Spaceport closer to lifting off for Cecil

[Jason]

Spaceport closer to lifting off for Cecil


Aviation Authority going over FAA's environmental review of Westside facility.



By TIMOTHY J. GIBBONS, The Times-Union


Cecil Field is a step closer to having space craft launch from its runway following the federal government's review of a study examining its suitability as a spaceport.

With the Federal Aviation Administration's comments on the environmental assessment of the site in hand, the Jacksonville Aviation Authority can move ahead with the licensing process. That will require the FAA to review a number of details about the site, including making sure the site wouldn't violate any federal policies and evaluating safety issues.

"It's all about safety of the uninvolved public," said Hank Price, a spokesman with the FAA.

The FAA has licensed about 170 launches since it started overseeing commercial space flight in 1989, he said, and has never had a public casualty or significant property damage.

No major issues came up during the review, which the Aviation Authority received last week and are in the midst of examining, although as expected there were a number of items that must be addressed or answered, the authority said. The review considered a number of environmental issues, including the affects of noise from the site: Noise is a major issue for the area around Cecil Field, the former military base on the Westside, after nearby residents concerned about the racket from military jets stopped the Navy from returning.

Among the next steps that must be taken before the site could be licensed will be public workshops, which could occur over the summer.

The FAA is driving that part of the process, said Todd Lindner, the airport's administrator of planning and development, but he expects workshops to be held near the end of June or the beginning of July.

Receiving the FAA's comments on the environmental assessment is a major step in a process that began several months ago when the idea of launches at Cecil was first floated.

The authority began considering turning Cecil into a spaceport last year, when the airfield's name surfaced in a Florida Space Authority report that said Cecil Field is "the best airport for aircraft-like launch vehicles." The spacecraft used there would take off horizontally rather than vertically.

At that time, it looked like the Space Authority would select some site to serve as the state's first commercial spaceport, a facility that would handle horizontal flights for tourists and other commercial purposes. While Cape Canaveral has long been the home of the nation's space-related enterprises, the space center there comes with a raft of restrictions on private operations, limiting its appeal to businesses.

Other states have been quick to jump on that opening, with New Mexico and other states moving to set up their own launch facilities. Meanwhile, Florida's efforts appeared to have stalled, with changes in the structure of the state's space agency - which is reorientating itself after being combined with several other agencies last year - taking precedent. This led the Aviation Authority to strike out on its own rather than waiting for the state to lead them into space.

"That could have delayed the process," said authority spokesman Michael Stewart.

The state is still interested in the site, though, with the director of the reformed space agency visiting Cecil Field twice, most recently last week.

Over the next four to six weeks, the Authority will address the FAA's comments on the environmental assessment, Lindner said, with an eye toward getting a license issued sometime in the next year.

"There appears to be no deal breakers," Lindner said, "no major barriers. They indicated we should consider starting the formal licensing process."

timothy.gibbons@jacksonville.com
(904) 359-4103

[Jason]

Here are some other related threads on the topic.


http://www.metjax.com/forums/showthr...ight=Spaceport

http://www.metjax.com/forums/showthr...ight=Spaceport

[RADIO TALK SHOW HOST]

This is the perfect example of how corporate welfare fails us. Why shouldn't these people get corporate welfare when bridgestone their neighbor just got a sweet deal? The answer is, they will even though Cecil is the only place they can build. Jacksonville can wait to give away money. Now that the example is set that Jacksonville is doing giveaways and has a great facility no one will come here and not get the giveaway the last guy got.

[ocklawaha]

Sorry to rain on this parade, but don't hold you breath thinking we are going to be the "NEXT SPACE COAST..."


Just about every major Air Force Base that has been closed in the Western USA and several in the Midwest and East, are all onboard. They also have "Spaceports", 2 and 3 mile long runways, and most have much more modern facilities then out at Cecil. Oklahoma, Texas, New Mexico all are waiting with baited breath for the first "space ship" to land... Oklahoma has been in the game since 1998 or so. I expect something in the way of a UFO or Martin Craft will show up LONG before the dollars they envision.

Oklahoma is officially in the space launch business as of May 28th when Gov. Frank Keating signed Senate Bill 720 to create the Oklahoma Space Development Authority.
The authority will be responsible for luring space-related companies to Oklahoma and utilizing the facilities at the former Clinton Sherman Air Force Base, near Burns Flat.
"The first time that I saw that," Keating said of the runway, taxiways and parking aprons designed to handle combat-loaded B-52 bombers, "I thought that leaders of some foreign countries would love to have that for their main air base. The vision I had at that time, pretty much parallels this."
The signing also came one week after the 30th anniversary of the launch of Apollo 10, which carried Oklahoma astronaut Tom Stafford around the Moon to scout the route for the Apollo 11 landing.
Now, Keating said, cooperation between the administration, the Legislature and private business will be used to lure companies and economic development to Oklahoma.
"It's appropriate that we work to get the space launch business," he said. "Already with our great highways, our location, we have become a distribution center. Now, we just take that one step further and add space distribution."
Part of the plan for the former Air Force base is to do final assembly of the commercial space vehicles that will replace the shuttle, prepare them for launch and the actual launch and recovery. Included in this is preparing cargo for launch into space and for distribution once it returns.
"Within 20 years, there probably will be more than 100 launches per year," said Robert Tripplett of Tulsa, chairman of the Oklahoma Aeronautics and Space Commission and one of the instigators pushing Oklahoma into the space race.
Negotiations have been under way for more than a year to bring Lockheed Martin and its VentureStar space vehicle program to Oklahoma.

New Mexico Spaceport Gets State Go-ahead
By Leonard David
Senior Space Writer
posted: 16 February 2006
06:50 pm ET


ALBUQUERQUE, New Mexico - New Mexico lawmakers agreed today to proceed on a three-year commitment of funds to build a regional spaceport, designed to support commercial rocket launchings, including passenger-carrying suborbital vehicles.

"Our view of this is all systems go for the spaceport," said New Mexico Economic Development Secretary Rick Homans, also Chairman of the New Mexico Spaceport Authority in nearby Santa Fe.

"This sends out a message loud and clear that New Mexico is setting out on this bold plan," Homans told reporters in a telephone briefing. "This is real and we're moving forward on this."

Legislative go-ahead

The New Mexico legislature offered broad, bipartisan support for the spaceport, Homans said, despite early skepticism in some political quarters regarding the project.

Specific actions taken by the legislature included authorizing a $100 million in capital outlay over fiscal years 2007, 2008, and 2009 towards the spaceport. "That is a financial commitment from the state. There's no need to go back for any other approvals in terms of getting money authorized every year," Homans added.

There are several conditions put upon the expenditure of the money, such as successfully obtaining a spaceport license from the Federal Aviation Administration's (FAA) commercial space transportation office.

Also, state lawmakers want official cost estimates that certify the spaceport can be built at or below a projected $225 million price tag, Homans said.

Request for proposals

Homans said that as a single voice the New Mexico Spaceport Authority will now proceed immediately in issuing next month a request for proposals to scope out the architecture and engineering needs to build the spaceport.

By mid-2006, a selected architecture and engineering firm will be fully engaged, with spaceport specifications and cost estimates to be complete by year's end, Homans said.

Then, by the first quarter of 2007, construction bids are to be issued, pending the spaceport license approval by the FAA, Homans explained.

The spaceport site is approximately 27 square miles of open, generally level, range land that can be found 45 miles north of Las Cruces and 30 miles east of Truth or Consequences [map]. This site was picked for its low population density, uncongested airspace, and high elevation.

Homans also noted that a March 27 suborbital rocket launch by UP Aerospace from the spaceport property is being delayed until mid-May. The New Mexico Spaceport Authority and the rocket group, he said, have agreed to hold off on that flight in order to assure that high-quality data can be obtained from the launch - information to be utilized in the FAA spaceport license application



Do you think we could get a few of these dollars for Light Rail or Commuter Rail? Fat Chance. We'll be riding the BRT City Bus to the first interstellar launch in Jacksonville!

Ocklawaha

[Jason]

I think the the eventual frequency of commercial launches will warrant multiple stations. Jax has a leg up on many others because of its vicinity to the Kennedy Space Center, IMO. Note also that these launches are done by a large plane "piggy-backing" the smaller launch vehicle from a runway. After a certain altitude is reached, then the spaceship is released and fires off into space. These aren't rockets.



Here is Virgin Galactic's Spaceship One

[ocklawaha]

ROCKET MAN

Sure hope your right Jason! Just seems like everywhere I've gone, someone is building a Space Port. It's kind of funny because it seens like each State or City think their the only ones at the game!

Where will they go? In order to get anywhere, we need more speed. While there is business for zero gravity industrial production, it may be done with robots. Airplanes, move from City to City all over the globe, I just don't see that kind of traffic filling all of these Space Ports anytime soon. Is there enough tourist demand to fill these things? Not unless they get the costs WAY down. My position is, I hope this thing works out for us, i'm just not sure we should be "banking" on it! Oh well, time to kick back and laugh at life...

Rocket Man, by Elton John

She packed by bag last night, preflight
Zero hour, nine a.m.
And I'm gonna be high
As a kite by then
I miss the earth so much
I miss my wife
It's lonely out in space
On such a timeless flight

And I think it's gonna be a long, long, time
'Til touchdown brings me 'round again to find
I'm not the man they think I am at home
Ah, no no no...
I'm a rocket man
Rocket man
Burnin' out his fuse
Up here alone

Mars ain't the kind of place
To raise your kids
In fact, it's cold as hell
And there's no one there to raise them
If you did
And all this science
I don't understand
It's just my job
Five days a week
A Rocket Man
Rocket Man

And I think it's gonna be a long, long, time
'Til touchdown brings me 'round again to find
I'm not the man they think I am at home
Ah, no no no...
And I think it's gonna be a long, long, time
'Til touchdown brings me 'round again to find
I'm not the man they think I am at home
Ah, no no no...
I'm a rocket man
Rocket man
Burnin' out his fuse
Up here alone

And I think it's gonna be a long, long, time
And I think it's gonna be a long, long, time
And I think it's gonna be a long, long, time
Long, long, time
Long, long, time
Ah, no, no, no...
Oh, no, no, no, no, no, no, no...

Ocklawaha

[jandar]

Cecil is still an active backup landing site for the shuttle.

We now have an FAA license for a Spaceport. Things should start moving quickly now.

[thelakelander]

Still seems like a pipe dream to me and something that won't bring much, in terms of economic benefit to the city for a few decades, if ever. I'm with Ocklawaha on this one.

[eSpaceTickets]

Space Tourism is the Future of the 21st Century ... and Beyond!

Here in Florida, we have long been accustomed to the prestige and accomplishments of N.A.S.A., but did you know that around the world, from Singapore to the U.A.E., spaceports are being planned to accommodate the next generation of space vehicles and travelers? Led by companies such as Virgin Galactic, XCOR Aerospace, Rocketplane and visionaries like the organizers of the X Prize, spaceports are going to lead the boom of the space travel and tourism industry. These spaceports are expected to bring an estimated $1 billion in revenues into their areas.

Imagine the exponential growth of industry and commerce that sprang up around airports in the early 20th Century. Can you imagine the huge chunks of revenue that will flow into any city where a spaceport is built? Capital investment, employment, support industries, service workers, the travelers themselves. What would be the benefit to your business for such a lucrative endeavor?

The Cecil Field Spaceport can bring a world-class Space Experience Center whereby students from around the nation can come to Jacksonville and experience a space flight launch without leaving planet Earth.

Better than that, there is a project whereby the ordinary everyday person can have a great opportunity to make the space flight journey without being a millionaire. This project is based on the idea of Astronaut Buzz Aldrin who has led the space tourism movement for the everyday person to have a great opportunity to experience space flight.

For this to be achieved, will require a community that WANTS a spaceport and then that community will reap the rewards well into the Twenty-First Century.

Honestly, if you had a chance to journey to space, would you want to accomplish that once in a life time journey?