Launch Pad 0, Pad 0 or LP-0, also known as Launch Area 0 or LA-0, is a launch complex at the Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport

Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport

The Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport is a commercial space launch facility located at the southern tip of NASA's Wallops Flight Facility on the Delmarva Peninsula south of Chincoteague, Virginia.-Background:...

 (MARS) on Wallops Island

Wallops Island

Wallops Island is a island off the east coast of Virginia, part of the barrier islands that stretch along the eastern seaboard of the United States of America.It is located in Accomack County, Virginia...

 in the United States

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

. Prior to 2003, the complex was part of the Wallops Flight Facility

Wallops Flight Facility

Wallops Flight Facility , located on the Eastern Shore of Virginia, is operated by NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, primarily as a rocket launch site to support science and exploration missions for NASA and other U.S. government agencies...

. It consists of two individual launch pad

Launch pad

A launch pad is the area and facilities where rockets or spacecraft lift off. A spaceport can contain one or many launch pads. A typical launch pad consists of the service and umbilical structures. The service structure provides an access platform to inspect the launch vehicle prior to launch....

s, LP-0A and LP-0B. LP-0A was built for the Conestoga

Conestoga (rocket)

The Conestoga was a rocket consisting originally of surplus Minuteman missile stages with additional strap-on boosters, as required, for larger payloads. It was the world's first privately-funded commercial rocket, but was used only three times before the program was shut down due to a lack of...

 rocket, which made its only flight in 1995. It was subsequently demolished in September 2008, and is now being rebuilt for use by the Taurus II

Taurus II

Taurus II is an expendable launch system being developed by Orbital Sciences Corporation. It is a two stage vehicle designed to launch payloads weighing up to into low-Earth orbit...

. LP-0B became operational in 1999, and was subsequently upgraded in 2003 with the construction of a mobile service tower, which was completed in 2004. It is active, and is currently used by Minotaur

Minotaur (rocket)

The Minotaur is a family of American solid fuel rockets derived from converted Minuteman and Peacekeeper intercontinental ballistic missiles. They are built by Orbital Sciences Corporation....

 rockets. The first launch from LP-0B was of a Minotaur I in December 2006, and was the first launch from MARS. Pad 0B was also used for the failed ALV X-1

ALV X-1

ALV X-1 was to be a sounding rocket flight of a vehicle developed by Alliant Techsystems called the ATK Launch Vehicle . The rocket carried the SOAREX-VI and Hy-BoLT experiments as payloads. The flight was launched at 09:10 GMT on 2008-08-22, and then the rocket was intentionally destroyed 20...

 suborbital flight in 2008.

A third launch pad at the complex, to be used by HAD rockets, was proposed but never used.

A Minotaur I with TacSat-3

TacSat-3

TacSat-3 is the third in a series of U.S. military reconnaissance satellites. It was assembled in an Air Force Research Laboratory Space Vehicles Directorate facility at Kirtland Air Force Base, New Mexico. The TacSat satellites are all designed to demonstrate the ability to provide real-time data...

 launched from the complex on May 19, 2009.

The Lunar Atmosphere and Dust Environment Explorer

Lunar Atmosphere and Dust Environment Explorer

The Lunar Atmosphere and Dust Environment Explorer is a space exploration mission scheduled for launch in early 2013. To carry out the mission NASA will send a robotic spacecraft into orbit around the Moon, and use instruments aboard the spacecraft to study the Moon's atmosphere and dust in the...

is scheduled to launch from the complex in mid-2012.