Inside the Pentagon, the pressure is on to find a home for a new spaceport

Leaders in the US Space Force would like to have a new spaceport up and running in four years, adding a third heavy-lift launch site to relieve pressure from bases in Florida and California that have shot rockets into orbit for nearly 70 years. The obvious problem with that ambition is 2030 is four years away, and Pentagon officials have not determined where the new spaceport should go or how to acquire land for it.

美国太空军的领导层希望在四年内建成并启用一个新的航天发射场，增加第三个重型运载火箭发射基地，以缓解佛罗里达州和加利福尼亚州基地的压力，这些基地已经向轨道发射火箭近 70 年了。这一雄心壮志面临的明显问题是，距离 2030 年仅剩四年，而五角大楼的官员们尚未确定新航天发射场的选址，也未确定如何为其征用土地。

Air Force Secretary Troy Meink first mentioned the service’s search for a third launch base in May. A congressionally mandated study of the Space Force’s launch infrastructure identified the need for “another site that’s capable of heavy and super heavy launch capability,” Meink said in a House Armed Services Committee hearing. The Trump administration released a space transportation policy in August that endorsed the construction of more launch and reentry sites for commercial and military missions.

空军部长特洛伊·梅因克（Troy Meink）在五月份首次提到了该部门寻找第三个发射基地的计划。梅因克在众议院军事委员会的听证会上表示，一项由国会授权的关于太空军发射基础设施的研究指出，有必要“再建立一个具备重型和超重型发射能力的基地”。特朗普政府在八月份发布了一项太空运输政策，支持为商业和军事任务建设更多的发射和再入场站。

This week, the Space Force general responsible for procuring launch services for the military laid out an “aspirational” timeline for a new launch site. “We need this capability by 2030, but I’m also a pragmatist,” said Lt. Gen. Philip Garrant, head of Space Systems Command. “That is not an inconsequential demand to build a spaceport when you factor in orbital regimes, safety, access to commodities, the Americans that live near it. In many ways, it’s much like an airport, but even louder. So there’s a lot of consideration.”

本周，负责为军方采购发射服务的太空军将军提出了新发射场“理想化”的时间表。太空系统司令部负责人菲利普·加兰特（Philip Garrant）中将表示：“我们需要在 2030 年前具备这种能力，但我也是一个务实主义者。考虑到轨道方案、安全性、物资获取以及居住在附近的美国民众，建设一个航天发射场绝非小事。在许多方面，它就像一个机场，但噪音更大。因此，需要考虑的因素非常多。”

Public, private, or both? But there’s no firm plan yet for when the military might get moving on actually setting up a new launch base. “It’s going to take a strong partnership with local and state governments,” Garrant said. “As far as decision timelines, we don’t have anything yet.”

公共、私营，还是两者兼有？但目前对于军方何时开始实际建立新发射基地还没有明确的计划。加兰特说：“这需要与地方和州政府建立强有力的伙伴关系。至于决策时间表，我们目前还没有任何定论。”

There were 175 orbital launch attempts last year from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station and Kennedy Space Center in Florida and Vandenberg Space Force Base in California. Space Force officials project the country’s established spaceports will need to support 700 launches per year by 2036. A third launch site would offload some of the launch demand from limited real estate at Cape Canaveral and Vandenberg. It would also provide what Space Force leaders call “geographic resiliency” to mitigate the risk of a natural disaster or military attack knocking the Cape or Vandenberg offline.

去年，佛罗里达州的卡纳维拉尔角太空军基地和肯尼迪航天中心，以及加利福尼亚州的范登堡太空军基地共进行了 175 次轨道发射尝试。太空军官员预计，到 2036 年，该国现有的航天发射场每年将需要支持 700 次发射。第三个发射场将分担卡纳维拉尔角和范登堡有限土地上的部分发射需求。它还将提供太空军领导层所称的“地理弹性”，以降低自然灾害或军事攻击导致卡纳维拉尔角或范登堡基地瘫痪的风险。

The federal government already owns a third spaceport at NASA’s Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia, used for suborbital rocket tests and small- and medium-class satellite launches. Small rockets can also launch from Pacific Spaceport Complex, owned by the state of Alaska. There are also commercial options that might be available for a new military spaceport. Ars asked Garrant if the Space Force might consider leasing property from a privately owned launch base, such as the expansive spaceport SpaceX plans to build in southern Louisiana.

联邦政府已经在弗吉尼亚州的美国国家航空航天局（NASA）瓦勒普斯飞行设施拥有第三个航天发射场，用于亚轨道火箭测试以及中小型卫星发射。小型火箭也可以从阿拉斯加州拥有的太平洋航天发射场综合体发射。此外，还有一些商业选项可供新的军事航天发射场选择。Ars 询问加兰特，太空军是否会考虑租赁私营发射基地的土地，例如 SpaceX 计划在路易斯安那州南部建设的大型航天发射场。

“We’ve discussed that we need to consider all of those opportunities: public-private partnership, new federal installation, state land, leveraging commercial land—all of those are possibilities. They all have pros and cons. We haven’t made that decision yet, but we’re not discounting any of those options.”

“我们已经讨论过，需要考虑所有这些机会：公私合营、新的联邦设施、州属土地、利用商业用地——所有这些都是可能的。它们各有利弊。我们尚未做出决定，但我们不会排除任何这些选项。”