Aerospace Infrastructure

Kimley-Horn’s knowledgeable staff can provide spaceport planning and design services to support your commercial launch vehicle and spaceports projects. Our engineers and planners have extensive experience providing all aspects of spaceport planning and design supporting traditional vertically launched rockets, emerging horizontally launched rockets, and non-traditional launch systems in Florida, Georgia, Virginia, Texas, Colorado, California, Hawaii, and various international locations.

One of the first and most critical steps in developing a spaceport is selecting a suitable site—picking the right location is critical to the long-term viability of the proposed spaceport development. If you are considering multiple sites, Kimley-Horn has the tools to perform site selection studies that will compare the goals of your spaceport with each potential site. Our experts will lead you to the location that gives your spaceport the highest likelihood of success.

Feasibility studies are excellent tools to assess the viability of proposed spaceport development early in the concept phases. A successful feasibility study identifies the goals of the spaceport project and evaluates those goals with the proposed location, existing infrastructure, and available launch systems to identify potential challenges and opportunities. Typical analyses in our feasibility studies include identification of goals, development of baseline launch vehicle requirements, preparation of preliminary explosive site plans, analysis of existing infrastructure, identification of potential flight paths, coordination with airspace stakeholders, review of potential environmental issues, and development proper documentation. Additionally, feasibility studies that demonstrate a favorable outcome can be used to attract stakeholder support and investment by demonstrating initial due diligence and project understanding.

The safe storage and handling of propellants is a major component of any launch site or spaceport. Kimley-Horn will work with you to identify and quantify the potential explosives at your spaceport and develop an explosive site plan that can be submitted as part of a launch site operator license application.

Navigating the FAA licensing and regulatory process takes experience and patience. Our staff has the expertise to assist you through all phases of FAA licensing, including pre-application consultations, license documentation preparation, and FAA review and acceptance. Whether you are interested building a new spaceport from the ground up or licensing an existing airport to support commercial launch operations, Kimley-Horn is your partner each step of the way. In addition to Launch Site Operator License applications, Kimley-Horn can help with Reentry Site License, Reentry License, and Launch License applications.

Complying with environmental regulations during the development of a proposed spaceport or launch site is often one of the most time-consuming components of spaceport development. Kimley-Horn staff has extensive experience with local, state, and federal environmental regulations and permits. We take the time to fully understand the requirements of the development and identify agencies involved in the review. Our services include providing support for the development of Environmental Assessments and Environmental Impact Statements as well as coordinating public meetings and public outreach.

While much of the initial focus of spaceport development is on ground infrastructure, the importance of airspace integration for commercial launch systems cannot be understated. The compatibility of airspace with proposed launch operations must be evaluated early and often during the development process. Kimley-Horn has facilitated airspace coordination activities with numerous proposed spaceports and is here to help provide context, experience, and content to make the meetings as effective as possible

Much like airports and communities use master plans to identify capital improvement projects that can be implemented over a period of time, a spaceport master plan can help a spaceport grow in a strategic manner. In areas with a growing number of potential spaceports, a spaceport system plan can help to strategically connect multiple spaceports and offer a broader set of capabilities to potential users. The system plan can look at individual spaceport master plans and evaluate the overall integration of the spaceport as one mode of a multi-modal system.