35-691: Whalers Way Orbital Launch Complex is a commercial spaceport and rocket-launching facility operated by Southern Launch in the locality of Sleaford , near Port Lincoln on the Eyre Peninsula of South Australia . Southern Launch established its headquarters in Adelaide in 2018, before the city was announced as home for the Australian Space Agency . Its offices are located in Pirie Street . The launchpad at Whalers Way
70-812: A Node 3 spaceport on the Martian moon Phobos to enable refueling and resupply prior to Mars surface landings, missions beyond Mars, and return trips to Earth. In addition to propellant mining and refueling, the network of spaceports could provide services such as power storage and distribution, in-space assembly and repair of spacecraft, communications relay, shelter, construction and leasing of infrastructure, maintaining spacecraft positioned for future use, and logistics. Space launch facilities have been colonial developments and have also been impacting its surroundings by destroying or polluting their environment, creating precarious cleanup situations. Southern emu-wren The southern emu-wren ( Stipiturus malachurus )
105-493: A driving factor in spaceport placement because most of the delta-v for a launch is spent on achieving the required horizontal orbital speed . The small gain from a few kilometers of extra altitude does not usually off-set the logistical costs of ground transport in mountainous terrain. Many spaceports have been placed at existing military installations, such as intercontinental ballistic missile ranges, which are not always physically ideal sites for launch. A rocket launch site
140-631: A launch failure at ignition, causing the rocket to catch fire. The intended apogee of the flight was 250 km (160 mi), and as payload the rocket carried an ionosphere scintillation package for the Taiwanese National Space Organization , for the purpose of ionospheric scintillation research. Two more test launches of the vehicle, conducted by ATSpace under the Kestrel I name, are scheduled for late 2022. Concerns have been raised by environmentalists from
175-471: A table of spaceports and launch complexes for vertical launchers with documented achieved launches of humans to space (more than 100 km (62 mi) altitude). The sorting order is spaceport by spaceport according to the time of the first human launch. † Three of the Soyuz missions were uncrewed and are not counted ( Soyuz 2 , Soyuz 20 , Soyuz 34 ). ‡ STS-51-L ( Challenger ) failed to reach orbit and
210-566: Is a site for launching or receiving spacecraft , by analogy to a seaport for ships or an airport for aircraft. The word spaceport , and even more so cosmodrome , has traditionally been used for sites capable of launching spacecraft into orbit around Earth or on interplanetary trajectories. However, rocket launch sites for purely sub-orbital flights are sometimes called spaceports, as in recent years new and proposed sites for suborbital human flights have been frequently referred to or named "spaceports". Space stations and proposed future bases on
245-469: Is a species of bird in the Australasian wren family, Maluridae. It is endemic to Australia. Its natural habitats are temperate forests , and Mediterranean-type shrubby vegetation, and swamplands . The adult male has rusty-brown upper parts with streaks of black, the crown more reddish and grey-brown wings. It has a sky-blue throat, upper chest and eyebrow. The tail is double the body length, and
280-566: Is built as far as possible away from major population centers in order to mitigate risk to bystanders should a rocket experience a catastrophic failure. In many cases a launch site is built close to major bodies of water to ensure that no components are shed over populated areas. Typically a spaceport site is large enough that, should a vehicle explode, it will not endanger human lives or adjacent launch pads. Planned sites of spaceports for sub-orbital tourist spaceflight often make use of existing ground infrastructure, including runways. The nature of
315-444: Is composed of six filamentous feathers, the central two of which are longer than the lateral ones. The underparts are pale red-brown, paler on the belly. The bill is black and the feet and eyes are brown. The female is darker streaked and lacks the blue plumage and redder crown. Its bill is brown with a pale grey base. Throughout its range, the southern emu-wren inhabits marshes, low heathland and dune areas. At least one subspecies
350-452: Is not counted. STS-107 ( Columbia ) reached orbit and is therefore included in the count (disaster struck on re-entry). Crewed Missions failed to reach Kármán line: Soyuz T-10a (1983) STS-51-L (1986) Soyuz MS-10 (2018) The following is a table of spaceports with a documented achieved launch to orbit. The table is sorted according to the time of the first launch that achieved satellite orbit insertion. The first column gives
385-491: Is present near the site of the Whalers Way Orbital Launch Complex near Port Lincoln , on the Eyre Peninsula of South Australia . The southern emu-wren is one of three species of the genus Stipiturus , commonly known as emu-wrens, found across southern and central Australia. It was first characterized by naturalist George Shaw in 1798 as Muscicapa malachura , after being collected in
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#1732801979099420-557: Is the major European spaceport, with satellite launches that benefit from the location 5 degrees north of the equator. In October 2003 the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center achieved the first Chinese human spaceflight. Breaking with tradition, in June 2004 on a runway at Mojave Air and Space Port , California, a human was for the first time launched to space in a privately funded, suborbital spaceflight, that
455-454: The Earth's rotational speed (465 m/s at the equator). Such launches also provide a desirable orientation for arriving at a geostationary orbit . For polar orbits and Molniya orbits this does not apply. In principle, advantages of high altitude launch are reduced vertical distance to travel and a thinner atmosphere for the rocket to penetrate. However, altitude of the launch site is not
490-840: The Moon , Mars , orbiting the Earth, at Sun-Earth and Earth-Moon Lagrange points , and at other locations in the Solar System . Human-tended outposts on the Moon or Mars, for example, will be spaceports by definition. The 2012 Space Studies Program of the International Space University studied the economic benefit of a network of spaceports throughout the solar system beginning from Earth and expanding outwardly in phases, within its team project Operations And Service Infrastructure for Space (OASIS). Its analysis claimed that
525-587: The Nature Conservation Society of South Australia (NCSSA) and traditional owners the Nauo people , as threatened species such as the southern emu wren and white-bellied whipbird inhabit the area, which could be affected by the noise, and there are places of cultural significance to the Nauo people. Environmental impact assessments were being undertaken as of May 2021, with plans to modify
560-492: The Australian Space Agency on 14 July 2021, intended for use to launch commercial satellites. Southern Launch planned to build two launch pads for orbital launches to polar and Sun-synchronous orbits . Pad 1 was expected to host up to three test launches by the end of 2021. When fully operational, it is anticipated that around 25 launches a year will take place at Whalers Way. Perigee Aerospace became
595-406: The Moon are sometimes called spaceports, in particular if intended as a base for further journeys. The term rocket launch site is used for any facility from which rockets are launched. It may contain one or more launch pads or suitable sites to mount a transportable launch pad. It is typically surrounded by a large safety area, often called a rocket range or missile range . The range includes
630-662: The Nature Conservation Society, Wilderness Society , Conservation Council of South Australia , the National Trust of Australia (SA), Birds SA and Trees for Life have been calling for an independent review. An ecologist from the University of Adelaide and the NCSSA are concerned that the extensive clearing (23.76 ha (58.7 acres) of vegetation) and construction work involved in expanding
665-569: The Port Jackson (Sydney) district. It was described as the "soft-tailed flycatcher", native name mur-re-a-nera when painted between 1788 and 1797 by Thomas Watling , one of a group known collectively as the Port Jackson Painter . Another painting in the same series yielded the indigenous name mereangeree . Notes on this latter drawing suggest an alternative name of emu- or cassowary titmouse, from its soft tail feathers. In
700-958: The area over which launched rockets are expected to fly, and within which some components of the rockets may land. Tracking stations are sometimes located in the range to assess the progress of the launches. Major spaceports often include more than one launch complex , which can be rocket launch sites adapted for different types of launch vehicles . (These sites can be well-separated for safety reasons.) For launch vehicles with liquid propellant, suitable storage facilities and, in some cases, production facilities are necessary. On-site processing facilities for solid propellants are also common. A spaceport may also include runways for takeoff and landing of aircraft to support spaceport operations, or to enable support of HTHL or horizontal takeoff and vertical landing (HTVL) winged launch vehicles. The first rockets to reach space were V-2 rockets launched from Peenemünde , Germany in 1944 during World War II . After
735-519: The cosmodrome was initially held secret. Guesses to its location were misdirected by a name in common with a mining town 320 km away. The position became known in 1957 outside the Soviet Union only after U-2 planes had identified the site by following railway lines in the Kazakh SSR , although Soviet authorities did not confirm the location for decades. The Baikonur Cosmodrome achieved
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#1732801979099770-675: The early human flights, were carried out at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station . For the Apollo programme, an adjacent spaceport, Kennedy Space Center , was constructed, and achieved the first crewed mission to the lunar surface ( Apollo 11 ) in July 1969. It was the base for all Space Shuttle launches and most of their runway landings. For details on the launch complexes of the two spaceports, see List of Cape Canaveral and Merritt Island launch sites . The Guiana Space Centre in Kourou, French Guiana,
805-768: The facility could cause the southern emu wren to become extinct. Southern Launch CEO Lloyd Damp said he was aware of the issues, and they were in the process of working out a better location for launch site A. The expansion plans are under review by the Government of South Australia 's PlanSA, as well as the Commonwealth Government for compliance with the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 . Public consultation that closed in September showed strong support from
840-513: The first customer with a planned launch of its rocket "Blue Whale 1" in July 2020. However, this had not been launched by late August. On 16 September 2021, 06:39 UTC the Taiwanese TiSPACE company's Hapith I rocket (flight VS01) launched from Whalers Way Pad 1 on a suborbital test flight, after two aborted launches. This was the maiden flight of Hapith I and first of three test launches from Pad 1 at Whalers Way. The flight suffered
875-400: The first description and illustration of the bird by Major-General Thomas Davies , another Sydney region indigenous name merion binnion was reported, since the tail resembled the "cassowary (emu)" feathers. The skin of a male southern emu-wren somehow ended up in the collection of Coenraad Jacob Temminck , who believed it to be from Java. From there it was named by François Levaillant as
910-602: The first launch of a human into space ( Yuri Gagarin ) in 1961. The launch complex used, Site 1, has reached a special symbolic significance and is commonly called Gagarin's Start . Baikonur was the primary Soviet cosmodrome, and is still frequently used by Russia under a lease arrangement with Kazakhstan. In response to the early Soviet successes, the United States built up a major spaceport complex at Cape Canaveral in Florida. A large number of uncrewed flights, as well as
945-561: The first phase, placing the "Node 1" spaceport with space tug services in low Earth orbit (LEO), would be commercially profitable and reduce transportation costs to geosynchronous orbit by as much as 44% (depending on the launch vehicle). The second phase would add a Node 2 spaceport on the lunar surface to provide services including lunar ice mining and delivery of rocket propellants back to Node 1. This would enable lunar surface activities and further reduce transportation costs within and out from cislunar space . The third phase would add
980-422: The gauze-tailed warbler. This mistake was not picked up for another 55 years. Vieillot defined the genus Malurus and placed the southern emu-wren within it, naming it as Malurus palustris . The southern emu-wren derives its common name from its tail feathers, the loosely barbed nature of which resembles feathers of the emu , the irony being that the emu-wrens are among the smallest of Australian birds, while
1015-442: The geographical location. Operations from a different country are indicated in the fourth column. A launch is counted as one also in cases where the payload consists of multiple satellites. 4 Qaem 100 The following table shows spaceports with documented achieved launches of humans to at least 100 km altitude, starting from a horizontal runway. All the flights were sub-orbital . Spaceports have been proposed for locations on
1050-399: The local view from 100 km (62 mi) altitude is also a factor to consider. The space tourism industry (see List of private spaceflight companies ) is being targeted by spaceports in numerous locations worldwide. e.g. Spaceport America , New Mexico. The establishment of spaceports for tourist trips raises legal issues, which are only beginning to be addressed. The following is
1085-719: The site and implement mitigation strategies should problems be found. Southern Launch has committed to protecting nature and managing tourism activities to ensure that the environment will be preserved. Protests took place at the site ahead of the first scheduled launch on 9 September 2021, after whales were reported swimming in Fishery Bay , east of the maritime exclusion zone, and police attended. Whales were later confirmed 30km away in Boston Bay, and none observed in Fishery Bay. Local residents and conservationists, including
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1120-470: The surrounding communities of Port Lincoln and Tulka, the results of which are yet to be released as of 27 September 2021. In early October, a rare square-tailed kite was photographed at the site, but it is thought likely that it was a chick from a nest a long distance away. The last time one was spotted on the Eyre Peninsula was in 2004. Spaceport A spaceport or cosmodrome
1155-535: The war, 70 complete V-2 rockets were brought to White Sands for test launches, with 47 of them reaching altitudes between 100 km and 213 km. The world's first spaceport for orbital and human launches, the Baikonur Cosmodrome in southern Kazakhstan , started as a Soviet military rocket range in 1955. It achieved the first orbital flight ( Sputnik 1 ) in October 1957. The exact location of
1190-427: Was intended to pave the way for future commercial spaceflights. The spacecraft, SpaceShipOne , was launched by a carrier airplane taking off horizontally. At Cape Canaveral, SpaceX in 2015 made the first successful landing and recovery of a first stage used in a vertical satellite launch. Rockets can most easily reach satellite orbits if launched near the equator in an easterly direction, as this maximizes use of
1225-520: Was publicly announced in December 2018, with Southern Launch leading the project. The project was declared a major development by the state of South Australia on 22 August 2019, and on 23 October 2019 Southern Launch made a joint announcement with Perigee Aerospace of South Korea about the launch of the "Blue Whale 1" rocket from the Whalers Way facility. The facility was officially approved by
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