While SpaceX has more commercial launches planned to launch from Florida, the company is considering moving some of its operations to Texas.
Space Florida certainly isn’t thrilled with the prospect.
They’d like all SpaceX missions, for both the commercial industry and government, to stay on the Space Coast.
SpaceX will still launch NASA and most of its government-related missions from Florida.
But SpaceX Founder and CEO, Elon Musk, said he plans to move commercial launches to a site near Brownsville, Texas in a couple of years.
“(The government market is) a static market. It’s not growing. The commercial market is more innovated, more growth opportunity and it’s the commercial market that other states are going after,” said Dale Ketcham with Space Florida.
Ketcham said Florida used to dominate the commercial launch industry, launching payloads for all sorts of companies.
But that changed years ago, when the market headed to Europe.
“Fortunately now with SpaceX and others, American innovation is bringing that market share back to the United States, but it doesn’t have to be in Florida,” Ketcham said. “It’s going to go where it can do the best to meet its customer's needs and make a profit, and our job is to make sure Florida can compete in that marketplace.”
To compete, Space Florida is trying to set up a launch site for commercial launches, independent of Kennedy Space Center and the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, and where there will be less government oversight.
They hope the Shiloh site at the border of Brevard and Volusia counties will be able to compete with other states.
A launch planned for Saturday of SpaceX's Falcon 9 rocket was postponed after satellite maker Orbcomm said Friday a static firing test was stopped while the rocket was being fueled. Six Orbcomm satellites are on board the Falcon 9 rocket.