U.S. Air Force illustration/Randy Palmer
The Department of the Air Force has selected an isolated Pacific island as a test site for landing rockets designed to deliver cargo quickly across the globe. The department announced its intent on Monday to build two rocket landing pads on Johnston Island, part of Johnston Atoll, a U.S. territory located roughly 818 nautical miles westwards of Honolulu. This information was published in a notice in the Federal Register.
The Document
The Program
The Air Force Research Laboratory’s Rocket Cargo Program plans to lease commercial rockets to transport cargo more efficiently than traditional aircraft. According to the program’s website, the goal is to deliver up to 100 tons of cargo anywhere on the planet within tactical timelines.
Currently, the information is very generic and non-specific — no designation of launch sites, for example — but one would assume SpaceX has a strong lead in providing this capability with Starship.
AFRL expects to award several contracts to develop this capability. The major solicitations and contracts are expected to be awarded to companies that can provide launch services, and companies that can develop concepts to advance the rest of the logistics cycle (loadmaster load/unload capability, rapid launch clearance, schedulers, environment survivability). For launch services, AFRL hopes to award contracts to and partner with all viable commercial providers of this capability to encourage a broad future vendor base for the operational service.
At the same time, other American aerospace companies also have launch and soft landing capabilities, for example, Blue Origin has demonstrated landings of New Shepard boosters and capsules in an operational setting. Further development of that platform could ostensibly make it a contender in this race.
Rocket Lab has designs on reusable soft-landing spacecraft as well and is in the middle of a development cycle for its Neutron vehicle. Neutron is slated to carry about 3,000 kilograms (28,700 lbs) to LEO, suggesting that it would be well short of 100 tons even in a suborbital setting, but at the same time, it is a point to point rocket by design and could just as easily return to its launch site via a second flight from the cargo destination.
All that said, it’s obvious that SpaceX is the 800 lb gorilla in this fight.
Test Cadence Would Be Relatively Slow
The proposed landing pads would support up to 10 rocket reentry landings per year over four years. These tests would evaluate the capabilities of the Rocket Cargo Vanguard program. The department anticipates that the rocket delivery tests will begin this year. Again, details are scant, but that is how the military operates.
Wikimedia Commons
Potential missions for the rocket cargo system include rapidly restoring mission-critical operations and delivering humanitarian aid in disaster relief scenarios.
In October 2020, Army Gen. Stephen Lyons, then head of the U.S. Transportation Command, mentioned working with SpaceX on rocket cargo deliveries, but the recent Federal Register notice does not mention any SpaceX involvement in the current trials. That makes sense, given it is an environmental assessement, but that environmental assessment does not mention any Starship infrastructure. At this time, participants in the trials is not publicly known.
Lyons previously suggested that these rockets could transport the equivalent of a C-17 Globemaster III cargo plane’s payload anywhere in the world in under an hour. His remarks, made to the National Defense Transportation Association, were cited in an Air Force news release from October 2020.
U.S. military forces are preparing for potential missile attacks on established bases in a conflict with China over Taiwan or the South China Sea. To increase operational flexibility, the Air Force has been upgrading World War II-era airfields in locations ranging from Micronesia to the Philippines.
Officials considered other locations, including Kwajalein Atoll, Midway Island, and Wake Island, before selecting Johnston Island for the rocket landing site.
Area Is Familiar To The US Military
Johnston Island has a history of military use. The US Navy first started construction on the island in the 1930s and it served as a naval airfield during World War II. During the 1950s and 1960s, it served as a launch site for rockets supporting nuclear tests, notably serving as a key base for Operations Hardtack I and Hardtack II and Operation Fishbowl, all of which tested atomic weapons in the relative vicinity of the island. Between 1958 and 1975, various scientific rockets were also launched from the island. Until 2003, the site was used for the storage of chemical weapons.
Source: National Nuclear Security Administration
Environmental Impact Statement Required
Before proceeding with construction, the department must conduct an environmental assessment. This evaluation will examine the potential effects of the landing pads on essential fish habitats, migratory birds, and other protected species. Johnston Atoll is part of the Pacific Islands Heritage Marine National Monument, which adds further environmental considerations to the project.
The Air Force, which includes the Space Force, expects minimal environmental impact from the construction and operation of the landing pads. A draft environmental assessment may be available in April, allowing for a 30-day public comment period.
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