Mortgage Broker in Cape Canaveral, FL

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. —

A rare earthquake was reported about 100 miles off the coast of Cape Canaveral Wednesday night.

According to the U.S. Geological Survey, the 4.0 magnitude quake happened just before 11 p.m.

The depth went about six miles.

A "did you feel it" intensity map shows people along the coast felt shaking.

"So this is a pretty small earthquake. The dimension of the fault is about a kilometer across. That is not very large," Steve McNutt with the USF School of Geosciences said.

The tectonic boundary where it occurred is not active.

"I looked at the map of seismicity over the last few decades and there's only a handful of events out there," McNutt said.

But further down south in the Caribbean, there is a plate boundary and more activity.

"We deal with hurricanes a lot here and that's the number one hazard. But it is wise and especially from a risk assessment point of view. Pay attention, there is seismic activity that happens from time to time," McNutt said.

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Wow look at all the reports from people who felt last night's 4.0 earthquake 100 miles off the coast of Cape Canaveral! Our First Warning Weather Team did some research on just how RARE an earthquake is here in Florida! #wesh #weather #earthquake #central pic.twitter.com/SFaOTZ8TWp

— Cam Tran WESH (@CamTranTV) February 8, 2024

"Expect the unexpected. Be prepared for it. If you talk about it, you talk about something that can happen, you talk about a plan, you discuss it with your family, you are going to remember it," advised Wayne Struble, HealthFirst’s Director of Emergency Preparedness.

After this earthquake, scientists tell WESH 2 there is a chance of aftershocks. Because this was a small event, what could follow would also be small.

Building codes in Central Florida reflect the potential of hurricanes and that helps if there’s seismic activity.

“So if we designed it to withstand higher forces do to wind force, then it also going to withstand the higher force do to an earthquake,” said Albert Bleakley with Florida Tech Mechanical and Civil Engineering.

According to USGS, there has not been an earthquake in the Florida area since 2020, which was a 1.8 magnitude quake about 4 km WNW of Jay — located in the panhandle.

Earthquakes are rare in Florida because the state is not located near any tectonic plates.

USGS records show the largest magnitude earthquake in the Florida area was in 2006 out in the Gulf of Mexico. That quake registered as a magnitude 5.9.

USGS differentiates between magnitude and intensity. Magnitude is the amount of seismic energy released at the hypocenter of the earthquake, which means it's represented by a single, instrumentally derived number. Intensity is more subjective and based on the observed effects of ground shaking on people, buildings and other natural features.

Depending on factors like the location of the observer with respect to the earthquake epicenter, the perceived intensity of the earthquake can change.

According to Michigan Technological University's earthquake magnitude scale, the 4.0 earthquake off the coast could probably be felt but only cause minor damage.

Any quake measured as magnitude 2.5 or less are usually not even felt, MTU says.

Potential damage to property increases when earthquakes reach a magnitude of 5.5. Once an earthquake reaches a magnitude of 7.0, it is considered a major earthquake capable of producing serious damage. According to MTU, there's an estimated amount of 10-15 of these quakes each year.

Any earthquake that is measured as a magnitude 8.0 or greater is considered a great earthquake that can completely destroy communities near the epicenter. These severe disasters are rare, and there are usually only one every year or two.

One of the largest launch pads at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station will become vacant later this year after the final flight of United Launch Alliance's Delta IV Heavy rocket. SpaceX is looking to make the sprawling facility a new home for the Starship launch vehicle.

The environmental review for SpaceX's proposal to take over Space Launch Complex 37 (SLC-37) at Cape Canaveral is getting underway now, with three in-person public meetings and one virtual meeting scheduled for March to collect comments from local residents, according to a new website describing the plan.

Then federal agencies, led by the Department of the Air Force, will develop an environmental impact statement to evaluate how Starship launch and landing operations will affect the land, air, and water around SLC-37, which sits on Space Force property on the Atlantic coastline.

Environmental studies for rocket launch facilities typically take more than a year, so it will be a while before any major construction begins to convert SLC-37 for Starship launches. In this case, federal officials anticipate publishing a draft environmental impact statement by December, then a final report by October 2025.

More immediately, ULA still has one more Delta IV Heavy rocket to launch from SLC-37 in March with a classified spy satellite for the National Reconnaissance Office. Once that launch is complete, ULA will wind down operations at SLC-37, and eventually turn over the facility back to the Space Force, which will look for a new tenant. For several months, industry sources have pointed to SpaceX as the leading contender to take over SLC-37 after ULA is finished with the launch pad.

But that's not quite a done deal yet. Last year, a senior official at ULA told Ars on background that the company was also interested in maintaining a presence at SLC-37.

ULA's new Vulcan rocket, which debuted last month and will replace the Delta IV and Atlas V launch vehicles, uses a different launch pad a few miles up the coast from SLC-37. ULA is upgrading and expanding its ground facilities at Cape Canaveral to ramp up the Vulcan launch cadence, and the ULA official told Ars the company may want to continue using a rocket processing hangar just south of the Delta IV launch pad for storage and horizontal processing of Vulcan rockets.

Details are scarce about everything SpaceX wants to do with SLC-37, but officials wrote on the environmental review website that SpaceX would "modify, reuse, or demolish the existing SLC-37 infrastructure to support Starship-Super Heavy launch and landing operations."

The history of SLC-37 dates back to the 1960s, when NASA used the site for eight flights of the Saturn I and Saturn IB rockets to prepare for the Apollo program. The facility sat dormant for 30 years until Boeing moved in to ready SLC-37 for the Delta IV rocket, which has now flown 34 times from SLC-37. The launch pad currently includes a 330-foot-tall (100-meter) mobile gantry, a fixed erector, a fixed umbilical tower, and a flame trench for Delta IV missions.

Starship, the world's largest rocket, would not need any of that that infrastructure, so if SpaceX takes over the pad, the facility will likely undergo extensive demolition and construction.

If SpaceX isn't cleared to use SLC-37, the company could build a brand new launch pad designated Space Launch Complex 50. If this is the path SpaceX takes, SLC-50 would be built on undeveloped land north of SLC-37 and south of SpaceX's primary launch pad for the Falcon 9 rocket at Space Launch Complex 40.

Goodbye to LC-49, hello to SLC-37

SpaceX's interest in setting up shop at SLC-37 shows the company is getting serious about developing a second base for Starship on Florida's Space Coast. In 2022, SpaceX constructed a launch tower and launch mount for Starship at Launch Complex 39A (LC-39A), located at NASA's Kennedy Space Center. But the company made little progress there last year as teams focused on Starship test flights from South Texas.

Elon Musk, SpaceX's founder and CEO, says Starship is the rocket that will make possible his dream of building a settlement on Mars. He has also touted Starship as a vehicle for point-to-point travel on Earth. Both stages of Starship are designed to be fully and rapidly reusable, with the Super Heavy booster and Starship upper stage returning to Earth for propulsive landings. Starship launch pads will double as landing pads.

Before any of those dreams are realized, Starship needs to get into orbit. The first two full-scale Starship test flights last year didn't make it that far, but SpaceX got close on the second launch in November. SpaceX hopes to achieve a near-orbital mission with the third Starship test launch, perhaps as soon as early March.

Eventually, Musk envisions Starship launching multiple times per day on a variety of missions, carrying people, satellites, cargo, or refueling tankers into orbit. In order to do this, SpaceX will need a lot of launch and landing pads. SpaceX has toyed with the idea of floating offshore launch and landing platforms, but those plans are on hold.

In the near-term, SpaceX plans to build a second Starship launch tower at the company's Starbase test site in Cameron County, Texas. There's also the partially-built launch tower at LC-39A, and now SpaceX has set its sights on SLC-37.

SpaceX was previously looking at building another Starship launch pad from scratch on NASA property at the Kennedy Space Center. NASA environmental studies for this location, known as Launch Complex 49, kicked off in 2021. Patti Bielling, a NASA spokesperson, told Ars on Friday the agency is no longer working on Launch Complex 49.

"At this time, there are no activities involving LC-49 on Kennedy," Bielling said. "Any previous activities regarding LC-49 were suspended, and no actions were taken."

One of the first operational applications for Starship will be to serve as a human-rated lunar lander for NASA's Artemis program. SpaceX is developing a version of Starship to ferry astronauts to and from the Moon's surface, but in order for Starship to reach the Moon, it has to be refueled in low-Earth orbit. This will require perhaps 10 or more refueling flights using a version of Starship called a tanker, all launching in a matter of weeks. Those tanker flights will launch on Super Heavy boosters from pads in Texas and Florida.

In parallel with continued Starship test flights and demonstrating in-space refueling technology, SpaceX needs to build more launch pads to make all this possible. Although SpaceX has backpedaled on several of its Starship launch pad ideas, the company's interest in SLC-37 suggests it still has big plans for Starship in Florida.

For the third time in a week, SpaceX has scheduled another Florida launch.

After two launches on Valentine’s Day, SpaceX Telkomsat HTS 113BT is set to lift off Tuesday, Feb. 20.

A Federal Aviation Administration operations plan advisory shows a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket will launch the Telkomsat HTS 113BT satellite from launch complex 40 from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station with a launch window from 3:11 to 5:44 p.m. ET Tuesday, Feb. 20.

Trajectory will be east.

Telkomsat touts itself as the leading satellite service provider in Indonesia.

2 Florida rocket launches around Valentine’s Day 2024

If Telkomsat launches on schedule, it will be the third launch from the Space Coast of Florida in a week.

SpaceX launched a Falcon 9 rocket on the secretive USSF-124 national security mission from Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station at 5:30 p.m. Feb. 14 or Valentine’s Day.

Then, hours later, the Intuitive Machines Nova-C lander carrying NASA science and commercial payloads launched on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket as part of NASA’s Commercial Lunar Payload Services program. Liftoff was at 1:05 a.m. Then, the Falcon 9 first-stage booster landed at 1:13 a.m., completing its 18th mission.

How can I watch the Tuesday, Feb. 20, rocket launch from Florida?

If you want to watch live rocket launch coverage, FLORIDA TODAY's Space Team will provide updates for the SpaceX launch at floridatoday.com/space, starting about 90 minutes before liftoff.

Where can I see a Florida rocket launch in Brevard County?

Pretty much anywhere in Brevard, you'll get a view of the rocket launch. The best views to watch a rocket launch from the Space Coast is along the beach. However, visibility will depend on weather conditions, and people should make sure not to block traffic or rights of way on bridges and to follow posted rules at beaches.

If you are viewing the launch along the Indian River in Titusville from Space View Park or Parrish Park, look east directly across the river.

If you are further south along the Indian River, look northeast.

Playalinda Beach or Canaveral National Seashore is the closest spot to view liftoff because it is almost parallel to launch pad 39A. On the beach, look south along the coastline, (you can even see the pad from some spots).

Some hotspots to check out:

• Jetty Park Beach and Pier, 400 Jetty Park Road, Port Canaveral. Note, there's a charge to park.

• Playalinda Beach, 1000 Playalinda Beach Road, Canaveral National Seashore. Note, there's a charge to park, and access to Canaveral National Seashore isn't always granted depending on capacity and time of day.

• Max Brewer Bridge and Parrish Park, 1 A. Max Brewer Memorial Parkway, Titusville. Note, parking is available on both sides of Max Brewer Bridge.

• Space View Park, 8 Broad St., Titusville

• Sand Point Park, 10 E. Max Brewer Causeway, Titusville

• Rotary Riverfront Park, 4141 S. Washington Ave., Titusville

• Alan Shepard Park, 299 E. Cocoa Beach Causeway, Cocoa Beach. Note, there could be parking costs.

• Cocoa Beach Pier, 401 Meade Ave. Parking fee varies.

• Lori Wilson Park, 1400 N. Atlantic Ave., Cocoa Beach. Lori Wilson Park has a dog park, by the way.

• Sidney Fischer Park, 2200 N. Atlantic Ave., Cocoa Beach. Note, there could be parking costs.

• Sebastian Inlet Park, 9700 S. State Road A1A, Melbourne Beach (there is a cost to enter)

• Ambersands Beach Park, 12566 N. SR A1A, Vero Beach (free parking)

• South Beach Park, 1700 Ocean Drive, Vero Beach (free parking)

• Alma Lee Loy Bridge in Vero Beach

• Merrill Barber Bridge in Vero Beach

Where can I see a rocket launch in Indian River County and Martin County?

The best views to watch a rocket launch from neighboring Brevard County, aka the Space Coast, is here along the beach. Visibility in Indian River County and Martin County, part of the Treasure Coast, will depend on weather conditions, and people should make sure not to block traffic or rights of way on bridges and to follow posted rules at beaches. Look due north. Here are some recommended spots:

• House of Refuge and beach, 301 S.E. MacArthur Blvd., Stuart

• Wabasso Beach Park, 1808 Wabasso Beach Road, Wabasso

• State Road A1A causeway in Stuart

• Fort Pierce Inlet, 905 Shorewinds Drive

• Sebastian Inlet Park, 9700 S. State Road A1A, Melbourne Beach (there is a cost to enter)

• Ambersands Beach Park, 12566 N. SR A1A, Vero Beach (free parking)

• South Beach Park, 1700 Ocean Drive, Vero Beach (free parking)

• Alma Lee Loy Bridge in Vero Beach

• Merrill Barber Bridge in Vero Beach

Pretty much anywhere in Brevard, you'll get a view of the rocket launch. That includes Melbourne Beach, which borders Indian River County, or from Grant-Valkaria along the Indian River Lagoon.

Where can I see a rocket launch in Volusia County?

The best views to watch a rocket launch from neighboring Brevard County, aka the Space Coast, is here along the beach. Look due south. Readers have also mentioned seeing a rocket launch from Daytona Beach and Ormond Beach. Here are some recommended spots:

• South New Smyrna Beach (Canaveral National Seashore), there may be parking costs

• Bethune Beach, 6656 S. Atlantic Ave.

• Apollo Beach at Canaveral National Seashore (south of New Smyrna Beach)

• Oak Hill riverfront, Sites include Sunrise Park, 275 River Road; Goodrich's Seafood and Oyster House back deck, 253 River Road; Seminole Rest national historic site, 211 River Road; and Riverbreeze Park, 250 H.H. Burch Road.

Rick Neale is a Space Reporter at FLORIDA TODAY, part of the USA TODAY Network. For more of his stories, click here. Contact Neale at 321-242-3638 or rneale@floridatoday.com. Twitter/X: @RickNeale1

Tuesday afternoon, SpaceX aims to launch a telecommunications satellite for Telkomsat, which touts itself as Indonesia's leading satellite service provider, into low-Earth orbit from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station.

Though SpaceX has yet to publicly announce this mission, a Federal Aviation Administration operations plan advisory shows the 2½-hour Telkomsat HTS 113BT launch window will open at 3:11 p.m. EST and last until 5:44 p.m.

The Falcon 9 rocket will take flight in an easterly trajectory from Launch Complex 40, a Coast Guard navigational advisory shows.

In October 2021, Thales Alenia Space announced it had signed a contract with Telkomsat to build the HTS 113BT satellite.

"HTS 113BT will provide more than 32 (gigabit per second) capacity over Indonesia. The satellite will weigh about 4 metric tons at launch and will be delivered early 2024 for a 15-year expected lifetime," an October 2021 Thales Alenia Space press release said.

Fast-forward to Jan. 11. Thales Alenia Space officials tweeted a video showing crews loading the satellite from a clean room in Cannes, France, into a protective shipping container. The container was trucked to the Port of Nice via convoy and loaded onto a cargo ship bound for Florida.

Starship:SpaceX seeks to launch and land Starship rockets at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station

Then on Jan. 31, Port Canaveral officials tweeted a video showing crews unloading the satellite from the vessel onto a tractor trailer for transport to Cape Canaveral Space Force Station.

The National Weather Service forecast for Tuesday calls for sunny skies, a high near 66, and north-northwest wind of 10 to 15 mph — punctuated by gusts as high as 20 mph — at the Space Force base.

FLORIDA TODAY's Space Team will start posting Telkomsat HTS 113BT mission updates starting about 90 minutes before the launch window opens at floridatoday.com/space.

Tuesday's mission is slated to become the 11th orbital launch from Florida's Space Coast thus far this year.

Rick Neale is a Space Reporter at FLORIDA TODAY . Contact Neale at 321-242-3638 or rneale@floridatoday.com. Twitter/X: @RickNeale1

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A 4.0 earthquake hit off Florida's East Coast on Wednesday night.

While earthquakes are rare in and around Florida, they do happen, although not usually of the magnitude of the Feb. 7 quake.

Here's what we know about Wednesday's earthquake and the history of quakes both in Florida and nearby in the Gulf of Mexico and Atlantic Ocean.

What was the epicenter of the Florida earthquake?

The earthquake happened 101 miles east of Cape Canaveral, Florida.

How strong was the earthquake off Florida Feb. 7, 2024?

The earthquake registered a magnitude of 4.0, according to the U.S. Geological Survey.

Earthquakes measured by magnitude. Here's what the numbers mean

Florida earthquake by the numbers

Florida earthquake: Reactions on Twitter, social media

Residents from Merritt Island to Palm Bay reported feeling the earth shake. Several took to social media:

Some confused earthquake with launch from Cape Canaveral

NASA's PACE spacecraft launched at 1:33 a.m. atop a Falcon 9 spacecraft from the Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, sending a rumble across the Space Coast followed by a sonic boom with the booster's return.

Florida earthquake one of more than 200 recorded Feb. 7

The USGS reported more than 200 earthquakes around the world on Feb. 7, with many of them occurring in the United States.

Several posts on X, formerly known as Twitter, from California poked fun at a recent earthquake in Oklahoma, although there were earthquakes reported Wednesday in not only California, but also Alaska, Washington, New Mexico, Hawaii, Missouri, Nevada and Idaho.

How common are earthquakes?

The National Earthquake Information Center reports there are about 20,000 earthquakes around the globe each year, or approximately 55 every day.

According to records dating back to about 1900, about 16 major earthquakes happen every year, according to the U.S. Geological Survey.

That includes 15 earthquakes in the magnitude 7 range and one earthquake of magnitude 8.0 or greater.

What about Florida? How common are earthquakes?

There have been earthquakes in Florida, with most clustered in the northwestern Panhandle.

There have been more than 20 earthquakes reported in Florida since 1992, immediately north of the state's border in Alabama, or off the coast in the Gulf of Mexico and Atlantic Ocean, according to the U.S. Geological Survey.

What's the largest earthquake recorded in Florida?

According to the University of Florida, geologists agree the largest earthquake ever recorded in Florida happened on Jan. 12, 1879, about 11:45 p.m. It measured 4.4.

"A pair of 30-second tremors, possibly centered in the Palatka area, sent crockery tumbling off shelves and jolted startled residents awake in a large part of north Florida," UF said.

"According to news accounts, the quake was felt in Cedar Key, Gainesville, Jacksonville, St. Augustine and Tallahassee, among other cities."

Looking offshore, an even larger earthquake was felt in Florida after a 5.9 quake occurred under the Gulf of Mexico Sept. 10, 2006. It rocked Southwest Florida.

Why aren't there more earthquakes in Florida?

Florida is among the most geologically stable areas in the United States.

“We have had earthquakes in Florida — and we could have one today — but it’s not as likely as other places,” said Doug Smith, professor of geology and longtime director of the University of Florida’s seismic network in 2000.

The closest fault line to Florida runs through the Caribbean Sea, just north of Puerto Rico and the Dominican Republic and south of Cuba toward Guatemala.

Most of Florida has a 5% chance or lower of experiencing a damaging earthquake in the next 100 years. But the Panhandle and an area of North Florida down to a line stretching from Jacksonville southwest to south of Cape Coral has a 5-25% chance, the agency said.

J.D. Gallop, C.A. Bridges and Samantha Neely contributed to this report.