Space startup Space Exploration Technologies, or SpaceX, got out the shovels yesterday for a ground-breaking ceremony at Cape Canaveral, where the company is working with the state of Florida to update old launch facilities for the new space age.
The new facility, to be called Space Launch Complex 40 (SLC-40) at the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, will be the site of SpaceX's launch of its Falcon 9 vehicle, with missions beginning in late 2008. Assuming all goes well, which remains a big assumption.
The company, whose last rocket test was partially successful, but didn't quite make orbit, still has to prove it has the technological chops to deliver on its promise of cheap, reliable space transportation. However, it is farther along than most of its competitors, having consistently met design and funding milestones as part of NASA's Commercial Orbital Transportation Services (COTS) program, through which it is receiving some federal funding.
According to the company's Web site, it's planning a first few test launches from the Cape Canaveral facility beginning in the last quarter of next year, followed by the launch of a commercial satellite for
Canadian company MDA Federal.
SpaceX Breaks Ground at Cape Canaveral's Space Launch Complex 40 [SpaceX press release]
(Image: SpaceX's Falcon 1 on the launch pad. Credit: SpaceX)
