Surface bases
Surface bases (or “spaceports”) are launch and landing sites on the surface of planets or moons, usually equipped with launchpads or runways, for vertical and horizontal liftoff and/or landing. Each surface base is defined via its own configuration file. When Orbiter loads a planet configuration, it scans all surface base definitions for the planet and creates the corresponding bases.
Default bases for Earth
The standard Orbiter installation features the following default surface bases:
- Alcantara
- Al Anbar
- Baikonur
- BarentSea
- Canaveral
- China Lake
- Doberai
- Edwards
- Gran Canaria
- Habana
- Hammaguira
- Inyokern
- Jingyu
- Jiuquan
- Kagoshima
- Kapustin Yar
- Kourou
- Matagorda
- Musudan
- Overberg
- Palmachim
- Peenemunde
- Plesetsk
- Salto di Quirra
- San Marco
- Sriharikota
- Svobodniy
- Taiyuan
- Tanegashima
- Vandenberg
- Wallops Island
- White Sands
- Woomera
- Wuzhai
- Xichang
The detail level provided goes from a simples launchpad to custom surface tiles, runways and 3D buildings. It's possible to add new bases or enhance the existing through add-ons.