Two Spaceports For Alaska

A boost to the Alaskan space industry happened on June 10, 2025 when the University of Alaska Fairbanks (UAF) Geophysical Institute and Alaska Aerospace Corporation signed a 5-year agreement to work together to develop and offer services of a second spaceport.  This second spaceport would be located at Poker Flat Research Range, the world's largest land-based rocket research range and the only high-latitude rocket range in the USA.  Currently the site only launches non-commercial suborbital rockets.

A rocket launch at Poker Flat on April 17, 2024. NASA photo by Lee Wingfield.

The new partnership would increase the commercial space industry in Alaska by seeking a commercial launch license for Poker Flat from the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA).  Currently, the Pacific Spaceport Complex Alaska (PSCA), located in Kodiak, is the only orbital launch site within the state.  It has a growing demand and has recently sought approval from the FAA to launch up to 25 rockets annually.  A second spaceport would help manage the increase in demand, while also creating a new commercial space industry in Alaska's interior.

The promotion of space industry development within the state of Alaska is a common goal between both Alaska Aerospace and the UAF Geophysical Institute.  The commercial space industry has seen a massive amount of growth over the last 25 years, in tandem with the growth of technology, and has been allowed to progress differently than the government sector.

The UAF Geophysical Institute director, Bob McCoy, reported that “There’s a lot of development for hypersonic rockets and there’s companies building them. They want to launch them every few weeks to test them. That’s a good opportunity and should be a way to expand the workforce in Alaska."

Citations:

• Boyce, Rod. June 10, 2025. Geophysical Institute, Alaska Aerospace to boost space opportunity. Geophysical Institute, UAF (Fairbanks, AK).

• Ellis, Tim. June 10, 2025. Geophysical Institute, Alaska Aerospace to promote spaceports. KUAC (Fairbanks, AK).

• Ellis, Tim. July 10, 2025. Alaska spaceport deal draws rocket-launch industry interest. Alaska Public Media (Anchorage, AK).