SpaceX announces it will build its Big Falcon Rocket in Los Angeles
Capitalism in space: SpaceX has confirmed that it will build its Big Falcon Rocket in the facility it has leased in the port of Los Angeles.
Looking at the string of stories I have just posted on Behind the Black, all describing the space plans of Rocket Lab, Stratolaunch, Orbital ATK, SpaceX, China, and the UAE, all aimed at taking off in the early 2020s, it seems the next decade will be a wild ride for space geeks.
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Capitalism in space: SpaceX has confirmed that it will build its Big Falcon Rocket in the facility it has leased in the port of Los Angeles.
Looking at the string of stories I have just posted on Behind the Black, all describing the space plans of Rocket Lab, Stratolaunch, Orbital ATK, SpaceX, China, and the UAE, all aimed at taking off in the early 2020s, it seems the next decade will be a wild ride for space geeks.
Readers!
Please consider supporting my work here at Behind the Black. Your support allows me the freedom and ability to analyze objectively the ongoing renaissance in space, as well as the cultural changes -- for good or ill -- that are happening across America. Fourteen years ago I wrote that SLS and Orion were a bad ideas, a waste of money, would be years behind schedule, and better replaced by commercial private enterprise. Only now does it appear that Washington might finally recognize this reality.
In 2020 when the world panicked over COVID I wrote that the panic was unnecessary, that the virus was apparently simply a variation of the flu, that masks were not simply pointless but if worn incorrectly were a health threat, that the lockdowns were a disaster and did nothing to stop the spread of COVID. Only in the past year have some of our so-called experts in the health field have begun to recognize these facts.
Your help allows me to do this kind of intelligent analysis. I take no advertising or sponsors, so my reporting isn't influenced by donations by established space or drug companies. Instead, I rely entirely on donations and subscriptions from my readers, which gives me the freedom to write what I think, unencumbered by outside influences.
You can support me either by giving a one-time contribution or a regular subscription. There are four ways of doing so:
1. Zelle: This is the only internet method that charges no fees. All you have to do is use the Zelle link at your internet bank and give my name and email address (zimmerman at nasw dot org). What you donate is what I get.
2. Patreon: Go to my website there and pick one of five monthly subscription amounts, or by making a one-time donation.
3. A Paypal Donation or subscription:
4. Donate by check, payable to Robert Zimmerman and mailed to
Behind The Black
c/o Robert Zimmerman
P.O.Box 1262
Cortaro, AZ 85652
You can also support me by buying one of my books, as noted in the boxes interspersed throughout the webpage or shown in the menu above.
Can you tell me what influenced them to build this in Los Angeles when both of their launch sites (Cape Canaveral, FL & Boca Chica, TX) are on the other side of the Panama Canal?
Mordineus: You ask a very very good question. One reason may simply be that, because of California’s fascist politics, land values have dropped, and Musk could get a good deal. As long as the facility is on the ocean they can more easily ship the spacecraft anywhere by water.
It could also be that because SpaceX is based in California, the company feels compelled to brown-nose California politicians or risk more trouble from them. Putting the facility in LA gives the company clout with these power-hungry politicians.
From discussion I’ve seen elsewhere, it has mostly to do with the employee base in Torrance that would be hard to move or duplicate.
David wrote: “From discussion I’ve seen elsewhere, it has mostly to do with the employee base in Torrance that would be hard to move or duplicate.”
Maybe, but the Florida Space Coast lost a lot of jobs with the loss of the Space Shuttle. Those people would be a good fit for building rockets and satellites, as other companies determined when they chose to build manufacturing facilities there. There are experienced and talented people working at facilities along the coast of the Gulf of Mexico, too. However, the Los Angeles/Mojave region has been a locus of aerospace companies for about a century, so there is plenty of experience and talent there, too. There are plenty of places from which to choose in order to get a good employee base.
So, what does it cost to move a rocket from Los Angeles (assembly) to McGregor, Texas (test) to Kennedy/Vandenberg/Boca Chica (launch)? My point being that any SpaceX rocket will have to move around anyway, so assembly plant location may not be driven by a need to reduce transportation; other factors can easily overwhelm the transportation factor.
SpaceX does have a launch site at Vandenberg as well, though I doubt they would want to jump through all of the government hurdles to build and operate facilities for the BFR there. Also, it’s not an ideal site for most LEO orbits. Recalling some of their concept imagery, they might be looking at ocean-based platforms for launching.
Would launches to the moon or beyond from a more polar direction be particularly detrimental?
Matt in AZ asked: “Would launches to the moon or beyond from a more polar direction be particularly detrimental?”
You would likely lose the 8 km per second velocity advantage that you get by launching into the plane of the destination.
@Edward, the rotational speed of Earth is 420 meters per second at the equator (about 350 m/s in California). That’s the small bonus that a polar launch looses. It requires 10 km/s to reach orbit, so it is a 3½% loss of velocity (and a larger loss in payload/fuel).
Insight will be launched to Mars from Vandenberg. They have margins for the polar launch and prefer it because it is less busy than Florida, less risk of delays.
Ref: InSight…
“InSight: Digging Deep into Mars”
JPL news briefing, March 29, 2018
https://youtu.be/y2Hh3FeRrMU
(1:00:49)
Local said:
” It requires 10 km/s to reach orbit, so it is a 3½% loss of velocity (and a larger loss in payload/fuel).”
To give an idea how *much* loss in payload just to LEO, a TitanIII could put about 14,000 kilos in polar orbit, but could have launched straight East from KSC and put about 20,000 kilos into lower inclination orbits.
Localfluff wrote: “the rotational speed of Earth is 420 meters per second at the equator”
But the Moon orbits the Earth at about 1 km per second, so somehow you have to gain that much velocity. Plus, in changing orbital planes from an Earth polar to the lunar orbit plane will take about twice the speed that the spacecraft is travelling (twice the sine of the angle between the planes), so that means 2 km per second of delta V.
Being in the correct orbital plane at the time of orbital transfer (when entering Earth orbit) can be very important, otherwise you have to change planes at a cost of delta V, fuel, and payload weight.