Rocket Lab has asked regulators for permission to transport oversized Neutron rocket structures through shallow waters to a spaceport off the coast of Virginia as it races to meet a September delivery deadline. The request, which was made in July, is a temporary stop gap while the company awaits federal clearance to dredge a permanent channel to the Wallops Island site.
Rocket Lab plans to launch its Neutron medium-lift rocket from the Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport (MARS) on Wallops Island, Virginia, a lower-traffic spaceport that’s surrounded by shallow channels and waterways. The company currently launches its Electron small rocket from this location.
Rocket Lab has a sizable checklist to tick-off before Neutron can make its orbital debut, like mating the rocket stages, performing a “wet dress” rehearsal, and getting its launch license from the Federal Aviation Administration.
Before any of that can happen, the rocket hardware needs to make it onto the island.
Rocket Lab submitted an application for the dredging project to the Virginia Marine Resources Commission in March. In its application, the company touted the benefits of MARS, noting other launch facilities in Florida and elsewhere are highly congested, which could limit launch cadence. MARS, in contrast, “will allow both frequent launch cadence and the return-to-Earth capability of recovering boosters,” Rocket Lab said at the time.
Despite that upside, MARS is constrained in a crucial way: existing maritime infrastructure is limited, and access to the channel – called Sloop Gut – depends on favorable tides.
As Rocket Lab and its co-applicant, Virginia Port Authority, notes in its request, “there is no permanent existing means of providing safe and reliable access for large infrastructure deliveries to Wallops Island.” (Electron is substantially smaller and delivered via road.)
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Rocket Lab has poured millions into the MARS site to ensure it’s ready to support regular Neutron launches. The company is planning to spend more than $5 million to dredge the roughly mile-long Sloop Gut, so barges can perform regular deliveries of large Neutron rocket components.
Rocket lab’s plans to dredge sloop gut
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