Doug Messier has more details. If I were SpaceX, my public comment would be, “See ya later, we’re going to Alaska.”
[Update a while later]
OK, according to this article, the launch companies requested this rule, apparently to clarify their tax situation.
Oh right. The Kodiak launch site. Nearly forgot that one. That could work.
I agree that this tax is completely stupid.
Do the various airline companies, or US government agencies, also pay danegeld to California for traversing their airspace? Honestly, this looks like something that is going to die a well-deserved death at some point in the courts.
If I were SpaceX, my public comment would be, “See ya later, we’re going to Alaska.”
Isn’t “closer to the equator” generally better for launch sites?
Screw Alaska, they could doubtless move out by Searchlight or Kingman, just a few hours east, in more friendly states.
(Plus – though I’m sure the original suggestion was in jest – the transport costs for Alaskan launches would be enormous.)
Isn’t “closer to the equator” generally better for launch sites?
Not for polar launches, which is what Vandenberg is for. You’d get more performance to sun-synchronous from Kodiak than from California. And they can’t currently fly from an inland site.
the transport costs for Alaskan launches would be enormous.
It doesn’t cost any more to get to Kodiak than to Florida. They have a new barge dock at the launch site.
IIRC, the only thing they launch from Kodiak are relatively small solid-propellant rockets. It would cost a great deal to put in all of the infrastructure to support Falcon 9 launches from there. It would probably be easier than what they’re having to do at their new Texas launch facility but still pretty expensive. They’d need one or more launch pads, a landing pad, payload and rocket integrations buildings, transporter-erector(s), propellant handling systems, water deluge system, and a whole lot more to fly out of there.
One thing to remember is that SpaceX wants to launch thousands of small communications satellites, most if not all into high inclination orbits. That will require a lot of launches. If the new taxes are high enough, it could be economically viable to upgrade Kodiak to handle Falcons.
Kodiak has been talking to SpaceX for years about launching from there. I asked Gwynne about it once. Her response was “We’ve looked at it, but I don’t want to freeze my ass off.” But the weather’s not actually that much worse in the winter than anywhere else in the coastal Pacific Northwest.
Trying to apply reason to tax policy is a sure route to the madhouse. Viz. the window tax. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Window_tax