Landing zone

In military terminology a landing zone (LZ) is an area where aircraft can land.

In the United States military, a landing zone is the actual point where aircraft, especially helicopters, land (equivalent to the commonwealth landing point.)

In commonwealth militaries, a landing zone is the cartographic (numeric) zone in which the landing is going to take place (e.g., a valley). The landing area is the area in which the landing is going to take place (e.g., the field where the aircraft are to land). The landing point is the point on which aircraft are going to land (e.g., a point of the field). Each aircraft has a different landing point.

Identifying an LZ from the air

Landing areas are most commonly marked by coloured smoke. The standard procedure is for troops already on the ground at the landing area to "pop smoke" (set off a smoke grenade). The aircraft pilot(s) radio back when the smoke is spotted and what colour smoke they see. Troops on the ground then respond with what colour the smoke should be. Smoke of a different colour can mean that the landing area has been discovered and compromised by the enemy, and the pilot will usually have the authority to cancel any landing.

Landing Zone 1

Landing Zone 1 is a landing facility for recovering components of SpaceX's VTVL reusable launch vehicles. The facility was built on land leased in February 2015 from the United States Air Force, on the site of the former Cape Canaveral Air Force Station Launch Complex 13.

The site consists of a main pad 282 feet (86 m) in diameter marked with the stylized X from the SpaceX company logo. An additional four 150 feet (46 m) diameter pads are planned to support the simultaneous recovery of additional boosters of the Falcon Heavy. Infrastructure to support operations including improved roadways for crane movement and a rocket pedestal area and large concrete foundation, away from the five landing pads, for attaching the booster stage when taking the rocket from vertical to horizontal orientation is also planned.

Operations at the facility followed seven earlier landing tests by SpaceX, five of which involved intentional descents into the open ocean, followed by two failed landing tests on a ocean-going platform. As of March 2, 2015, the Air Force's sign for LC-13 was briefly replaced with a sign identifying it as Landing Complex 1. The site was renamed Landing Zone 1 prior to its first use as a landing site. Musk indicated in January 2016 that he thought the likelihood of successful landings for all of the attempted landings in 2016 would be approximately 70 percent, hopefully rising to 90 percent in 2017, and cautioned that the company expects a few more RUDs (Rapid Unscheduled Disassemblies).