KMXT 100.1 FM Public Radio in Kodiak, Alaska
Kayla Desroches/KMXT
Kodiak Island’s rocket launch facility has been busy since its ribbon cutting last August. The re-opening came two years after a launch failure damaged buildings on the complex.
Alaska Aerospace Corporation President and Chief Executive Officer Craig Campbell describes how, since then, AAC has signed on with both private and governmental agencies.
Campbell says AAC has been working with Rocket Lab, a company based in the United States with a subsidiary in New Zealand. He says they’ve provided safety services in New Zealand for the business’s first launch on May 25
“We have two range safety and telemetry systems at Kodiak. The two vans and the two antennas. So, the one you see on our website is still there at Kodiak, but the other one we often use in Alaska for off access. Well, we don’t need that off access for the customers we’re doing now, so we’ve actually taken that second system and barged it down to New Zealand.”
Rocket Lab launched what it calls an electron rocket, which Campbell says is a 40-foot black composite that’s primarily been 3D printed and includes engines that Rocket Lab designed itself.
Campbell says AAC also holds a contract with a small commercial operator, Vector Space Systems, which wants to do up to four launches at the facility next year. The third agreement Campbell mentions is with the U.S. Department of Defense’s Missile Defense Agency.
Last year, AAC signed a multi-year contract with the MDA for a maximum of $80.4 million dollars to be used as needed.
Campbell says the first launch assignments they received were for the Terminal High Altitude Air Defense program or THAAD program.
He says there’s evidence of that activity at the pacific spaceport complex in Narrow Cape, roughly an hour away from the city of Kodiak.
“If you drive out there now, you’ll see some pads with some instrumentation on ‘em. You’ll also see on the opposite side of the road what looks like a small town. We put in at their request a life-support area and that area will be used by military members as they’re doing their exercises out there for the two launches.”
Campbell says AAC is now in negotiations with the Missile Defense Agency on another task order – one that would support the Israel Missile Defense Organization’s Arrow-3 missile. The Director of the MDA, Vice Admiral James Syring, spoke about the partnership Wednesday before a U.S. House Committee.
Campbell says AAC will hold a town hall meeting on the Missile Defense Agency contract next week. That’ll be June 14 at Kodiak College between 7 and 9 p.m.
