Why SpaceX Is Looking For New Falcon 9 Landing Pads
For years now we have watched either a single or two boosters land at Landing Zones 1 and 2 at SLC-13. This site was leased out to SpaceX and turned into a group of landing pads to support both the Falcon 9 and Falcon Heavy recovery operations. Over time it has been responsible for tens of landings when a Drone ship is not needed.
This being said, not long ago information came out regarding this site’s new future owners. This change would mean SpaceX needs to find a new area to contract and build landing pads for future Falcon vehicle landing operations. In addition to this, just yesterday we learned that SpaceX is trying to avoid drone ship landings during crewed Falcon 9 missions.
Instead, they are confident they can land on the ground saving both money and time. This change however would only increase the demand for booster landing sites when Landing Zones 1 and 2 become unavailable. Here I will go more in-depth into what exactly is happening with the current landing sites, why crewed missions might not use a drone ship, what to expect in the coming weeks, and more.
Landing Zones 1 & 2
Landing Zone 1 and Landing Zone 2, also known as LZ-1 and LZ-2 respectively, are landing facilities on Cape Canaveral Space Force Station for recovering components of SpaceX’s reusable launch vehicles. Landing Zone 1 is the most commonly used out of the two for occasional Falcon 9 launches. LZ-2 is usually only used when LZ-1 is occupied or during a Falcon Heavy launch where two boosters land at the same time. Since 2015, the two landing pads combined have facilitated over 30 different boosters’ landings across of host of different missions.
Around two months ago SLD 45 clarified that “as part of the SLD 45 allocation strategy, Phantom and Vaya Space will be the only users of SLC-13 once the real property agreement is executed.” In other words, SpaceX appears to be ending their use of Landing Zones 1 and 2 in the not too distant future. In an official document its quoted saying, “Through the LPAS, the U.S. Space Force and SLD 45 have selected four companies for allocation of launch property at Space Launch Complex (SLC) 15 to ABL Space, SLC 14 to Stoke Space, and SLC 13 to Phantom Space and Vaya Space.” This document and statement were released on March 7th 2023.
Originally, LZ-1 and LZ-2 were built on land leased in February 2015, on the site of the former Cape Canaveral Launch Complex 13. SpaceX built Landing Zone 2 at the facility to have a second landing pad, allowing two Falcon Heavy boosters to land simultaneously. The previous site was replaced by two circular landing pads 282 feet (86 m) in diameter and marked with a stylized X from the SpaceX company logo.
Four more 150 feet (46 m) diameter pads were initially planned to be built to support the simultaneous recovery of additional boosters used by the Falcon Heavy, although only one extra pad has been built. Planned infrastructure additions to support operations include improved roadways for crane movement, a rocket pedestal area, remote-controlled fire suppression systems in case of a landing failure, and a large concrete foundation, away from the future three landing pads, for attaching the booster stage when taking the rocket from vertical to horizontal orientation, among other things.
As far as what exactly this lease ending means for the future, it’s unclear as of right now. Many believe that SpaceX will begin building landing pads on one of the existing launch sites at the Cape. By now Falcon 9 landings have gotten extremely reliable and consistent which could give the company confidence to land them closer to valuable infrastructure. Also, this could be considered a stepping stone for landings prior to work on Starship landing operations at LC-39A.
It’s important to point out that while SpaceX will move away from using LZ-1/2 at the Cape, word is that Falcon RTLS landings will not go away from Florida. SpaceX has its own plans to carry out that without the need to use Landing Zone 1 and 2. When the two landing pads were originally built, SpaceX was confident there would be at least a few failures and wasn’t sure exactly how well this booster landing process would work. A lot of things have changed since then that will impact the company’s decision.
Drone Ship Changes
Not only can we expect changes with the primary surface landing zone for Falcon 9 boosters, but drone ships as well. Just yesterday, in a press briefing previewing the Ax-2 mission, a SpaceX representative said Falcon 9 rockets for future crew missions, beginning with Ax-2, will have the ability to land boosters back at the launch site. They previously had to land on a drone ship after launching crew missions. This would be quite a big deal for the company and Falcon 9 operations.
While drone ship landings are very unique and allow the company to save entire rocket cores, landing back at the launch site or even just solid land offers even more benefits. During typical operations, A tug is used to bring the drone ship to its oceanic position, and a support ship stands by some distance away from the crewless landing pad. Following landing, technicians and engineers typically board the landing platform and secure the rocket’s landing legs to lock the vehicle in place for transport back to port. The first stage is secured to the deck of the drone ship with steel hold-downs welded on to the feet of the landing legs. In June 2017, Of Course I Still Love You started being deployed with a robot that drives under the rocket and grabs onto the hold-down clamps located on the outside of the Falcon 9’s structure after landing.
While there are continuing to advance and become even more efficient, landing on the ground offers many benefits that SpaceX is interested in if possible. As far as what makes this possible now, it likely has to do with the success and confidence in this vehicle. Falcon 9s have been landing for a while now with about a ton of extra propellant left on board. If they’re getting more confident in their operations, they may be able to dip into that margin to bring them back to shore. It was even confirmed by SpaceX that the Falcon 9 booster will make a landing back at LZ-1, rather than a droneship, because there is “a little bit of extra Falcon performance” available.
All this being said, it comes back to the two landing pads and the future lease change at SLC-13. Operations at this facility began after seven earlier landing tests by SpaceX, five of which involved intentional descents into the open ocean, followed by two failed landing tests on an ocean-going platform. As of March 2015, the Air Force’s sign for LC-13 was briefly replaced with a sign identifying it as Landing Complex. The site was renamed Landing Zone prior to its first use as a landing site. Elon Musk indicated in January 2016 that he thought the likelihood of successful landings for all of the attempted landings in 2016 would be approximately 70 percent, hopefully rising to 90 percent in 2017, and cautioned that the company expects a few more failures.
In 2016, SpaceX applied for permission to build two additional landing pads at Landing Zone 1 for landing the boosters from Falcon Heavy flights. The next year, construction on a second, smaller pad began, called Landing Zone 2. This pad is located about 1,017 feet (310 m) to the northwest of the first pad and is used for landing Falcon Heavy side boosters. By 2017, the landing pad was modified with a radar reflective paint, to aid with landing precision.
Falcon 9 boosters mostly land on LZ-1 pad and rarely land on LZ-2, except in cases when a Cape Canaveral launched booster cannot land on LZ-1, as a previous booster is still sitting on that pad, as in the case with booster B1073.5 on 11 December 2022. The LZ-1 was already occupied by Oneweb Flight#15’s booster B1069.4 launched on 8 December 2022, so LZ-2 was used by a Falcon 9 for the first time. Either way, the two pads play an important role in recovery operations.
To put in perspective the length of time SpaceX has been landing here, after approval from the FAA, SpaceX accomplished its first successful landing at the complex with Falcon 9 Flight 20 in 2015. This was the 8th controlled-descent test of a Falcon 9 first stage. A second successful landing at LZ-1 took place shortly after midnight, on July 18, 2016, as part of the CRS-9 mission, which was the Falcon 9’s 27th flight.
Looking at all the landing attempts at this site, the only failure didn’t even result in any damage to the pad. During the SpaceX CRS-16 mission, the booster was meant to land at LZ-1 but instead crashed in the ocean, avoiding any destruction to the pad or surrounding infrastructure. Shecduled only days away on May 21st, Axiom Mission 2 or Ax-2 will see a crewed Falcon 9 launch astronauts to the International Space Station. This will also be the first attempt at landing this booster back at LZ-1 rather than a drone ship. Not only this but a few missions in July, August and October of this year will all see the two landing pads in action with either Falcon Heavy or Falcon 9 launches. Something to look forward to in the coming months.
Conclusion
SpaceX is trying to land future crewed Falcon 9 boosters on land rather than drone ships. At the same time, the company’s main ground landing site SLC-13 will be leased out to different companies in the future. This being said, SpaceX has quite a bit of time and will likely begin constructing options near exciting launch sites at the Cape. We will have to wait and see how it progresses and the impact it has on the space industry.