Rocket launches at sea? Florida-linked startups developing floating offshore launchpads

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The notion of launching rockets into space from the decks of seafaring ships leaves a lot of people scratching their heads and wondering, "Why?" acknowledges Tom Marotta, CEO and founder of The Spaceport Company.
But amid record-breaking launch demand, Marotta noted that U.S. commercial rocket companies have limited locations to send up rockets, such as Florida's Space Coast and Vandenberg Space Force Base in California. Conversely, aircraft pilots can take flight from more than 20,000 airports and airfields across the nation.
'It's great that last year, the human race had something like 250 orbital launches. But that's a drop in the bucket compared to aviation. Or compared to any other form of transportation, right?" Marotta asked.
"I would love to see that number 10-Xed or 100-Xed or 1,000-Xed. And in order to do that, we need a lot more launch pads," he said.
"And so, unless the risk profile and the regulatory situation changes to get those additional launch pads, the best place to build most of them is going to be out at sea," he said.
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On Florida's Space Coast, the number of orbital launches has skyrocketed to annual records of 31 in 2021, 57 in 2022, 72 in 2023, and 93 last year. This year's ongoing total could soar to the neighborhood of 120 to 130 launches, Space Florida President and CEO Rob Long said recently. That would represent an increase of 29% to 40% over 2024's total.
But building new launch complexes is costly, subject to onerous environmental and regulatory permitting, and poses dangers to nearby populations. Space Florida is launching an infrastructure master plan examining the Cape Canaveral spaceport, noting "the valiant efforts to patch, tape, and repair are not sustainable in the face of record-breaking demand."
"Whether it's supporting offshore launch platforms, upgrading utility systems, or enabling in-space logistics hubs, Florida can lead with a future-forward approach to spaceport development," a May 29 Space Florida statement said.
Meanwhile, China — which is swiftly emerging as America's chief competitor in space — regularly launches rockets from sea. On May 19, a Chinese company launched a 66-foot Ceres-1 rocket carrying four satellites into low-Earth orbit from the deck of a ship, Space.com reported.
'At some point, you just have to start building more infrastructure. And building more infrastructure on land is blocked by acquisition costs — it's expensive to buy land on the coast. There's a lot of environmental concerns. There's a lot of regulatory concerns. And it's just risky, right? Rockets are still very risky. They blow up occasionally," Marotta said.
'You have this kind of Econ 101 problem where there's increasing demand and slowly growing supply, or limited supply. And so, The Spaceport Company is going to solve that problem by building more launch pads at sea," he said.
Regarding launching rockets at sea, Long said, "conceptually, it makes a lot of sense." The aerospace development authority has had exploratory discussions with The Spaceport Company and Seagate Space, a St. Petersburg startup company.
'When you're talking from a national security perspective, it's a resilience thing. And it makes a lot of sense. Now, the only question I have — and I think they'll work through this over time to see if this is viable — is when you look back at the original Sea Launch program from 10, 15 years ago, I think there was a cost factor," Long said.
"It was relatively expensive to operate that platform. I think they are probably taking those lessons to heart and coming up with more innovative solutions," he said.
Long referred to Sea Launch, a partnership between Boeing and three companies in Russia, Ukraine and Norway. Starting in 1999, the firm launched three dozen 196-foot specialized rockets for commercial communications companies from the deck of a hulking, modified oil drilling rig based in Long Beach, California.
But by 2009, beset by fiscal woes, Sea Launch filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection — reporting more than $2 billion in debts. A subsequent $350 million lawsuit brought by Boeing against its Russian and Ukrainian partners, coupled by Russia's 2014 invasion of Ukraine, helped spell the end of the venture.
The Spaceport Company — which staffs a design-engineering-fabrication shop on Merritt Island — debuted in 2022 and has launched five suborbital rockets to date.
In August 2024, the firm launched an Evolution Space interceptor missile from its launchpad vessel — the Talking Heads-named Once in a Lifetime — in a Department of Defense-funded hypersonic test mission in the Gulf of Mexico about 30 miles south of the Mississippi shore.
Now, the company is planning a U.S. Air Force Research Laboratory-contracted mission to launch a sounding rocket carrying an atmospheric research payload into the ionosphere, which extends from 37 to 190 miles above the Earth's surface. That mission should occur during the second quarter of next year in the Gulf.
Once in a Lifetime is a retired U.S. Navy ship measuring 180 feet long. Marotta said Port Canaveral proved too expensive, so the vessel is based at Port Bienville in Mississippi, near New Orleans. But he said his company has "a lot of interest" in near-future mobilization from Port Canaveral, Jacksonville, Fort Lauderdale or other Florida ports for Atlantic Ocean missions.
Looking to the future, Marotta said The Spaceport Company has completed a design for a ship that could support orbital launches and larger rockets. The firm is having conversations with launch providers, and he hopes to deploy the new watercraft within one or two years.
Another offshore launch company, Seagate Space, just incorporated in January. The fledgling firm is establishing its headquarters at the St. Pete Innovation District on the St. Petersburg waterfront.
Co-founder and CEO Michael Anderson is based in Tampa, while co-founder and chief revenue and operations officer Sean Fortener is in Jacksonville — "we've got both coasts covered right now," Anderson said. The duo met while working for Crowley Maritime, which is headquartered in Jacksonville.
'There's this emerging challenge on the Cape with actually getting the through-put from a launch perspective. It's not necessarily the number of pads that's the limiting factor. But it's the ability to have them all active at a given point in time,' Anderson said.
Seagate Space's senior aerospace advisor is Jim Maser, who served as president of Sea Launch from 2001 to 2006. He left Sea Launch to briefly become president and chief operating officer of SpaceX, which was then a startup that had yet to successfully launch a rocket into orbit.
The early stage company is refining preliminary engineering of an offshore launch platform to host liquid-fueled orbital rockets, with hopes of wrapping up assembly, dockside testing and sea trials within one year.
Which launch providers may team up with Seagate Space? Rather than initially pursue aerospace giants such as SpaceX, Blue Origin and United Launch Alliance, Anderson said his company is focusing on "that next tier of players" of smaller companies developing carbon-fiber rockets, 3D-printed rockets and other innovations.
"We've entered into a co-development agreement with a U.S.-based launch service provider and are working on the engineering phase of the project. We're holding off on revealing the partner for now, as we're coordinating a joint announcement expected in the coming months. This marks a major milestone in advancing offshore launch capabilities," Fortener said in a June 2 email.
Officials with The Spaceport Company and Seagate Space will speak during a June 21 fireside chat titled "New Developments for Ocean-Based Launch" at the International Space Development Conference in Orlando.
Seagate Space spelled out the challenge China presents as America's rapidly emerging space rival.
"Since 2019, China has completed 16 offshore launches, deploying nearly 100 satellites using four different rockets — the Long March 11, Jielong-3, Ceres-1, and Gravity-1. Their message is clear: mobile, offshore infrastructure is now a core part of their national space strategy," the company said on X.
"At Seagate Space, we don't see this as surprising — but it does create a sense of urgency. What was once seen as an alternative is now proving to be a strategic imperative. Sea launch is the future of space access — and the U.S. can't afford to fall behind," Seagate Space said.
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Rick Neale is a Space Reporter at FLORIDA TODAY. Contact Neale at [e-mail]. Twitter/X: @RickNeale1
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This article originally appeared on Florida Today: Offshore rocket launch platforms may be wave of future for Florida