Facilities Wallops Flight Facility

1 facilities

1.1 airspace
1.2 fixed facilities
1.3 mobile systems

facilities

the wff main base located on eastern shore of virginia on delmarva peninsula 5 miles (8.0 km) west of chincoteague, virginia; 90 miles (140 km) north of norfolk, virginia, , 40 miles (64 km) southeast of salisbury, maryland. wff consists of 3 separate parcels of land totaling 6,200 acres (25 km²): main base, mainland, , wallops island launch site. mainland , wallops island launch site 7 miles (11 km) southeast of main base.

airspace

wallops operates controlled airspace federal aviation administration (faa) qualified air traffic controllers including:

the wff airport control zone 2,500 feet (760 m) within 5-statute-mile (8.0 km) radius of airport
restricted area r-6604 connecting wff airspace , offshore warning areas.

fixed facilities

major wallops facilities include faa-certified runways; experimental uav runway; , crash, fire , rescue services. wff has facilities receipt, inspection, assembly, checkout , storage of rocket motors , other hazardous pyrotechnic devices. wallops island launch site includes 6 launch pads, 3 blockhouses launch control, , assembly buildings support preparation , launching of suborbital , orbital launch vehicles.

the nasa wallops flight facility range

the wallops research range includes ground-based , mobile systems, , range control center. radar facilities , systems used tracking , surveillance. telemetry facilities include variety of antennas, receivers, , display instrumentation systems. command uplink , optical tracking facilities included part of range. range provides premier digital photographic , video services including operation of numerous still cameras, high speed , video systems range safety support, surveillance, , post-launch analysis (e.g., failure analysis), project documentation (e.g., fabrication , test), administrative documentation, , archiving environmental studies. in addition, wff has variety of communications systems , facilities route voice, video, , data in support of launch processing, flight , test operations.

the wff research airport located on main base. there 3 runways (from 4,810 feet (1,470 m) 8,750 feet (2,670 m) long), 2 taxiways, 3 ramps, , 1 hazardous cargo loading area in active service. 2 ramps adjoin 2 active hangars, , third ramp adjoins crash, fire , rescue building. primary research runway has test section variety of surface textures , materials runway research projects.

weather measurements , predictions critical research airport operations, rocket , balloon launches, , in safely conducting hazardous operations on ground. wallops meteorological services provide measurements of upper atmospheric , magnetic phenomena augment , enable collection of scientific data sensors aboard flight vehicles. s-band doppler radar system @ wallops, known spandar, capable of automatic unambiguous tracking of targets 60,000 kilometers away. can detect single raindrop of 3 millimeters @ range of 10 kilometers , cloud water content little 1 gram per cubic meter. spandar’s sensitivity 60-foot (18 m) dish antenna can detect small changes in refractive index of air caused sea breeze fronts, gust fronts, , various forms of clear air turbulence.

mobile systems

the nasa wallops mobile range instrumentation has been deployed support launch events in dozens of locations around world.

the wallops mobile range instrumentation includes telemetry, radar, command , power systems. these assets used needed supplement instrumentation @ existing ranges, or establish temporary range ensure safety , collect data support rocket customers in remote location no other range instrumentation exists. complement of transportable systems can deployed provide complete range capabilities @ remote locations around world. while wallops island prime location range services, major sounding rocket campaigns have been supported @ poker flat, alaska; andoya, norway; , kwajalein island, marshall islands. wallops mobile instrumentation integrated nasa , department of defense networks , can used supplement established ranges in support of rocket launches.