Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport

The Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport and, in the background,NASA'sWallops Flight Facility as seen in September 2012.
Interactive map of Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport
Location	Wallops Island,Accomack County,Virginia
Time zone	UTC-5 (EST)
Operator	Virginia Spaceport Authority
Launch pad	4
Launch history

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TheMid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport (MARS) is a commercial space launch facility located at the southern tip ofNASA'sWallops Flight Facility onWallops Island in Virginia, just east of theDelmarva Peninsula and south ofChincoteague,Virginia, United States. It is owned and operated by theVirginia Spaceport Authority.

The Virginia General Assembly created the political subdivisionVirginia Commercial Space Flight Authority (VCSFA), also known as Virginia Space, in 1995 to promote the development of the commercial space flight industry, economic development, aerospace research, andScience, Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM) education throughout the Commonwealth.^[1] This initiative was done from the recommendations of theBatten College atOld Dominion University, with Dr. Billie Reed, a longtime professor at the University, installed as its Executive Director.^[2][3][4]

In 1997, Virginia Space entered into a Reimbursable Space Act Agreement with NASA, which provided for permitted use of land on NASA Wallops Island for the MARS launch pads. Virginia Space also applied for and was granted an FAA license to launch to orbit. This led to the establishment of theVirginia Space Flight Center, located on the southern portion of NASA Wallops Island. At the time, the Center served as a collective partnership that included theNational Aeronautic and Space Administration (NASA),Old Dominion University, and Virginia Space.^[3]

In July 2003, GovernorsRobert Ehrlich of Maryland andMark Warner of Virginia signed an agreement that directed theSecretary of Commerce and Trade of Virginia and the Secretary of Business and Economic Development of Maryland to form a working group to develop a concept and implementation plan for joint governance, operation, and administration of the commercial spaceport at Wallops Island.^[1] As such, the Virginia Space Flight Center was renamed as the Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport (MARS), reflecting the location of the facilities as opposed to the singular state.^[2][3]

MARS is approved for launch azimuths from 38° to 60°, making it an ideal location from which to launch to the International Space Station (ISS).^[1]

In 2007, NASA selected Virginia-basedOrbital Sciences Corporation (Northrop Grumman) to participate in theCommercial Orbital Transportation Services (COTS) program and then selected Orbital for a follow-onCommercial Resupply Service (CRS) contract to build and demonstrate a new rocket,Antares, to resupply theInternational Space Station (ISS). The CRS contract authorized eight missions from 2012 to 2015 carrying approximately 20,000 kg of cargo to ISS as well as disposal of waste. These launches were to take place from the new state-of-the-art MARS Pad 0A.^[1]

On MARS Pad 0B, VCSFA made modifications and upgrades to launch the NASA Lunar Atmosphere and Dust Environment Explorer (LADEE) mission to the Moon in mid-2013 on a new Orbital Sciences Minotaur V launch vehicle. Also in mid-2013, the USAF launched ORS-3 from MARS Pad 0B.^[1]

MARS is one of only several sites licensed by the FAA Office of Commercial Space Transportation to launch to orbit. Additionally, Virginia is home to theNASA Langley Research Center (LARC) andNational Reconnaissance Office (NRO), and as such is a recipient of a large portion of the Federal budget for Space. Finally, according to the Information Technology and Innovation Foundation, Virginia ranks first in the number of scientists and engineers as a percentage of the workforce, third in the concentration of high-tech jobs as a percentage of the workforce, and sixth in non-industry investment in research and development.^[1]

The Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport has three active orbital launch pads.

Pad 0A was built in the 1990s for theConestoga rocket, which made its only flight in 1995.^[5]The launch tower was subsequently demolished in September 2008,^[6] and the pad has since been rebuilt for use by theNorthrop GrummanAntares.^[7]The pad modifications for Antares included the construction of a Horizontal Integration Facility (HIF) for launcher/payload mating and a wheeled transporter/erector that will "roll out and erect the rocket on its launch pad about 24 hours prior to launch".^[7]

The facility suffered significant damage during the28 October 2014 Antares launch failure, according to NASA officials in the immediate aftermath.^[8]Preliminary estimates for rebuilding the pad indicated the cost should be no more thanUS$20 million.^[9] By May 2015, that estimate had been revised down toUS$13 million and repairs were expected to be completed by September or October 2015 with the next planned launch in March 2016.^[10] On September 30, 2015, the spaceport announced repairs on pad 0A had been completed.^[11]

Following theCygnus NG-19 launch in August 2023, Pad 0A was taken offline for the pad and facilities to be upgraded to support the newAntares 330 rocket, which will have approximately twice the thrust as its predecessor, Antares 230+. The pad and transporter erector must accept the wider diameter of the new first stage, and the HIF must be lengthened. In addition, the complex is being upgraded to support the future Northrop GrummanEclipse alongside Firefly Aerospace, based on the Antares 330 but sporting a liquid-fueled second stage.^[12]

Forsound suppression and cooling the pad during launches, there is a 307 ft (94 m)-tall water tower.^[13]

Pad 0B became operational in 1999,^[14] and was subsequently upgraded with the construction of amobile service tower, which was completed in 2004.^[15] It remains active, and is currently used byNorthrop GrummanMinotaur rockets. However, the Minotaur launch rate has decreased in recent years, leaving multi-year gaps between launches from Pad 0B.

Pad 0B hosted the only Minotaur V launch, carrying theLADEE lunar orbiter, in 2013. This was the first (and so far only) beyond-Earth mission to launch from Wallops.

In October 2018,Rocket Lab announced that it had selected MARS as its second launch site, calledRocket Lab Launch Complex-2. The company began construction in February 2019, together with the Virginia Commercial Space Flight Authority (Virginia Space). In December 2019, Rocket Lab said it had built and completedLaunch Complex-2 (LC-2),^[16] a new launch pad near Pad 0A, and was ready to support missions just 10 months later with the first launch scheduled for the third quarter of 2020.^[17] At a press conference on the same day at the NASA Wallops Flight Facility, the Space Test Program of theUnited States Air Force (nowUnited States Space Force) was announced as the planned first customer for the Electron launch vehicle from LC-2. The mission was planned to launch a single research and development micro-satellite. This plan did not occur.^[18]

For LC-2 missions, Electron rockets are fully assembled at an offsite integration facility before being trucked to the pad and installed on the launch mount.^[19]

The first launch from LC-2 successfully occurred on January 24, 2023. AnElectron rocket carried three satellites to orbit in a mission named "Virginia is for Launch Lovers", the launch title referencing Virginia's well-known tourism slogan "Virginia is for Lovers".^[20][21] Since then, LC-2 has seen several orbital Electron launches, including a handful of suborbital missions by the HASTE configuration of Electron.

In October 2023, construction of a new launch site between LP-0A and LP-0B was seen. The new launch site will be forRocket Lab'sNeutron and will be namedLaunch pad 0D (LP-0D). Rocket Lab will refer to LP-0D as Launch Complex 3 or LC-3.^[22]

Launch Sites at theMid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport

110m
120yds

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3

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  Active pads

  Inactive leased pads

  Inactive unleased pads

1

LP-0A

2

LP-0B

3

LP-0C (LC-2)

4

LP-0D (LC-3)

• Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport Launch Pad 0
• Orbital Sciences Corporation
• Rocket Lab

Wikimedia Commons has media related toMid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport Pad 0A andMid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport Pad 0B.

• Map:37°50′36″N75°28′41″W / 37.84333°N 75.47806°W /37.84333; -75.47806 (Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport)
• Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport web siteArchived 2015-09-05 at theWayback Machine
• Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport Implementation Plan, April 2004
• Wallops Flight Facility site

• Buildings and structures in Accomack County, Virginia
• Rocket launch sites in the United States
• Spaceports in the United States

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