Operationally responsive launch sites and spaceports are required for national security to employ ready assets to space within hours, deploy staged assets within days and develop new or modified assets and launch systems in less than a year. Reduced processing and launch times lead to more frequent launch opportunities. Commercial launch providers have similar needs. Space adventure tourism operators are looking for suborbital launch opportunities as often as several times a week. To date the authors have performed analyses and/or designs for several of these types of users. Similarities in objectives among these users have made common themes and strategies apparent as successful approaches for achieving many of the desired improvements in ground infrastructure and support equipment. These strategies will enable much of this type of launch responsiveness. This paper describes the launch vehicle characteristics to which operationally responsive sites must respond such as propellant types, vehicle geometry, engine configuration and cleanliness requirements. This paper suggests infrastructure approaches for interface management between the vehicle, payload, and ground. Operational strategies such as integrate-transfer-launch vs. build on-pad vs. combinations of the two are compared. Also discussed are lesser considered range characteristics which can contribute to or detract from operational responsiveness. These include airspace availability, presence of other high value assets, and competition for range services. By prudent application of the identified concepts, ground infrastructure can greatly improve its responsiveness for land, sea, rail and/or air based launches.
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