) Aerial view of Corn Ranch | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Location | Van Horn, Texas | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Coordinates | 31°25′24″N 104°45′32″W / 31.42333°N 104.75889°W | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Operator | Blue Origin | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Corn Ranch is a spaceport in the West Texas town of Van Horn, Texas. The 670-square-kilometer (165,000-acre) land parcel was purchased by Internet billionaire Jeff Bezos. Current launch license and experimental permits from the US government Federal Aviation Administration authorize flights of New Shepard rockets.[1] The first flight test took place on November 13, 2006 with the goal of providing commercial tourist flights.[2]
As of May 2015, Blue Origin has a staff of approximately 50 supporting the West Texas facility.[3]
The launch pad is located at 31°25′23″N 104°45′26″W / 31.422927°N 104.757152°W, about 2.9 km (1.8 mi) north of the check-out building. The landing pad is located at 31°27′06″N 104°45′46″W / 31.4517°N 104.7628°W, about 6.1 km (3.8 mi) north of a check-out building and 3.2 km (2 mi) north of the launch pad.
In addition to the suborbital launch pads, the West Texas site includes a number of rocket engine test stands. Engine test cells to support both hydrolox, methalox and storable propellant engines are present.
Included are three test cells just for testing the methalox BE-4 engine alone: two full test cells that can support full-thrust and full-duration burns, as well as one that supports short-duration, high-pressure preburner tests, to "refine the ignition sequence and understand the start transients."[4]
See also
- Baikonur Cosmodrome – Rocket launch complex in Kazakhstan, used by Russia
- Kennedy Space Center – United States space launch site
- List of rocket launch sites – Wikimedia list article
References
- ^ Final Supplemental Environmental Assessment for the Blue Origin West Texas Launch Site (Report). Federal Aviation Administration. February 2014. Retrieved 3 May 2015.
- ^ "Space Dreams Boost Tiny Town". MSNBC.
- ^ "Local engineers aim high for cheaper spaceflight". Seattle Times. 31 May 2015. Retrieved 1 June 2015.
- ^ "BE-4 Engine Testing Update From Jeff Bezos – Parabolic Arc". Parabolic Arc.