
We borrow because it's quite abig facility.
field that we're looking at whenwe launch a rocket that we want
to survey on track.
SPEAKER_00 (14:28):
So let me ask you before, I would like Kim to kind
of weigh in on a little bit moreabout the space launch complexes
and what it actually looks likeat Vandenberg.
But when you sayinstrumentation, what are you
talking about?
You're talking about, well, theradars and the kind of those
things, but also like groundstations, right?
(14:48):
Like little buildings kind ofeverywhere.
SPEAKER_02 (14:51):
So we have We have a bunch of instrumentation, big
radars, big field mills, a lotof sensors for weather.
We have a ton of sensors forweather.
But we also have facilities thatsupport those as well.
So we have launch facilitiesover near the slick for our
launch service providers toconduct business.
(15:11):
Our major instrumentation sitesalso have facilities for them to
conduct business out of.
So they're collecting data andthey send that to The Western
Range Command and ControlCenter, which we refer to as the
ROC day of launch so that yourrange safety guys and your area
surveillance are all looking atthis data and telling us we're
(15:31):
good, we're go for launch.
A lot of the processing happenson site too.
So you'll see a lot offacilities around and near your
big radars and radomes andweather balloon stations.
that almost are like anintermediary or middleman for
that data.
So processing is happening allaround base.
(15:54):
And then when we perform an op,it all gets synchronized in this
kind of neat way, being apicture of what the range looks
like.
SPEAKER_00 (16:04):
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
So just lots of computer rooms,I'm seeing.
A lot of computer rooms, a lotof server
SPEAKER_02 (16:09):
rooms.
That is cool and exciting, butwe have a lot.
SPEAKER_00 (16:14):
Yeah, yeah.
So, Kim, can you expand a littlebit more in terms of what
Vandenberg looks like forsomebody who is visiting there?
Johanna mentioned a slick.
Why don't you start there?
What is a slick?
Well, a
SPEAKER_01 (16:28):
slick is a Space Launch Complex SLC.
So we colloquially say that asslick.
I guess let me back up a littlebit.
So we have, the base is kind ofdivided into two pieces.
So we have North base and Southbase and in between North and
(16:49):
South base runs a highway.
So our most active launch padsare currently are on South base.
We have on South base, we haveslick four, which is a SpaceX
pad.
Slick 6, which is also a SpaceXpad that they're developing
right now.
(17:09):
And the plan is for it to havethe capability to launch Falcon
Hemis in addition to Falcon 9s.
SPEAKER_00 (17:15):
Can I just mention Slick 6 is the one that was at
one point going to launch theshuttle.
Is that right?
SPEAKER_01 (17:21):
That is correct.
Yes.
Okay.
That was what it was originallydesigned for.
It has been repurposed.
It launched Deltas for a while,and now it's being repurposed
again, and it is going to launchFalcons.
We have Slick 3 down there aswell, which is a ULA pad.
(17:43):
Right now, they're convertingthe pad from an Atlas to a
Vulcan pad, so that constructionis in work.
Then on North Base, we have...
slick 2 which is a firefly padand that will edge delta pad as
well so um lots of repurposingon this base um we also have
(18:07):
some missile sites um around thebase you know minute man ground
base interceptors so and thensome like test platforms so
there's a lot of activity likejoanna said um We have multiple
payload processing sites.
And one thing to know is thatpayload processing is, I guess,
(18:32):
let me state what that is.
That is where you prepare asatellite for mate to the launch
vehicle.
And so you have to do all thatpreparation in these specialized
facilities and then transport itout to the launch pad.
So in the case of Vandenberg,you're often transporting it
pretty far across the base toget to the launch vehicle.
SPEAKER_00 (18:57):
Yeah.
Yeah.
Because it's a big base, right?
Like you've got a, and so your,your payload in your payload
processing facility is in oneplace, but the actual launch pad
can be miles away.
Is that right?
That's right.
And they carry them on trucks oris there a rail system?
SPEAKER_01 (19:16):
Trucks.
Yeah.
Specialized transportationvehicles.
platforms that often accommodatelike elevation changes so that
your encapsulated assembly canstay level.
They move pretty slowly.
So there's just a lot that goesinto that transport.
SPEAKER_00 (19:39):
Interesting.
And so I'm going to pick at thisa little bit more.
You talked about encapsulatedassembly.
So is that what happens at theprocessing facility?
Tell us what encapsulationmaintenance and what kinds of
things are important there.
SPEAKER_01 (19:53):
At the processing facility, your satellite arrives
on base.
It goes to this specializedprocessing area that's usually a
clean room because a lot of yoursatellites are sensitive to
contamination.
And your environment iscontrolled, you know,
temperature, humidity.
(20:14):
And the satellite undergoestypically, because every mission
is different, so typically itundergoes some testing to make
sure that it survived thetransport okay, make sure it can
interface with certain networksthat we have at the base.
So sometimes they'll transmit toour Vandenberg tracking station
(20:35):
to make sure that it cancommunicate with the satellite
control network before we launchit into space and we can't
access it anymore.
So things like that.
Sometimes propellant is loadedon the spacecraft in those
processing facilities.
Sometimes protective covers andstructures are removed.
(20:57):
And those covers are installedto protect
contamination-sensitive systemsor protect things from jostling
around during transport.
So all of those non-flight itemsare removed.
And if you have multiplesatellites, they're integrated
onto a dispenser there.
And then that whole stack ismated to your launch vehicle
(21:20):
interface there in yourprocessing facility.
encapsulated within the payloadfairings.
And that is basically the pointyend of the rocket.
And then that whole encapsulatedassembly is transported out to
the launch pad to mate with yourrocket.
SPEAKER_00 (21:39):
Gotcha, lots of mating going on.
Yes,
SPEAKER_01 (21:43):
lots of assembly.
SPEAKER_00 (21:45):
So the satellite's built somewhere, then it's
transported to your processingfacility, it's encapsulated with
all this stuff, and then thewhole thing is transported out
to the launch pad, and then it'smated again with the vehicle,
right?
That's typically how it's done.
Gotcha, gotcha.
Johanna, did you want to addanything to this or...
SPEAKER_02 (22:06):
Now, this is payload.
And then day of launch, it's awhole different thing for the
range.
But we don't help much with thepayload processing, except for
in the event of tests, like Kimmentioned, making sure our
instrumentation is ready tosupport that light up there so
it can communicate with thevehicle and the payload.
(22:28):
That's kind of our role.
But again, our big shiningmoment is day of launch.
So there's a ton of work thatgoes in to preparing the people
for that.
SPEAKER_00 (22:39):
And so Kim's been talking about this integration
process that what I've read cantake up to two years with all
this testing and it's got to beclean and they got to be very
careful and more testing.
But the spaceports or the launchranges are also doing stuff this
whole time.
And you said your big shinymoment is day of launch.
(23:00):
But ranges need an entire arrayof different things for what
they call operations,maintenance, and sustainment,
right?
That OM, excuse me, that OM&S.
And so can you talk a little bitabout what kind of services
spaceports are preparing for andwhat's involved there from that
(23:22):
perspective?
SPEAKER_02 (23:23):
Yeah, so I think OM&S, operation, maintenance,
and sustainment, is a trickyterm because it changes
depending on who you talk to.
But I think for the sake ofthis, OM&S is just the
operations maintenance andsustainment that goes towards
providing our criticalcapabilities.
So the capabilities that areneeded for our launch service
(23:44):
providers right now.
And those differ based on themission and the vehicle and the
trajectory, where it's flyingout of the slick or the space
launch complex.
All of these are factors in whatsort of capabilities they
require, but also how we providethose capabilities, which is
why, again, I said we haveinstrumentation littered
(24:04):
throughout the range.
You have different lines ofsight for different vehicles,
depending on where they'relaunching out of and where
they're flying.
But our number one priority isrange safety.
So I think backing up the factthat we're a service provider,
we provide on the range or onthe spaceport We provide the
(24:25):
launch facilities, theinstrumentation to gather the
data, utilities like power,water for deluge, things like
sound suppression.
So all of that has to be inorder well in advance to
supporting a launch.
We don't often try to wingthings.
So all of that undergoes routinemaintenance and inspections and
(24:48):
testing with respect to thevehicle and testing without the
vehicle to make sure it's all inorder.
And then we continuously doinfrastructure upgrades, which I
think that you hinted at aswell.
SPEAKER_00 (25:01):
So just picking at that a little bit in terms of
those utilities you mentioned,what kinds of utilities are you
actually talking about?
And then that's kind ofdifferent than what might be
called kind of sharedcommodities, right?
Like the water would be a sharedcommodity.
SPEAKER_02 (25:17):
Yeah.
So we have shared commodities.
Our instrumentation...
is shared as well.
Day of launch, we also havesecurity.
So we provide security to helpclear the hazard area, which is,
again, our number one priorityas the spaceport is ensuring
public safety.
So that's a big part of that.
(25:39):
But in terms of infrastructureupgrades, I don't know if you
want me to go into specifics ofhow that works or where we're
spending the money on or how wecharge for that.
SPEAKER_00 (25:51):
Well, give us some example of what infrastructure
upgrades are typically needed,like on a regular basis.
I mean, roads.
I've heard terrible stories ofroads at
SPEAKER_02 (26:03):
Vandenberg.
The roads, they came in.
I mean, the base is very, veryold and it's very large.
It's the third largest militarybase in the world.
So it's massive and it's theseold, just like paved over dirt
roads.
that continuously get reroutedeither in support of launch, but
(26:24):
another big priority of thespaceport in the California
Coastal Commission especially ispreserving, also in nature
preserve.
So our roads often get reroutedagain around protected areas as
well.
So recently OMB gave bothranges, Eastern and Western,
about 1.3 billion forinfrastructure upgrades.
(26:45):
And that can go towards a bunchof things.
I think one of the key thingsthat when we talk about OM&S is
that we're supporting newincoming launches at the same
time of having to support ourold legacy customers.
So you can kind of think of thisas like building the plane as we
fly it.
So a lot of our infrastructureupgrades need to look towards
(27:07):
the future as well.
They don't necessarily fallunder modernization because
they're not providing a newcapability, but they definitely
do.
are new and advanced inanticipation of that future
support.
So one example where we'respending that 1.3 implemented
between now and 2018 is over onthe Eastern Range, their water
treatment plant.
(27:28):
So the ranges look verydifferent geographically, and
it's pretty marshy over on theEastern Range.
So when they support a lodge andthey use all that water, deluge,
sound suppression, they'reshooting water at the base of
the rocket, they're pulling thatfrom the one and only reservoir
on base.
(27:50):
And when they do that, it runsback into the reservoir.
That process kills all thebacteria in the water.
And so every single time theysupport a launch and that runoff
goes back into the reservoir,civil engineering has to come in
on base and they have toreestablish healthy levels of
bacteria so it doesn't kill thefish and the birds and All of
the wildlife that relies on thatwater leaks into the surrounding
(28:12):
marshes.
That takes time for civilengineering to come in, test the
water, reestablish healthylevels of bacteria, and say
we're good to go again.
In looking towards the future tostreamline that process, they're
looking at implementing thiswater treatment facility.
It's going to help streamlinethat process of reestablishing
(28:33):
healthy bacteria so that we canturn around launches quicker.
and not have civil engineeringhave to stop everything they're
doing and go down to thereservoir and check the bacteria
level.
So that's one, I think, kind ofneat way that we're using this
infrastructure upgrade money.
SPEAKER_01 (28:51):
Oh, that's great.
Great.
Kim, did you have anything toadd?
So I know here at Vandenberg,several years back, we had some
pretty severe wildfires andactually it impacted our
electrical infrastructurethroughout the base.
And so I know that There's beena lot of effort recently across
the base to upgrade ourelectrical systems and make them
(29:12):
more robust.
I don't know if that's an areawhere some of this money is
going, but I know there's been alot of effort involved in that.
So a lot of these maintenanceitems are maybe not as flashy,
but they're definitely importanton keeping up our launch
capabilities.
SPEAKER_00 (29:32):
Yeah, that's a good point.
Now, we didn't really talkabout, I know that, Johanna, you
had said that safety beingnumber one, we didn't really
talk about all the things thatare involved when a rocket is
launched, right?
There's safety to the public, topeople, there's maritime safety,
there's air safety, there'senvironmental safety and
(29:53):
protections in terms of theseals that live on the Central
Coast.
So I want to...
Talk, just to just briefly talkabout that, Johanna and then
Kim, just in terms of what thatmeans.
SPEAKER_02 (30:09):
Yeah.
So there's, when we talk aboutsafety as, you know, our number
one objective, right aboveproviding data, we're talking
about public safety primarily.
And a lot of, I think what I'mgoing to talk about too, goes
into, you know, being tacticallyresponsive and, but We have
instrumentation systems on theground that day of launch, our
(30:32):
big moment, provide data toensure safety.
So we have radars littered alongthe coast that are saying that
our air and marine traffic areasare clear.
We have telemetry that'scontinuously reporting on the
health and status of the rocketand the payload during flight
(30:53):
and pre-flight as well.
And then we have ground-basedright now.
We have both ground-basedtelemetry flight termination
systems.
That's part of our rangeinfrastructure that we're
migrating away from.
But that prior to launch, wealso conduct a lot of safety
analysis.
So we define a safety corridor.
So based on the trajectory ofthe rocket and also based on the
(31:16):
payload that it's carrying, wedefine okay limits for, you
know, you're going to fly thisdirection.
And if you get a little too offcourse, we need to stop you.
So our ground-based flighttermination systems send a
signal up to the rocket todistract.
So essentially blow up,shouldn't leave those corridors.
And we have incrediblyexperienced and very stressed
(31:38):
out operators sitting on consoleday of launch, just watching it
bump up against that imaginarylie.
And should it get too close toit, we blow it up.
So if anyone on YouTube wants tosee an example of that, there's
one called Casmalia Expresswhere the vehicle goes in the
wrong direction.
(32:00):
So that's sort of the telemetryis giving us indicators that the
vehicle is good or not, whichmight be another reason why we
might blow it up, but it'sreally all about ensuring the
fact that it's gonna go over theocean and not the other way over
Santa Maria.
Okay.
All
SPEAKER_00 (32:18):
right.
Thank you.
We don't want to go over thevineyards.
Protect those vineyards.
SPEAKER_02 (32:24):
And the seals.
And the pinnipeds.
Yeah, we do a bunch ofenvironmental checks to make
sure that we're not disruptingthem as well.
SPEAKER_01 (32:33):
Right,
SPEAKER_00 (32:33):
right.
SPEAKER_01 (32:34):
So our cultural sites here on base two that are
protected from our local ChumashNative American population.
So there's just a lot.
of consideration going intoactivities here on the base.
SPEAKER_00 (32:51):
No, I think that's a good point.
And it really brings home howdifferent the two Eastern Range
and Western Range can be,because Western Range is more
rural.
It's a beautiful coastline.
There are certain protectionsthat the state of California
has.
The Native Americans are there.
(33:12):
actively living.
And then you have, you know,Florida coast, which is, you
know, probably has a phenomenalamount of marine and air traffic
going by that has to be in thatthat safety corridor has to be
monitored and made safe foreveryone.
So very different bases here.
Kim.
We started off talking about howgoing faster was becoming more
(33:36):
important due to geopoliticalconcerns or possibilities or new
technology and warfare orbecause of the proliferated
architectures that offer moreresilience to our systems.
It typically takes like twoyears.
But they're doing things faster.
They're demoing things that canbe done faster.
(33:57):
Integration is a long process,typically.
What do you think is so hardabout integration?
The testing is important.
And how are things changing tokind of help increase our
readiness so that it's a shortertimeline?
SPEAKER_01 (34:14):
So I think...
The simple answer for whyintegration is so hard is that
every mission is unique.
They have unique requirements,unique structures, unique
systems.
They have different requirementsfor the launch base.
So some load propellant at thelaunch base, some don't.
(34:38):
Some do different kinds oftesting, or more involved
testing once they arrive, somedon't.
Some have different interfaceswith the launch vehicle, so that
needs to be evaluated, analyzed.
There's a lot of analysis thatgoes into the whole rocket
(35:03):
satellite system to make surethat the satellite isn't damaged
in the high vibrations it mightsee during launch.
So when those interfaces areunique, then a lot of additional
analysis needs to go into that.
Some have really stringentcontamination requirements or
(35:26):
temperature, humidityrequirements.
So all of that needs to getworked through and the
requirements need to be madevery clear and the agreements on
how those requirements need tobe met, need to be worked
through between all of theparties involved.
our NSSL national security spacelaunch satellite to go through a
(35:51):
really rigorous missionassurance process.
So for those missions, we lookat the history of, if the rocket
is being reused, for example, welook at the history of that
rocket, all the components ofthat rocket to make sure that
everything looks good before wego into launch.
Because for our NSSL payloads,we have, For a lot of them, we
(36:14):
have low tolerance for missionloss.
So we want to make sureeverything is set before we hit
the button and launch intospace.
SPEAKER_00 (36:24):
That idea of risk, right?
It's about risk tolerance interms of, you know, are you you
don't want to scooch throughmission assurance processes
because then it's more riskythat it's going to blow up on
the bad way.
Yes.
But there are examples wherethey are finding ways to do kind
of faster launch.
There was recently, there'sactually been some GPS
(36:48):
replacement satellites that havebeen demoed to be done much
quicker.
Yes, it's,
SPEAKER_01 (36:57):
It's been really interesting.
We've had two demonstrationsrecently of a rapid integration
process for some GPS satellites.
And I think the first one tookour two-year typical integration
timeline down to like fivemonths.
And our second one might havebeen even a little faster.
(37:20):
But going into those, there weresome kind of ground rules and
assumptions.
The satellites were alreadybuilt.
They were reflights.
So the GPS integration had beenknown.
A lot of that mission analysishad been done in the past.
So there was a reduced analysisperiod.
(37:42):
A lot of our launch vehicleintegration hardware had been
pre-built.
So there were no long lead itemsas far as procurement or design
goes.
So So those were some of thethings that we were able to take
advantage of to shorten thoseintegration periods.
(38:02):
For in the most recent case, alot of the mission assurance
verifications and pedigree ofthe rocket booster had been done
previously.
So we were able to takeadvantage of that in order to
shorten or make more efficientour mission assurance process.
We were able to focus on themost recent history of that
(38:24):
rocket to get that thing onorbit faster.
So we're learning ways toaccelerate how we've typically
done things and take advantageof that in order to get things
launched quicker.
SPEAKER_00 (38:40):
Yeah, no, that's a great point.
And that kind of speaks toalmost what one commercial
company called in terms oflaunch, like rinse, repeat,
rinse, repeat, right?
That kind of getting used to theway things are done and maybe
even a kind of standardizationpiece, right?
Yeah.
(39:03):
So, Johanna...
Your specialty is the kind ofrange and the spaceports.
We talked about howinfrastructure is kind of
falling apart, maintenance isneeded.
But there's also room for kindof modernization, right?
Right.
Yeah, so we've got to have thatmaintenance piece.
(39:24):
But then also, you can't justkeep the roads, you know, you
don't want to just keep the keepthe same thing and just maintain
what's there.
But commercial space is movingfaster.
They're innovating, they havenew technologies, you know,
launching off of sea platformsor reusable rockets.
So there's like a modernizationpiece as well for the for the
(39:45):
Western range.
Can you kind of talk to that alittle bit?
SPEAKER_02 (39:48):
Yeah, definitely.
I think just like Kim said,standardization helps reduce, I
think, that turnaround time foronboarding a new user.
It's helpful for us too.
So a lot of our modernizationobjectives are aimed at sort of
(40:08):
incentivizing standardizationbetween users while also
balancing not stifling the paceof innovation.
So when we onboard a new user,unlike the spaceport is a little
unique, I think, unlike like aseaport or an airport for many
reasons.
But one of them is that we don'thave we're working with an
(40:30):
industry that's a little bitmore unexpected, hard to foresee
where they're going, a rapidlyevolving industry.
So we're not just flying Boeingplanes out of a single airport
and we just need to provide theinfrastructure for that.
You have new commercial entrantsthat come in the front gate and
(40:50):
say, I'm going to do somethingthat's never been done before.
I'm going to land on a barge.
And can you, the spaceport,figure out how to provide that?
And we just have to say, yep.
And so while they're doing allof that integration with the
vehicle, a lot of times peoplecome to the front gate of the
range and they don't even have avehicle built.
We'll say, don't worry.
We'll respond to it.
(41:10):
We'll figure out how to providethat.
So at the same time that we'redoing all the operations,
maintenance, sustainment that Ispoke about, keeping the range
running for our existing users,we have to be dynamic in the way
that we respond to those newcommercial users.
One of the big things that we'reimplementing is actually a
mandate put down, I think, forthe past three generals have
(41:35):
said that we're migrating awayfrom that ground-based like
termination system that Imentioned, to an automated
flight safety system.
And so the automated flight, orthe autonomous flight safety
system, that's onboard thevehicle.
So it completely reduces theneed for your ground-based FTF.
(41:57):
So that vehicle is aware of itsposition, it's aware of the
parameters of flight safetycorridor, and should it leave,
it's gonna blow itself up.
Migrating away from ground-basedFTF is a major modernization
opportunity and also opportunityfor us to turn around the range
quicker because it could take upto 96 hours to configure, load
(42:20):
all the codes for FTFs for it totalk to the rocket.
We have to employ and staffpeople at that instrumentation
site to do the maintenance aswell as day of launch, observe
the flight trajectory, And soeliminating that increases our
ability to turn around.
That's probably one of thebiggest inhibitors for turning
(42:42):
around the range quick so thatwe can support more launches,
potentially even simultaneouslaunches.
I would say AFSS, the AutonomousFlight Safety System
introduction, is the biggestgame-changing, I think,
SPEAKER_00 (42:57):
modernization initiative going on right now.
Interesting.
So that's 96 hours just to loadall of that code in for the kill
switch, right?
The self-destruct button.
SPEAKER_02 (43:10):
Like 40 to 96 hours.
And then they have checkouts.
And so that could delay as well.
For every launch that you see onthe launch manifest, there's a
whole bunch of activities goingon after or before.
There's like failed attempts aswell.
So there's a lot more activitygoing on than what you see on
the manifest.
So FTS, the 48 to 96 hours lessdelays with checkouts, that's a
(43:34):
long time.
SPEAKER_00 (43:37):
Yeah, interesting.
So we're getting to time here.
I did want to just, I readrecently about Vader as well,
because we didn't really talkabout weather in terms of
throughput.
But I know that you can't, youknow, obviously you can't
control the weather.
But Florida has hurricanes.
(44:05):
Vandenberg has thunderstorms.
Fog, I don't know if fog is abig deal, but Vandenberg, it's
called Vader, like as in LordVader, Vandenberg atmospheric
detection of an electrifiedrange.
And it's these, they've justlaunched them recently, 14
(44:25):
electric field mills that helpto detect lightning so that
launch operations can be safer.
And we don't have that.
We don't have so many likeunsure go-no-go situations,
right?
Like it's because they have tobe very cautious.
If the measurement is closeenough to some sort of
(44:47):
threshold, then it's a no-go.
And that can kind of stack upall the launches that are behind
it.
I'm thinking of people trying toget on an escalator, right?
And they get somebody falls,right?
SPEAKER_02 (44:59):
Yeah.
I would say weather, that's agood point.
Weather is our number one reasonfor scraps and delays.
So no matter how prepared weare, you can't control the
weather.
So our instrumentation, exactlylike you said, Colleen, is on
base to ensure that at leastwe're not scrubbing for the
(45:20):
unknowns.
The big weather things that wehave to worry about, they differ
Eastern Range and Western Range,Eastern Spaceport, Western
Spaceport.
Over on the Eastern Range, sideyou have massive storms so your
big risk is something called wetlightning which is lightning
accompanied by rain so thelightning that you are familiar
(45:42):
with um most likely on the westside we have um upper
atmospheric winds and then likeyou said our field mills are
looking for something called drylightning so dry lightning is a
lightning strike that'sunaccompanied by rain It happens
when you have these bigelectrically charged clouds or
(46:04):
you have electrically chargedair.
That's something veryconductive, say like a rocket is
flying through rapidly.
So it becomes a target, which isbad because depending on the
payload and the sensitiveelectronics on the rocket, it
can really mess stuff up.
So we do a lot of detection ondry lightning risk.
(46:25):
Those weather balloons arelooking at our upper atmospheric
winds and we're doing that allthe time.
Also,
SPEAKER_00 (46:30):
I wanted to ask you if you have anything that you
want to leave the audience with.
What are your last thoughtshere?
SPEAKER_01 (46:38):
Yeah, so I guess to add on a little bit first to our
earlier conversation, so I thinkwe talked a little bit about how
standardization is going to helpwith launch throughput.
There's some efforts intostandardizing apps the
interfaces so that there's lessmission unique analysis and
(47:00):
design and procurement involved.
I think we also, in order tohelp accelerate launches, look
hard at our infrastructure.
And if we have significant kindof new launches coming, we'll
like what What do we need to doto make sure that our
infrastructure here can handleit?
Do we have the facilities weneed?
(47:22):
Do we have the processing spacewe need in order to accommodate
those launches?
And then I also think that Iguess final thoughts to leave
the audience with is just tokeep in mind that launch is a
lot bigger of an endeavor thanyou might initially think.
(47:45):
There's a lot of people, a lotof disciplines, a lot of
organizations that are allworking together to make it
happen.
And we all have the same endgoal, to provide reliable, safe
access to space.
SPEAKER_00 (48:03):
Johanna, how about you?
Any last thoughts you'd like toleave our audience with?
SPEAKER_02 (48:06):
Yeah, I think just like too, but just like Kim has
been talking about thestandardization between the
payload and the vehicle,standardization between the
vehicle and the spaceport helpus as well, but also
standardization among thespaceports so that we can share
resources and operate.
So the National SpaceportInteragency Working Group is a
(48:29):
group, it's a fun Google, Iwon't get into it now, but
they're working to develop Sortof a network of spaceports that
are interoperable that cansupport each other.
And we're looking at bringingboth of the eastern spaceport
and western spaceport, theranges into that.
That standardization will alsohelp our throughput.
But I think exactly like Kimsaid, the biggest thing I could
(48:50):
say right now is that I don'tknow if anybody, any one person
on the base could really detailall of the intricacies involved.
and launching a rocket from thetime that someone knocks on our
front door and says, I want todo this crazy thing and launch
this rocket and land on a bargeto the day of launch when we
pull it off or we don't.
(49:11):
No one can detail all of thoseintricacies and processes
because it's so complex andconvoluted.
So we rely on the experience ofour range operators, our
maintenance techs, ourcontractors, We have people on
who've been supporting the rangefor decades and decades.
(49:31):
And they know the ins and outsof all of our instrumentation
system like no one else has.
So I don't think that we wouldever be able to get anything off
the ground if it wasn't for theexperience of the guys who are
supporting the spaceport andmaking that happen for the past
20, 40 years.
SPEAKER_00 (49:53):
Well, thank you.
Yeah, that's great.
I think the people behind it,which include you two.
So you're doing great work.
Thank you very much forsupporting and doing what you do
and for being on the show.
Thank you for the opportunity.
Thanks, Colleen.
So for our audience, remember,this is part of our How Stuff
(50:14):
Works sub-series, the Explainerseries.
We've done Defending in Space,Space Weather, Dark and Quiet
Skies, as well as In-SpaceServicing, Assembly, and
Manufacturing.
So be sure to check those out.
All of our shows are availablewherever you get podcasts, and
you can watch the show onYouTube, of course.
(50:34):
Follow us on LinkedIn to getnotified and engage with our
speakers, or you can go to CSThank you to James Liggins, our
technical director, and thankyou to our audience.
Until next time.
Hello, welcome to the Space Policy Show.
I'm Colleen Stover with theCenter for Space Policy and
Strategy, part of the AerospaceCorporation.
We are now in our fifth year andI'm excited to host the next
(00:21):
installment of our season ongoing faster on rapid launch.
This episode is also part of ourHowStuffWorks sub-series, kind
of explainer videos.
So to start off, the U.S.
posture for commercial first,national security needs for
faster launch, as well as therise in competition in space,
(00:42):
means that government is lookingfor ways to move faster.
Basically, go at the speed ofinnovation.
The increased demand for spacelaunch means that spaceports and
launch ranges need to keep up.
So I've got with me two expertsfrom the Aerospace Corporation,
Kim Goodwater and JohannaMoller.
And they're going to talk usthrough what's involved in
(01:04):
launching a rocket.
Now, remember, if you enjoyedtoday's show and you want to
learn more about the Center'sdeeper research from across the
space enterprise, you can go tocsps.aerospace.org.
And of course, all of our showsare posted on YouTube and
available by podcast.
So to start off, I'm going tostart with you, Johanna.
Can you just introduce yourself?
(01:26):
What part of aerospace do yousupport?
And what are some of yourbackground?
Why did I want you here today totalk?
SPEAKER_02 (01:34):
Yeah.
So my name is Johanna Miller.
Like Colleen said, I work forthe Launch and Test Range System
Program Office over atVandenberg.
So we work on a lot of thespaceport and infrastructure
that supports the launching ofrocket, our aeronautical tests,
and our ballistic missile testsas well.
(01:56):
I previously worked in aerospacein the network systems
department in El Segundo, butI've been at Vandenberg for the
past a little over three years.
SPEAKER_00 (02:08):
Nice.
Thank you.
Thank you.
And Kim, how about you?
SPEAKER_01 (02:12):
So I've been with aerospace for about three years,
but I've been in launchoperations since 2008.
And my area of expertise isreally with launch-based
integration, payload processing,and then integration between the
(02:34):
payload and the launch vehicle.
And by payload, you meansatellite for
SPEAKER_00 (02:39):
the most part.
Satellite.
Group of satellites, even.
Yes, exactly.
Right.
Okay, well, thank you very much.
Thank you guys for being heretoday.
I wanted to just start off with,we're going to kind of start big
and then narrow in.
National security space hasthese buzzwords, if you will,
things like rapid launch,assured access, responsive
(03:03):
launch.
And I think we've kind ofsettled on this tactically
responsive space, which isTACRS.
All of these things are nuancedbetween them, but they're all
basically about going faster andhaving access.
In fact, We were talking earlierabout a small launch demo that
(03:23):
Space Force did last year in2023 with Firefly, a commercial
company called Victus Knox.
And according to GeneralSalzman, the chief of space
operations, it went fromwarehouse to operations in one
week.
And so that demo, this really,you know, this rapid launch kind
of capability.
There's a follow-on missioncalled Victus Hayes, and that's
(03:48):
going to be with Rocket Lab,another commercial company, and
they will do that rapid launch,as well as a kind of rendezvous
and proximity demonstration in2025, later in 2025.
So Kim, I'll start with you.
Why is going faster soimportant?
SPEAKER_01 (04:07):
So I think there are a number of reasons.
First of all, we have kind ofmore players in the industry
now.
We've got a lot of new entrantsin the last five, 10 years.
So there's just a lot moreopportunity for launch and
getting more things up in orbit.
Also, there's been a big pushtowards more proliferated
(04:31):
architecture.
So instead of focusing on...
very unique and specializedlaunch satellites we're kind of
focusing on smaller cheaper uhbigger architectures up in space
(04:52):
and the reason why is becausewhile it's it's cheaper there's
um many versus few right so it'sharder to impact a system you
can't uh The system can recovermore easily if you take one
satellite out or you have onefail on launch.
(05:12):
So resilience is another bigbuzzword.
There's a lot more risktolerance involved with these
proliferated architectures.
So all of this with your biggersatellite networks, it all means
more launches.
And in order to get all of thosesatellites on orbit, you have to
(05:33):
figure out how to launch themmore quickly.
Yeah.
SPEAKER_02 (05:39):
Did
SPEAKER_00 (05:39):
you
SPEAKER_02 (05:39):
want to add something, Giovanna?
Yeah, no, I think Kim hit thebig points with this
introduction, which is anotherbuzzword of the Internet of
Things in space, which is thisbig proliferated mesh, typically
the LEO networks, designing...
LEO meaning low Earth orbit?
(06:00):
Low Earth orbit.
Designing IoT in space justmeans your satellites are your
network infrastructure.
We design things in space withvery similar considerations to
the way that we design networkson the ground, where we want it
quick.
We want it reconfigurable.
A lot of times we want it to beresilient and survivable to
(06:23):
threats.
But I think the big three bigthings that I would say that's
different when they're in spaceare that you have size, weight
and power requirements orconstraints, your SWAT
constraints.
So that determines how muchprocessing power you're going to
get on just a single satellite.
The other is that they're a lotless serviceable because they're
(06:44):
up in space.
And then the third is thatthey're moving very fast and
oftentimes in an unpredictableway.
And so you necessarily need,like Kim indicated, more
satellites to meet the same, youknow, resiliency, reliability,
efficacy, configurability thanyou would need on the ground.
(07:05):
So to get the same design, Iguess, in tents and space, you
just need more satellites, andthat just means more launches.
So we have to be ready to turnthose around quick.
Right, right.
SPEAKER_01 (07:19):
Sorry, can I add to that?
Yeah.
Also with these larger networksof satellites up there and kind
of the philosophy that we'regoing to build them faster and
cheaper, they may notnecessarily be designed to last
as long.
So they need to be repopulatedfaster too.
So they need to be replaced outthere on orbit.
(07:40):
So that also leads to morelaunches.
SPEAKER_00 (07:43):
Right, yeah, that was kind of number two that
Johanna mentioned in terms ofthem not being serviceable.
And they're not meant to benecessarily, right?
I mean, the idea is to replenishthem and you can always be
building in new software orwhatever.
Yeah, and I would actually alsoadd the idea that there's
(08:05):
more...
kind of geopoliticalcompetition, especially with
China, in terms of launchingfaster.
I know China has demonstratedanti-satellite testing.
There's been an increase inelectronic warfare with jamming
and dazzling satellites.
(08:28):
China has also demonstratedactually grappling, where they
launched a satellite that thatpulled, held on to another
satellite, one of their own, andpulled it down into a lower
orbit.
And so all of these things kindof are indicative of maybe the
growth of the idea of thepossibility of orbital warfare.
(08:50):
So, yeah, I think that that's...
SPEAKER_01 (08:53):
I think that kind of lends itself, you mentioned the
TACRS program and...
And that's kind of the genesisbehind that is how can we
respond to a geopolitical eventat a pace that would actually
influence decisions or influenceactivity?
(09:13):
Because our typical integrationperiods wouldn't necessarily be
responsive to geopoliticalevents.
SPEAKER_00 (09:24):
Yeah, yeah.
So we kind of started big andwe, you know, kind of
understanding why going fasteris becoming more necessary in
that kind of worldview andtechnology view.
And I wanted to go a little bitmore narrow and actually talk
about the bases.
So FAA lists nine launch sitesthat are vertical launch sites,
(09:48):
and that's the ones that we knowand love and get excited about.
There's ones that are strictlycommercial, like SpaceX's
Starbase in Texas.
There's the Spaceport of Americain New Mexico.
There's a major nationalsecurity one in Alaska.
There's Wallops Island in thebeautiful state of Virginia,
which I would encourage peopleto go and visit because it's
(10:11):
very close to the shore, likethey all are.
But also, there's the majorlaunch ranges for the federal
government, and that would bethe eastern range and the
western range.
And the eastern range, being atCape Canaveral, they listed in
2024, 93 launches, which is a35% increase over the previous
(10:37):
year.
But only a handful of those areactually national security space
launches.
I think the estimate issomewhere between 5 and 15 on
average, and all the other onesare commercial.
And then there's also theWestern Range, which is
Vandenberg.
And they listed, I believe youguys can correct me if I'm
wrong, 34 launches, around 34launches in 2024.
(10:59):
And those are, again, bothnational security and commercial
launch.
Vandenberg is good for thosepolar orbits, and it's good for
sun synchronous launches becauseit's on the west side, right, of
the country.
But Johanna, I wanted to startwith you.
I've been to Vandenberg.
(11:19):
You and I met there a few yearsago.
It's right on the central coastof California, wine country.
It's absolutely beautiful.
But Johanna, Tell us more aboutthe base itself and what kind
of, if somebody was to visit,what would they actually see
there in terms of launches?
SPEAKER_02 (11:38):
Yeah, so the base itself, I guess you kind of
hinted, so we have all of thesespaceports, you mentioned
wallops, eastern and westernrange and the increase in
launch.
We call ourselves the range onthe east coast and the west
coast because of our heritageand as this DOD missile sort of
(11:59):
test facility base.
But now, like you mentioned,there's this massive uptake in
commercial launch support.
So we are transitioning to thisnomenclature.
We are now joining the spaceportcommunity because of our uptake
in commercial launches.
So the spaceport Vandenberg, aswell as over at the Cape and
(12:23):
Patrick on the Eastern Range,Their two main objectives are
their service provider,essentially, to the vehicle.
So their two big objectives areone, public safety, ensuring
public safety.
And the second is providingdata.
And those go hand in handbecause our big moment as a
(12:43):
spaceport, even though wesupport tests and check out
beforehand is day of launch, howwe provide that data is through
just a mass amount ofinstrumentation.
So if you were to come to thebase, They look very different.
At the coasts, we're, what isit, 99,000 acres of just vast
(13:06):
chaparral, rolling hills, andlittered throughout there is our
instrumentation sites.
So we have radars that supportarea surveillance on both North
Base and South Base.
So you leave the bases and youcross the highway and you'll go
to A different one along thereare our launch facilities as
well.
(13:26):
Up at the top of our mountains,we have at Oak Mountain and
Pillar Point, we haveinstrumentation sites for
telemetry.
We have weather balloons.
So if you come, we launchweather balloons every day, not
just in support of launch, butalso in support of other
government agencies who areinterested in collecting that
data.
So you'll see weather balloonsfloating around.
(13:48):
It looks sleepy, but if you wereto focus, there's a lot of
activity.
I think Kim can talk a littlebit more about the distinction
between our different launchfacilities at North Base and
South Base.
But our instrumentation supportsboth your commercial launches
and your missile tech.
So it's pretty uniformlyscattered.
(14:09):
And we even leverageinstrumentation down at China
Lake, at the NOC,instrumentation up north as
well.
We borrow because it's quite abig facility.
field that we're looking at whenwe launch a rocket that we want
to survey on track.
SPEAKER_00 (14:28):
So let me ask you before, I would like Kim to kind
of weigh in on a little bit moreabout the space launch complexes
and what it actually looks likeat Vandenberg.
But when you sayinstrumentation, what are you
talking about?
You're talking about, well, theradars and the kind of those
things, but also like groundstations, right?
(14:48):
Like little buildings kind ofeverywhere.
SPEAKER_02 (14:51):
So we have We have a bunch of instrumentation, big
radars, big field mills, a lotof sensors for weather.
We have a ton of sensors forweather.
But we also have facilities thatsupport those as well.
So we have launch facilitiesover near the slick for our
launch service providers toconduct business.
(15:11):
Our major instrumentation sitesalso have facilities for them to
conduct business out of.
So they're collecting data andthey send that to The Western
Range Command and ControlCenter, which we refer to as the
ROC day of launch so that yourrange safety guys and your area
surveillance are all looking atthis data and telling us we're
(15:31):
good, we're go for launch.
A lot of the processing happenson site too.
So you'll see a lot offacilities around and near your
big radars and radomes andweather balloon stations.
that almost are like anintermediary or middleman for
that data.
So processing is happening allaround base.
(15:54):
And then when we perform an op,it all gets synchronized in this
kind of neat way, being apicture of what the range looks
like.
SPEAKER_00 (16:04):
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
So just lots of computer rooms,I'm seeing.
A lot of computer rooms, a lotof server
SPEAKER_02 (16:09):
rooms.
That is cool and exciting, butwe have a lot.
SPEAKER_00 (16:14):
Yeah, yeah.
So, Kim, can you expand a littlebit more in terms of what
Vandenberg looks like forsomebody who is visiting there?
Johanna mentioned a slick.
Why don't you start there?
What is a slick?
Well, a
SPEAKER_01 (16:28):
slick is a Space Launch Complex SLC.
So we colloquially say that asslick.
I guess let me back up a littlebit.
So we have, the base is kind ofdivided into two pieces.
So we have North base and Southbase and in between North and
(16:49):
South base runs a highway.
So our most active launch padsare currently are on South base.
We have on South base, we haveslick four, which is a SpaceX
pad.
Slick 6, which is also a SpaceXpad that they're developing
right now.
(17:09):
And the plan is for it to havethe capability to launch Falcon
Hemis in addition to Falcon 9s.
SPEAKER_00 (17:15):
Can I just mention Slick 6 is the one that was at
one point going to launch theshuttle.
Is that right?
SPEAKER_01 (17:21):
That is correct.
Yes.
Okay.
That was what it was originallydesigned for.
It has been repurposed.
It launched Deltas for a while,and now it's being repurposed
again, and it is going to launchFalcons.
We have Slick 3 down there aswell, which is a ULA pad.
(17:43):
Right now, they're convertingthe pad from an Atlas to a
Vulcan pad, so that constructionis in work.
Then on North Base, we have...
slick 2 which is a firefly padand that will edge delta pad as
well so um lots of repurposingon this base um we also have
(18:07):
some missile sites um around thebase you know minute man ground
base interceptors so and thensome like test platforms so
there's a lot of activity likejoanna said um We have multiple
payload processing sites.
And one thing to know is thatpayload processing is, I guess,
(18:32):
let me state what that is.
That is where you prepare asatellite for mate to the launch
vehicle.
And so you have to do all thatpreparation in these specialized
facilities and then transport itout to the launch pad.
So in the case of Vandenberg,you're often transporting it
pretty far across the base toget to the launch vehicle.
SPEAKER_00 (18:57):
Yeah.
Yeah.
Because it's a big base, right?
Like you've got a, and so your,your payload in your payload
processing facility is in oneplace, but the actual launch pad
can be miles away.
Is that right?
That's right.
And they carry them on trucks oris there a rail system?
SPEAKER_01 (19:16):
Trucks.
Yeah.
Specialized transportationvehicles.
platforms that often accommodatelike elevation changes so that
your encapsulated assembly canstay level.
They move pretty slowly.
So there's just a lot that goesinto that transport.
SPEAKER_00 (19:39):
Interesting.
And so I'm going to pick at thisa little bit more.
You talked about encapsulatedassembly.
So is that what happens at theprocessing facility?
Tell us what encapsulationmaintenance and what kinds of
things are important there.
SPEAKER_01 (19:53):
At the processing facility, your satellite arrives
on base.
It goes to this specializedprocessing area that's usually a
clean room because a lot of yoursatellites are sensitive to
contamination.
And your environment iscontrolled, you know,
temperature, humidity.
(20:14):
And the satellite undergoestypically, because every mission
is different, so typically itundergoes some testing to make
sure that it survived thetransport okay, make sure it can
interface with certain networksthat we have at the base.
So sometimes they'll transmit toour Vandenberg tracking station
(20:35):
to make sure that it cancommunicate with the satellite
control network before we launchit into space and we can't
access it anymore.
So things like that.
Sometimes propellant is loadedon the spacecraft in those
processing facilities.
Sometimes protective covers andstructures are removed.
(20:57):
And those covers are installedto protect
contamination-sensitive systemsor protect things from jostling
around during transport.
So all of those non-flight itemsare removed.
And if you have multiplesatellites, they're integrated
onto a dispenser there.
And then that whole stack ismated to your launch vehicle
(21:20):
interface there in yourprocessing facility.
encapsulated within the payloadfairings.
And that is basically the pointyend of the rocket.
And then that whole encapsulatedassembly is transported out to
the launch pad to mate with yourrocket.
SPEAKER_00 (21:39):
Gotcha, lots of mating going on.
Yes,
SPEAKER_01 (21:43):
lots of assembly.
SPEAKER_00 (21:45):
So the satellite's built somewhere, then it's
transported to your processingfacility, it's encapsulated with
all this stuff, and then thewhole thing is transported out
to the launch pad, and then it'smated again with the vehicle,
right?
That's typically how it's done.
Gotcha, gotcha.
Johanna, did you want to addanything to this or...
SPEAKER_02 (22:06):
Now, this is payload.
And then day of launch, it's awhole different thing for the
range.
But we don't help much with thepayload processing, except for
in the event of tests, like Kimmentioned, making sure our
instrumentation is ready tosupport that light up there so
it can communicate with thevehicle and the payload.
(22:28):
That's kind of our role.
But again, our big shiningmoment is day of launch.
So there's a ton of work thatgoes in to preparing the people
for that.
SPEAKER_00 (22:39):
And so Kim's been talking about this integration
process that what I've read cantake up to two years with all
this testing and it's got to beclean and they got to be very
careful and more testing.
But the spaceports or the launchranges are also doing stuff this
whole time.
And you said your big shinymoment is day of launch.
(23:00):
But ranges need an entire arrayof different things for what
they call operations,maintenance, and sustainment,
right?
That OM, excuse me, that OM&S.
And so can you talk a little bitabout what kind of services
spaceports are preparing for andwhat's involved there from that
(23:22):
perspective?
SPEAKER_02 (23:23):
Yeah, so I think OM&S, operation, maintenance,
and sustainment, is a trickyterm because it changes
depending on who you talk to.
But I think for the sake ofthis, OM&S is just the
operations maintenance andsustainment that goes towards
providing our criticalcapabilities.
So the capabilities that areneeded for our launch service
(23:44):
providers right now.
And those differ based on themission and the vehicle and the
trajectory, where it's flyingout of the slick or the space
launch complex.
All of these are factors in whatsort of capabilities they
require, but also how we providethose capabilities, which is
why, again, I said we haveinstrumentation littered
(24:04):
throughout the range.
You have different lines ofsight for different vehicles,
depending on where they'relaunching out of and where
they're flying.
But our number one priority isrange safety.
So I think backing up the factthat we're a service provider,
we provide on the range or onthe spaceport We provide the
(24:25):
launch facilities, theinstrumentation to gather the
data, utilities like power,water for deluge, things like
sound suppression.
So all of that has to be inorder well in advance to
supporting a launch.
We don't often try to wingthings.
So all of that undergoes routinemaintenance and inspections and
(24:48):
testing with respect to thevehicle and testing without the
vehicle to make sure it's all inorder.
And then we continuously doinfrastructure upgrades, which I
think that you hinted at aswell.
SPEAKER_00 (25:01):
So just picking at that a little bit in terms of
those utilities you mentioned,what kinds of utilities are you
actually talking about?
And then that's kind ofdifferent than what might be
called kind of sharedcommodities, right?
Like the water would be a sharedcommodity.
SPEAKER_02 (25:17):
Yeah.
So we have shared commodities.
Our instrumentation...
is shared as well.
Day of launch, we also havesecurity.
So we provide security to helpclear the hazard area, which is,
again, our number one priorityas the spaceport is ensuring
public safety.
So that's a big part of that.
(25:39):
But in terms of infrastructureupgrades, I don't know if you
want me to go into specifics ofhow that works or where we're
spending the money on or how wecharge for that.
SPEAKER_00 (25:51):
Well, give us some example of what infrastructure
upgrades are typically needed,like on a regular basis.
I mean, roads.
I've heard terrible stories ofroads at
SPEAKER_02 (26:03):
Vandenberg.
The roads, they came in.
I mean, the base is very, veryold and it's very large.
It's the third largest militarybase in the world.
So it's massive and it's theseold, just like paved over dirt
roads.
that continuously get reroutedeither in support of launch, but
(26:24):
another big priority of thespaceport in the California
Coastal Commission especially ispreserving, also in nature
preserve.
So our roads often get reroutedagain around protected areas as
well.
So recently OMB gave bothranges, Eastern and Western,
about 1.3 billion forinfrastructure upgrades.
(26:45):
And that can go towards a bunchof things.
I think one of the key thingsthat when we talk about OM&S is
that we're supporting newincoming launches at the same
time of having to support ourold legacy customers.
So you can kind of think of thisas like building the plane as we
fly it.
So a lot of our infrastructureupgrades need to look towards
(27:07):
the future as well.
They don't necessarily fallunder modernization because
they're not providing a newcapability, but they definitely
do.
are new and advanced inanticipation of that future
support.
So one example where we'respending that 1.3 implemented
between now and 2018 is over onthe Eastern Range, their water
treatment plant.
(27:28):
So the ranges look verydifferent geographically, and
it's pretty marshy over on theEastern Range.
So when they support a lodge andthey use all that water, deluge,
sound suppression, they'reshooting water at the base of
the rocket, they're pulling thatfrom the one and only reservoir
on base.
(27:50):
And when they do that, it runsback into the reservoir.
That process kills all thebacteria in the water.
And so every single time theysupport a launch and that runoff
goes back into the reservoir,civil engineering has to come in
on base and they have toreestablish healthy levels of
bacteria so it doesn't kill thefish and the birds and All of
the wildlife that relies on thatwater leaks into the surrounding
(28:12):
marshes.
That takes time for civilengineering to come in, test the
water, reestablish healthylevels of bacteria, and say
we're good to go again.
In looking towards the future tostreamline that process, they're
looking at implementing thiswater treatment facility.
It's going to help streamlinethat process of reestablishing
(28:33):
healthy bacteria so that we canturn around launches quicker.
and not have civil engineeringhave to stop everything they're
doing and go down to thereservoir and check the bacteria
level.
So that's one, I think, kind ofneat way that we're using this
infrastructure upgrade money.
SPEAKER_01 (28:51):
Oh, that's great.
Great.
Kim, did you have anything toadd?
So I know here at Vandenberg,several years back, we had some
pretty severe wildfires andactually it impacted our
electrical infrastructurethroughout the base.
And so I know that There's beena lot of effort recently across
the base to upgrade ourelectrical systems and make them
(29:12):
more robust.
I don't know if that's an areawhere some of this money is
going, but I know there's been alot of effort involved in that.
So a lot of these maintenanceitems are maybe not as flashy,
but they're definitely importanton keeping up our launch
capabilities.
SPEAKER_00 (29:32):
Yeah, that's a good point.
Now, we didn't really talkabout, I know that, Johanna, you
had said that safety beingnumber one, we didn't really
talk about all the things thatare involved when a rocket is
launched, right?
There's safety to the public, topeople, there's maritime safety,
there's air safety, there'senvironmental safety and
(29:53):
protections in terms of theseals that live on the Central
Coast.
So I want to...
Talk, just to just briefly talkabout that, Johanna and then
Kim, just in terms of what thatmeans.
SPEAKER_02 (30:09):
Yeah.
So there's, when we talk aboutsafety as, you know, our number
one objective, right aboveproviding data, we're talking
about public safety primarily.
And a lot of, I think what I'mgoing to talk about too, goes
into, you know, being tacticallyresponsive and, but We have
instrumentation systems on theground that day of launch, our
(30:32):
big moment, provide data toensure safety.
So we have radars littered alongthe coast that are saying that
our air and marine traffic areasare clear.
We have telemetry that'scontinuously reporting on the
health and status of the rocketand the payload during flight
(30:53):
and pre-flight as well.
And then we have ground-basedright now.
We have both ground-basedtelemetry flight termination
systems.
That's part of our rangeinfrastructure that we're
migrating away from.
But that prior to launch, wealso conduct a lot of safety
analysis.
So we define a safety corridor.
So based on the trajectory ofthe rocket and also based on the
(31:16):
payload that it's carrying, wedefine okay limits for, you
know, you're going to fly thisdirection.
And if you get a little too offcourse, we need to stop you.
So our ground-based flighttermination systems send a
signal up to the rocket todistract.
So essentially blow up,shouldn't leave those corridors.
And we have incrediblyexperienced and very stressed
(31:38):
out operators sitting on consoleday of launch, just watching it
bump up against that imaginarylie.
And should it get too close toit, we blow it up.
So if anyone on YouTube wants tosee an example of that, there's
one called Casmalia Expresswhere the vehicle goes in the
wrong direction.
(32:00):
So that's sort of the telemetryis giving us indicators that the
vehicle is good or not, whichmight be another reason why we
might blow it up, but it'sreally all about ensuring the
fact that it's gonna go over theocean and not the other way over
Santa Maria.
Okay.
All
SPEAKER_00 (32:18):
right.
Thank you.
We don't want to go over thevineyards.
Protect those vineyards.
SPEAKER_02 (32:24):
And the seals.
And the pinnipeds.
Yeah, we do a bunch ofenvironmental checks to make
sure that we're not disruptingthem as well.
SPEAKER_01 (32:33):
Right,
SPEAKER_00 (32:33):
right.
SPEAKER_01 (32:34):
So our cultural sites here on base two that are
protected from our local ChumashNative American population.
So there's just a lot.
of consideration going intoactivities here on the base.
SPEAKER_00 (32:51):
No, I think that's a good point.
And it really brings home howdifferent the two Eastern Range
and Western Range can be,because Western Range is more
rural.
It's a beautiful coastline.
There are certain protectionsthat the state of California
has.
The Native Americans are there.
(33:12):
actively living.
And then you have, you know,Florida coast, which is, you
know, probably has a phenomenalamount of marine and air traffic
going by that has to be in thatthat safety corridor has to be
monitored and made safe foreveryone.
So very different bases here.
Kim.
We started off talking about howgoing faster was becoming more
(33:36):
important due to geopoliticalconcerns or possibilities or new
technology and warfare orbecause of the proliferated
architectures that offer moreresilience to our systems.
It typically takes like twoyears.
But they're doing things faster.
They're demoing things that canbe done faster.
(33:57):
Integration is a long process,typically.
What do you think is so hardabout integration?
The testing is important.
And how are things changing tokind of help increase our
readiness so that it's a shortertimeline?
SPEAKER_01 (34:14):
So I think...
The simple answer for whyintegration is so hard is that
every mission is unique.
They have unique requirements,unique structures, unique
systems.
They have different requirementsfor the launch base.
So some load propellant at thelaunch base, some don't.
(34:38):
Some do different kinds oftesting, or more involved
testing once they arrive, somedon't.
Some have different interfaceswith the launch vehicle, so that
needs to be evaluated, analyzed.
There's a lot of analysis thatgoes into the whole rocket
(35:03):
satellite system to make surethat the satellite isn't damaged
in the high vibrations it mightsee during launch.
So when those interfaces areunique, then a lot of additional
analysis needs to go into that.
Some have really stringentcontamination requirements or
(35:26):
temperature, humidityrequirements.
So all of that needs to getworked through and the
requirements need to be madevery clear and the agreements on
how those requirements need tobe met, need to be worked
through between all of theparties involved.
our NSSL national security spacelaunch satellite to go through a
(35:51):
really rigorous missionassurance process.
So for those missions, we lookat the history of, if the rocket
is being reused, for example, welook at the history of that
rocket, all the components ofthat rocket to make sure that
everything looks good before wego into launch.
Because for our NSSL payloads,we have, For a lot of them, we
(36:14):
have low tolerance for missionloss.
So we want to make sureeverything is set before we hit
the button and launch intospace.
SPEAKER_00 (36:24):
That idea of risk, right?
It's about risk tolerance interms of, you know, are you you
don't want to scooch throughmission assurance processes
because then it's more riskythat it's going to blow up on
the bad way.
Yes.
But there are examples wherethey are finding ways to do kind
of faster launch.
There was recently, there'sactually been some GPS
(36:48):
replacement satellites that havebeen demoed to be done much
quicker.
Yes, it's,
SPEAKER_01 (36:57):
It's been really interesting.
We've had two demonstrationsrecently of a rapid integration
process for some GPS satellites.
And I think the first one tookour two-year typical integration
timeline down to like fivemonths.
And our second one might havebeen even a little faster.
(37:20):
But going into those, there weresome kind of ground rules and
assumptions.
The satellites were alreadybuilt.
They were reflights.
So the GPS integration had beenknown.
A lot of that mission analysishad been done in the past.
So there was a reduced analysisperiod.
(37:42):
A lot of our launch vehicleintegration hardware had been
pre-built.
So there were no long lead itemsas far as procurement or design
goes.
So So those were some of thethings that we were able to take
advantage of to shorten thoseintegration periods.
(38:02):
For in the most recent case, alot of the mission assurance
verifications and pedigree ofthe rocket booster had been done
previously.
So we were able to takeadvantage of that in order to
shorten or make more efficientour mission assurance process.
We were able to focus on themost recent history of that
(38:24):
rocket to get that thing onorbit faster.
So we're learning ways toaccelerate how we've typically
done things and take advantageof that in order to get things
launched quicker.
SPEAKER_00 (38:40):
Yeah, no, that's a great point.
And that kind of speaks toalmost what one commercial
company called in terms oflaunch, like rinse, repeat,
rinse, repeat, right?
That kind of getting used to theway things are done and maybe
even a kind of standardizationpiece, right?
Yeah.
(39:03):
So, Johanna...
Your specialty is the kind ofrange and the spaceports.
We talked about howinfrastructure is kind of
falling apart, maintenance isneeded.
But there's also room for kindof modernization, right?
Right.
Yeah, so we've got to have thatmaintenance piece.
(39:24):
But then also, you can't justkeep the roads, you know, you
don't want to just keep the keepthe same thing and just maintain
what's there.
But commercial space is movingfaster.
They're innovating, they havenew technologies, you know,
launching off of sea platformsor reusable rockets.
So there's like a modernizationpiece as well for the for the
(39:45):
Western range.
Can you kind of talk to that alittle bit?
SPEAKER_02 (39:48):
Yeah, definitely.
I think just like Kim said,standardization helps reduce, I
think, that turnaround time foronboarding a new user.
It's helpful for us too.
So a lot of our modernizationobjectives are aimed at sort of
(40:08):
incentivizing standardizationbetween users while also
balancing not stifling the paceof innovation.
So when we onboard a new user,unlike the spaceport is a little
unique, I think, unlike like aseaport or an airport for many
reasons.
But one of them is that we don'thave we're working with an
(40:30):
industry that's a little bitmore unexpected, hard to foresee
where they're going, a rapidlyevolving industry.
So we're not just flying Boeingplanes out of a single airport
and we just need to provide theinfrastructure for that.
You have new commercial entrantsthat come in the front gate and
(40:50):
say, I'm going to do somethingthat's never been done before.
I'm going to land on a barge.
And can you, the spaceport,figure out how to provide that?
And we just have to say, yep.
And so while they're doing allof that integration with the
vehicle, a lot of times peoplecome to the front gate of the
range and they don't even have avehicle built.
We'll say, don't worry.
We'll respond to it.
(41:10):
We'll figure out how to providethat.
So at the same time that we'redoing all the operations,
maintenance, sustainment that Ispoke about, keeping the range
running for our existing users,we have to be dynamic in the way
that we respond to those newcommercial users.
One of the big things that we'reimplementing is actually a
mandate put down, I think, forthe past three generals have
(41:35):
said that we're migrating awayfrom that ground-based like
termination system that Imentioned, to an automated
flight safety system.
And so the automated flight, orthe autonomous flight safety
system, that's onboard thevehicle.
So it completely reduces theneed for your ground-based FTF.
(41:57):
So that vehicle is aware of itsposition, it's aware of the
parameters of flight safetycorridor, and should it leave,
it's gonna blow itself up.
Migrating away from ground-basedFTF is a major modernization
opportunity and also opportunityfor us to turn around the range
quicker because it could take upto 96 hours to configure, load
(42:20):
all the codes for FTFs for it totalk to the rocket.
We have to employ and staffpeople at that instrumentation
site to do the maintenance aswell as day of launch, observe
the flight trajectory, And soeliminating that increases our
ability to turn around.
That's probably one of thebiggest inhibitors for turning
(42:42):
around the range quick so thatwe can support more launches,
potentially even simultaneouslaunches.
I would say AFSS, the AutonomousFlight Safety System
introduction, is the biggestgame-changing, I think,
SPEAKER_00 (42:57):
modernization initiative going on right now.
Interesting.
So that's 96 hours just to loadall of that code in for the kill
switch, right?
The self-destruct button.
SPEAKER_02 (43:10):
Like 40 to 96 hours.
And then they have checkouts.
And so that could delay as well.
For every launch that you see onthe launch manifest, there's a
whole bunch of activities goingon after or before.
There's like failed attempts aswell.
So there's a lot more activitygoing on than what you see on
the manifest.
So FTS, the 48 to 96 hours lessdelays with checkouts, that's a
(43:34):
long time.
SPEAKER_00 (43:37):
Yeah, interesting.
So we're getting to time here.
I did want to just, I readrecently about Vader as well,
because we didn't really talkabout weather in terms of
throughput.
But I know that you can't, youknow, obviously you can't
control the weather.
But Florida has hurricanes.
(44:05):
Vandenberg has thunderstorms.
Fog, I don't know if fog is abig deal, but Vandenberg, it's
called Vader, like as in LordVader, Vandenberg atmospheric
detection of an electrifiedrange.
And it's these, they've justlaunched them recently, 14
(44:25):
electric field mills that helpto detect lightning so that
launch operations can be safer.
And we don't have that.
We don't have so many likeunsure go-no-go situations,
right?
Like it's because they have tobe very cautious.
If the measurement is closeenough to some sort of
(44:47):
threshold, then it's a no-go.
And that can kind of stack upall the launches that are behind
it.
I'm thinking of people trying toget on an escalator, right?
And they get somebody falls,right?
SPEAKER_02 (44:59):
Yeah.
I would say weather, that's agood point.
Weather is our number one reasonfor scraps and delays.
So no matter how prepared weare, you can't control the
weather.
So our instrumentation, exactlylike you said, Colleen, is on
base to ensure that at leastwe're not scrubbing for the
(45:20):
unknowns.
The big weather things that wehave to worry about, they differ
Eastern Range and Western Range,Eastern Spaceport, Western
Spaceport.
Over on the Eastern Range, sideyou have massive storms so your
big risk is something called wetlightning which is lightning
accompanied by rain so thelightning that you are familiar
(45:42):
with um most likely on the westside we have um upper
atmospheric winds and then likeyou said our field mills are
looking for something called drylightning so dry lightning is a
lightning strike that'sunaccompanied by rain It happens
when you have these bigelectrically charged clouds or
(46:04):
you have electrically chargedair.
That's something veryconductive, say like a rocket is
flying through rapidly.
So it becomes a target, which isbad because depending on the
payload and the sensitiveelectronics on the rocket, it
can really mess stuff up.
So we do a lot of detection ondry lightning risk.
(46:25):
Those weather balloons arelooking at our upper atmospheric
winds and we're doing that allthe time.
Also,
SPEAKER_00 (46:30):
I wanted to ask you if you have anything that you
want to leave the audience with.
What are your last thoughtshere?
SPEAKER_01 (46:38):
Yeah, so I guess to add on a little bit first to our
earlier conversation, so I thinkwe talked a little bit about how
standardization is going to helpwith launch throughput.
There's some efforts intostandardizing apps the
interfaces so that there's lessmission unique analysis and
(47:00):
design and procurement involved.
I think we also, in order tohelp accelerate launches, look
hard at our infrastructure.
And if we have significant kindof new launches coming, we'll
like what What do we need to doto make sure that our
infrastructure here can handleit?
Do we have the facilities weneed?
(47:22):
Do we have the processing spacewe need in order to accommodate
those launches?
And then I also think that Iguess final thoughts to leave
the audience with is just tokeep in mind that launch is a
lot bigger of an endeavor thanyou might initially think.
(47:45):
There's a lot of people, a lotof disciplines, a lot of
organizations that are allworking together to make it
happen.
And we all have the same endgoal, to provide reliable, safe
access to space.
SPEAKER_00 (48:03):
Johanna, how about you?
Any last thoughts you'd like toleave our audience with?
SPEAKER_02 (48:06):
Yeah, I think just like too, but just like Kim has
been talking about thestandardization between the
payload and the vehicle,standardization between the
vehicle and the spaceport helpus as well, but also
standardization among thespaceports so that we can share
resources and operate.
So the National SpaceportInteragency Working Group is a
(48:29):
group, it's a fun Google, Iwon't get into it now, but
they're working to develop Sortof a network of spaceports that
are interoperable that cansupport each other.
And we're looking at bringingboth of the eastern spaceport
and western spaceport, theranges into that.
That standardization will alsohelp our throughput.
But I think exactly like Kimsaid, the biggest thing I could
(48:50):
say right now is that I don'tknow if anybody, any one person
on the base could really detailall of the intricacies involved.
and launching a rocket from thetime that someone knocks on our
front door and says, I want todo this crazy thing and launch
this rocket and land on a bargeto the day of launch when we
pull it off or we don't.
(49:11):
No one can detail all of thoseintricacies and processes
because it's so complex andconvoluted.
So we rely on the experience ofour range operators, our
maintenance techs, ourcontractors, We have people on
who've been supporting the rangefor decades and decades.
(49:31):
And they know the ins and outsof all of our instrumentation
system like no one else has.
So I don't think that we wouldever be able to get anything off
the ground if it wasn't for theexperience of the guys who are
supporting the spaceport andmaking that happen for the past
20, 40 years.
SPEAKER_00 (49:53):
Well, thank you.
Yeah, that's great.
I think the people behind it,which include you two.
So you're doing great work.
Thank you very much forsupporting and doing what you do
and for being on the show.
Thank you for the opportunity.
Thanks, Colleen.
So for our audience, remember,this is part of our How Stuff
(50:14):
Works sub-series, the Explainerseries.
We've done Defending in Space,Space Weather, Dark and Quiet
Skies, as well as In-SpaceServicing, Assembly, and
Manufacturing.
So be sure to check those out.
All of our shows are availablewherever you get podcasts, and
you can watch the show onYouTube, of course.
(50:34):
Follow us on LinkedIn to getnotified and engage with our
speakers, or you can go to CSThank you to James Liggins, our
technical director, and thankyou to our audience.
Until next time.
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