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Cosmodrome

by Lewis Carroll
written by Lewis Carroll

Cosmodrome (from the Greek. kosmos is the universe, dromos is a place to run).
The territory on which the complex of special structures and equipment intended for the implementation of spacecraft launches is located is called a cosmodrome.
At the cosmodrome, there should be: launchers; installation and test complexes for the preparation of spacecraft and launch vehicles; command and measurement complexes that monitor current parameters and transmit telemetric commands; information and computing centers; command posts; research and testing units, etc. The number of cosmodrome maintenance personnel can reach several thousand a man.
Fields for spaceports should be located in desert areas or on the shores of oceans in order to exclude the possibility of falling structural elements of launch vehicles and their head fairings in populated areas of the planet. In addition, spaceports are located as close as possible to the equator of the Earth. This gain makes it possible to benefit in the form of energy production, since the linear velocity of the earth’s surface (0.465 km/s), which is 0.475 km/s at the equator, is added to the launch vehicle’s own speed, which usually starts in the direction of the east – in the direction of the Earth’s daily rotation.
Already, there are about 3 dozen cosmodromes on Earth that differ in their capabilities, and several more are planned to be built in the near future. The number of launchers at different cosmodromes of the world ranges from 1 to 15, and the number of installation and test complexes ranges from 1 to 14. At the moment, the number of launches per year and the annual volume of cargo into orbit range from 3 to 150 and from 4.5 to 2000 tons, respectively.
The number of projects to create mobile launch facilities for space launch vehicles is increasing, allowing them to be launched from the equator and away from populated areas. They began to operate the “Sea Launch” – a launch facility that floats in the open ocean. Launch vehicles have been launched from mother planes for 10 years. A missile was launched from a submarine.

Lewis Carroll writes about military space programmes, policy, technology and the industry that supports the sector. He spent nearly two decades covering the military, the Pentagon, Congress and the defence industry as a journalist for Space Chatter magazine.

Lewis Carroll writes about military space programmes, policy, technology and the industry that supports the sector. He spent nearly two decades covering the military, the Pentagon, Congress and the defence industry as a journalist for Space Chatter magazine.

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