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After mastering his rocket landings on the Florida coast, SpaceX wants to try the same ride in California. The company recently filed an application with the Federal Communications Commission for the landing of one of its Falcon 9 rockets on the ground at Vandenberg Air Force Base, Southern California, as a result of ########################################################################## 39, a launch of the installation. If this happens, it will be the first time that SpaceX will land on the west coast.
SpaceX has two options for landing its rockets as a result of a launch. The company can land the vehicle on board a drone floating in the ocean, or the rocket can return to its launch site and land on a concrete slab on the ground. Regardless of the option chosen by SpaceX, it depends on the type of launch and the amount of fuel required to complete the landing. For example, the return to land requires more fuel than a drone landing, so launches that consume a lot of propellant during the ascent usually have to land in the ocean (if that's the case). is all).
Up to now, SpaceX has made a few more landings of drone ships than the ground landing gear: 14 to 11. And most of these recoveries took place in Cape Canaveral, Florida – the company's most-used launch site – where rockets fly east over the Atlantic. In fact, all of the company's landings were in Florida (and they were all successful, too). However, the company makes a handful of launches from Vandenberg Air Base, each time it has to fly south to put the satellites in a north-south orbit around the Earth. SpaceX has made four successful landings of drone ships after Vandenberg launches but has not yet sent rockets to the California coast.
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The infrastructure was set up for a while to make landings at Vandenberg, however. In 2015, SpaceX rented a site at the Air Base, where the company added a concrete landing area for its rockets. However, the company has not yet received permission to land on the site. The Federal Aviation Administration has done a study to determine if landing the Falcon 9 at Vandenberg would have a negative impact on the environment and determined that it would not pose any major threats.
Now it looks like SpaceX is finally going to make one of those landings in California . For its launches and landings, SpaceX must obtain a license from the FCC to use certain radio frequencies to communicate with the rocket. The FCC application filed by SpaceX requires a license for a Vandenberg launch between September 5 and March 5. SpaceX will also need an additional license from the FAA for landing too, to make sure the rocket will not harm any observers or damage the property. But getting the license from the FCC will be an important first step.
Landing on land is a bit more convenient for SpaceX because the company does not have to bring the rocket down as it does for UAV landings. Plus, the ground landings are pretty spectacular to watch, and the California coast will make a great backdrop. A livestream of a Vandenberg landing would be pretty much to see – as long as the fog would not bother him.
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