SpaceX, Blue Origin, others bring space traffic jam to Port Canaveral
- Port Canaveral, already a busy cruise ship port, is experiencing congestion from space company recovery vessels.
- The increase in space traffic is due to the rise of reusable rockets, which are brought back to port after launch.
- SpaceX, Blue Origin, and United Launch Alliance are among the companies with vessels at Port Canaveral, with more expected.
Spectators at Port Canaveral watched Tuesday as another Falcon 9 rocked launched while in the foreground sat a returned Falcon 9 booster and one of SpaceX’s docked drone ships. In many ways, it was just another day at the port but it’s also an indication of a looming threat.
“Multiple commercial space companies (are) now requiring a maritime recovery component of actually landing boosters on an offshore platform, bringing it back to the port for reuse,” said Murray.
Port Canaveral has lived side by side with the space traffic since the late 1950s when rockets first started coming to the Cape for launch. Even the Saturn V moon rocket up and Space Shuttle solid rocket boosters were ferried in through Port Canaveral. Now with private companies such as SpaceX dominated the launch market, Port Canaveral has seen traffic become literally astronomical.
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The Space Force has predicted there could be up to 156 orbital launches this year, blowing away last year’s record of 93. Of those last year, SpaceX accounted for 88 and returning its first-stage booster for reusability is a key part of the company’s operations.
SpaceX has had a presence at Port Canaveral since 2015. Fast forward a decade later: with the company’s Falcon 9 rockets landing on drone ships nearly twice per week and coming into the port for processing, on any given day one or both of those drone ships could be sitting waiting for retrieval. Add to that, SpaceX also has payload fairing recovery ships.
“Reusability is the concept,” Murray said. “If you keep reusing it, the cost over the lifecycle of that asset goes down, so that everyone can get on at a much lower price.”
“That’s a significant use of port facilities to accommodate the space industry,” said Murray.
And it doesn’t stop here. While he said he can’t reveal their identities, Murray hinted at 10 additional space companies looking to occupy space at the port.
“With the space guys we always say come in, do your business, and leave,” he said. “We’ll always be able to do that at Port Canaveral. But if you bring all your stuff to the port and tie it up and wait for your next launch for six months, we don’t have the space to handle that.”
Murray added: “If everyone comes who says they’re coming; we’re going to have a problem.”
SpaceX, for example, tends to act more like a cargo ship. It launches every few days so the drone ships come in, drop off the boosters and fairings and soon head back out. But not every launch company operates on that cadence yet.
SpaceX cranes at Port Canaveral
“We have a third mobile harbor crane coming in. There’s another space operator that’s contemplating maritime recovery,” said Murray. “Our cranes aren’t large enough to handle that booster, so we modified the crane prior to its delivery. It’s being built in Germany and will be delivered later this year.”
Murray didn’t give any further details on the company’s identity.
Blue Origin has their own specialized crane. According to Murray, none of the equipment at Port Canaveral was capable of lifting the New Glenn 188-foot-tall booster.
Meanwhile, recovery goes beyond the lifting the rocket off the vessel. Roads leading to the company’s facilities must be in good shape. Port Canaveral ran into this issue with Blue Origin’s New Glenn. Being a much larger booster than SpaceX’s 135-foot-tall Falcon 9, infrastructure improvements had to be made to accommodate New Glenn. According to Murray, road revisions, updates to signage, and stoplight improvements were made.
New Glenn had its inaugural launch in January and failed to successfully land the booster. But recovering the booster is part of its plan and Blue Origin plans another try during its next launch, which could be as early as the spring.
SpaceX Starship impact on Port Canaveral future
So how do you relieve this impending traffic jam? The answer might come in the form of a bigger rocket.
Murray told the audience that once SpaceX’s Starship launches from Cape Canaveral, it will relieve some of the congestion. Unlike SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rockets, Starship’s first-stage − the Super Heavy Booster − will land back at the launch tower. The Starship will eventually be used to launch SpaceX’s missions, including Starlink satellites. It will also be tapped to act as a lunar lander for NASA astronauts during the Artemis III mission.
That would end the need or, at least, reduce the need for regular recovery vessels.
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For now, though, Starship is a bit of a wait. Even though a launch tower stands at Pad 39A, SpaceX is still perfecting the design over at their Starbase in Boca Chica, Texas. With Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) and Space Force environmental reviews expected to be completed this year, it remains to be seen on how long it takes until Starship takes up residence on the Space Coast.
For now, Port Canaveral official wonder about a future when rockets will land back at Cape Canaveral, and not on maritime vessels.
“Because maritime assets aren’t inexpensive. They’re very expensive. And if there’s a way to solve the issue where you can fly back to land, that’s going to be more economical for the space industry,” said Murray. “But for now, we’re planning that all the maritime folks are going to be doing what is currently happening today with the offshore recoveries.”
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