Main Engine Cut OffRelativity to Operate Cape Canaveral Launch Complex 16
Eric Berger, Ars Technica:
Under terms of the competitively awarded agreement, the site will officially be a “multiuser” facility for five years. However, if Relativity meets certain milestones and begins regularly launching rockets, it will be able to convert the agreement into a 20-year exclusive right to use the launch site.
And from Jeff Foust’s SpaceNews article:
The site will be able to support launches to low and mid-inclination orbits, but Ellis said the company will need a second site for missions to polar and sun-synchronous orbits. He said the company is conducting a search for such a site but didn’t mention specific locations under consideration.
Relativity has to be bummed out to miss out on Vandenberg’s SLC-2W, which Firefly is taking over now that Delta II’s days are finished there.
Maybe Relativity can take over the inactive SLC-3W pad at Vandenberg. That was last used in 2004–2005 when SpaceX planned to use it to launch Falcon 1.
