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First-Ever Private Spaceport Nears Final Approval
bobhagopian writes "According to the article on Space.com, the Federal Aviation Administration is nearing the final stages of certifying the Mojave Airport as the first-ever private spaceport. Both Scaled Composites and XCOR Aerospace (the two leading competitors in the X-Prize competition) currently fly out of Mojave Airport. The approval of a commercial spaceport will certainly facilitate the creation of even more private-sector space technologies."
Make sure you deactivate the Excelsior's Trans-Warp Drive.
taken! (by Davidleeroth) Thanks Bingo Foo!
There will finally be a place for *visitors* to land
and visit!
Does this mean that ET will not need government approval to set down at this space port?
Help Brendan pay off his student loans
That they'll change all the signs to the Mojave Airport to the Mojave Spaceport? That would be really cool and I bet those signs 'll disappear every week or so:)
No one has won the X-Prize yet. If they aren't going into space yet, isn't calling where they're flying from a "spaceport" a bit premature?
I am officially gone from
is mojave a proper locale for a wretched hive of scum and villainy?
Great... now rappers won't be content with having their own armada of Escalades... the only question is: How does one attach 24s to a shuttle?
-- n
But when the aliens land there, how will Homeland Security be able to verify the required government issued ID?
Probably not a real issue; once aliens sample what passes for food in an Earth airport, err, I mean SPACEport the word will travel quickly and they will all stop coming.
"The bigger the lie, the more they believe." - Det. Bunk
So...what are the civilians going to DO in space?
;)
Unlike astronauts, they don't have to take scientific readings of everything.
Other than the wow-factor of, "I've been in outer space!", there really isn't a reason for the average civilian to go...It's not like they're going to visit relatives on Mars
...are the actual space ships. I'm definitely looking forward to many of the X-Prize contenders, but so far they're only building simple rockets to go up and down. It's a great in-between stage, but I'm looking forward to the day when orbital rockets will be built.
The one caveat to that is that a manned orbital rocket would probably be launched from the ocean rather than land. The reason for that is that water makes a plentiful rocket fuel. Tote along a reactor (nuclear is preferable, but diesel will do), convert sea water to LHOx, and launch your rocket. (This was the premise behind the Sea Dragon craft.) While a nuclear generator would probably be out of the range of a private company, using a diesel and/or solar reactor to make the fuel could cut the costs of the launch considerably.
Oh, and it's environmentally friendly.
Javascript + Nintendo DSi = DSiCade
I bet the make one hell of a speed bump
That is a neat thing, to have an actual "official" spaceport, but it will be even more exciting when the FAA designates a "public" spaceport! But I am looking forward to spacecraft with "RyanAir" markings setting down at our local municipal air... ahem SPACEport!
"The generation of random numbers is too important to be left to chance."
The Mojave Airport is a really cool place... you drive by it and there's nothing but random planes, everything from jetliners to fighter jets. They're mostly an aircraft storage yard. Picture of their storage yard Link to their main site
but what makes this special?
Is there really a future for "horizontal launches of reusable spacecraft"?
The lingo sounds great. I mean "Mojave Spaceport" certainly has a ring to it. But would this be any more than a red tape cut for private experimentalists?
So does this mean that they'll change all the signs to the Mojave Airport to the Mojave Spaceport? That would be really cool and I bet those signs 'll disappear every week or so:)
Modes proposal for keeping the signs up:
Make up extras. Sell them at the spaceport office (profits to help fund the spaceport or space exploration in general).
Print notice on the back of the ones on the road that reasonably-priced souvenirs are available at the office or by mail-order at (x) for ($y) and how big the fine is for stealing THIS one. B-)
Bantam Dominique roosters crow a four-note song. Once you've heard it as "Happy BIRTHday" you can't NOT hear it that way
Space is big. Space is dark. Now we have a place to park
What about the Green River Intergalactic Spaceport in Wyoming?
That's a good location:
- Just over 1/2 mile up.
- Latitude 38 (not ideal but still good)
- Handy highways.
- Town and roads to the West, lots of nice empty desert to ditch in to the east (which is the direction you're headed if you want the earth's help getting to orbit).
Bantam Dominique roosters crow a four-note song. Once you've heard it as "Happy BIRTHday" you can't NOT hear it that way
And a close Sarlac pit.
I can get you out of the atmosphere, cheap!
On a tatally unrelated note, anyone know the required force to send a 300lb object into orbit, how much C-4 would be required to achieve that, and where can I order some?
I don't suffer from insanity, I enjoy every minute of it!
No one ever saw this last scaled article;
Check it out!
White Knight, the carrier is N318SL.
SS1, the spacecraft is N328KF.
Note below that SS1 is a model 316 and WK is model 318.
(previously discussed, there is no model 317)
[begin FAA registry querry results]
N318SL is Assigned
Aircraft Description
Serial Number 001 Type Registration Corporation
Manufacturer Name SCALED COMPOSITES LLC Certificate Issue Date 07/05/2002
Model 318 Status Valid
Type Aircraft Fixed Wing Multi-Engine Type Engine Turbo-Jet
Pending Number Change None Dealer No
Date Change Authorized None Mode S Code 50663044
MFR Year 2002 Fractional Owner NO
Registered Owner
Name SCALED COMPOSITES LLC
Street 1624 FLIGHT LINE
City MOJAVE State CALIFORNIA Zip Code 93501-1663
County KERN
Country UNITED STATES
Airworthiness
Engine Manufacturer AMA/EXPR Classification Experimental
Engine Model UNKNOWN ENG Category Research and Development
A/W Date 07/01/2003
Other Owner Names
None
Temporary Certificate
Certificate Number T024366 Issue Date 07/05/2002 Expiration Date 08/04/2002
Fuel Modifications
None
N328KF is Assigned
Assigned/Registered Aircraft
Aircraft Description
Serial Number 001 Type Registration Corporation
Manufacturer Name SCALED COMPOSITES LLC Certificate Issue Date 03/20/2003
Model 316 Status Valid
Type Aircraft Glider Type Engine None
Pending Number Change None Dealer No
Date Change Authorized None Mode S Code 50706357
MFR Year 2003 Fractional Owner NO
Registered Owner
Name SCALED COMPOSITES LLC
Street 1624 FLIGHTLINE HANGAR 78
City MOJAVE State CALIFORNIA Zip Code 93501
County KERN
Country UNITED STATES
Airworthiness
Engine Manufacturer NONE Classification Experimental
Engine Model NONE Category Research and Development
A/W Date 12/09/2003
Other Owner Names
None
Temporary Certificate
None
Fuel Modifications
None
Now all we need is a global government or at the very least a "space exploration alliance", with some good guidelines. Ah.. we can dream can't we?
-------
"In times of universal deceit, telling the truth becomes a revolutionary act."
-- George Orwell
It remains to be seen whether Mojave will in fact get approved. Either way, Southwest Regional Spaceport near Las Cruces NM had already been announced by Ansari/X-Prize, as the spaceport site chosen for at least an annual X-Prize event, and expecting the X-Prize contenders who (win or lose) continue on and offer services to the public. Plus, according to the articles which may or may not be accurate, Mojave is being considered for horizontal launched craft. SRS is not being restricted to horizontal launch. My money says SRS will become a regular gathering place for the next step in rocketry, those growing out of amateur/hobbyist rocketry ($100 gets you a model that goes Mach 1 and a mile up) and those following hot on the jets of Ky "Rocketman" Michaelson and CSXT's recent first private rocket into space.
"I may be synthetic, but I'm not stupid." -- Bishop 341-B
I can certify my patio as an official commercial shipping port, but that doesn't mean super tankers will float up along the side and start loading/unloading cargo...
In order to get him into orbit without vaporizing him first, you're going to need some sort of container for him. However, you quoted the total payload as 300 pounds, and I seriously doubt you're going to be able to build a good enough capsule that will weigh only 2 pounds.
Of course, just vaporizing him would probably be a lot cheaper.
I've also thought the same thing about atmospheric travel. I was up in Vancouver last year and was intrigued by the floatplanes. I was thinking, 'why aren't there more of these things elsewhere in the world?' All you need is a reasonably calm body of water, a cheap little jetty, a small terminal building, and presto! Instant airport for personalised air travel for small groups of people running at flexible schedules. Of course in Vancouver it's a bit busier and requires an air-traffic control tower, located at the top of EA Sports' building in a wonderful example of efficient use of urban space.
Drill baby drill - on Mars
...from companies who want to manage the cantina?
Err, there's already one out there in Oklahoma, called, funnily enough;
SpacePort, Oklahoma.
Google it up, there's alot of good info about it, and makes a pretty good site too. Just enough out the way.
Waiting for an amusing sig.
"A monkey dressed in silk is still a monkey."
:-P
Not to discourage people's efforts for commercial space ventures, but I think that quote is suitable in this case
Once aliens hear what passes for MUSIC in an airport, they'll all start freaking out.
... a mission to Mars could be bit pricy for a car owner.
Lets just hope it's better than airport security.
-Mikey P
OK now they need to build the Control Tower add-on upgrade to the Starport...
To go through a normal airport I get scanned and they may make me take off my shoes and do a pat down and take an invasive look into my luggage.
What kind of search will I have to go through to get into SPACE?
Note: for the humor impaired, this is a joke.
Comment forecast: Bits of genius surrounded by a sea of mediocrity.
Live in the desert long enough and anything seems like a good idea.
Surface: dirt, in poor condition
ROUGH; DEBRIS FULL LENGTH OF RY; BROKEN BOTTLES & FIREWORKS DEBRIS.
Runway edge markings:
My amazing wife - Artist, Author, Philosopher - Laurie M
Ummm... XCOR is not a competitor for the X-Prize. They are a private organization that is possibly capable of suborbital manned spaceflight, but they are not listed on the list of X-Prize teams.
I think we can all agree that privatization is key for /affordable/ civilian spaceflight. However, I sincerely hope that those pursuing privately pursuing spaceflight settle for heavily regulated and subsidized government regulation (control) of "private spaceflight". /We/ will never reach maturity in spaceflight as long as government is involved. Government just waists too much money and is too sluggish and inefficient. Any sort of [government] planning of capital and resources going into private/civilian spaceflight will have a negative effect.
If government and NASA would stop with the Mars nonsense and the Impending Asteroid Impact bullcrap and completely privatize space, we'd be much further along --- technologically and financially.
Speckpot?
Both Scaled Composites and XCOR Aerospace (the two leading competitors in the X-Prize competition) currently fly out of Mojave Airport.
Scaled Composites is taking part in the X-Prize competition, but XCOR is not. They are developing their products to break into a market of suborbital payloads and microsatellites, as well as the passenger market (they are currently under contract with Space Adventures to provide the space travel experience to "adventure travelers" for $98,000 when the technology is ready). You can read more about their goals on their website.
The X-Prize website hosts a list of the teams competing for the X-Prize.
Nobody said it had to have departures before it could accept arrivals.
I better get moving on my patent for "A method for transferring alien tourists to Vegas".
paintball
Boom me up Scottie
No sign of intelligent life here
Can I go now?
...before space travel is monopolized, like every other bloody field out there? It's not a question of "if". It's a question of "when". Monopoly (or quasi-monopoly, e.g. the Coke/Pepsi diopoly) seems to be the new way of doing business.
Honey, I shrunk the Cygwin
The three-breasted woman was a human mutant. She (and the other other mutants) were so because of ratiation getting through the inadequate shielding.
SPOILER: There were no aliens in Total Recall, the only sign we saw of them was the huge handprint button used to activate the terraformer.
There *isn't* a Starbucks near the Mojave Airport. At least there wasn't last time I was there. I think I will go open franchise now while land values are cheap!
Seriously though: Mojave and California City have some of the cheapest raw land per acre in SoCal. I wonder if this would create a land boom there long term. Or if, when it became a more mature industry, would spaceports move to the traditional (at least in SF) equatorial areas.
-- your Web browser is Ronald Reagan
The reason for that is that water makes a plentiful rocket fuel.
I already have a water powered rocket.
It is easier to build strong children than to repair broken men. -Frederick Douglass
It's in Kern County, in the desert and, windy as hell too. Your right.
If you don't like what I write don't be a CS and mod it down. Refute it.
Yea I can't spell. So what is your point?
On opening day of it being a spaceport, and Elvis Impersonator would be there.
That would be classic.
Either way, it's a bad analogy anyway - the risk of getting caught stealing a road sign is probably not all that high, but it's still a hell of a lot higher than the risk of getting caught for music swapping... that's up to, what, 1500 out of, say, 100 million? One in a seventy thousand?
Have you been touched by his noodly appendage?
cause the calendar keeps changing on us, but these guys aren't going to be around for a little while, at least...
Have you been touched by his noodly appendage?
"Remember, a cellular phone satelite doesn't have people complaining about it being in their back yard"
First off a cellular phone does not transmit enough power to make a call to a satalite. That means people would have to get new phones and phone companies would have to get new techs.
It will be a long long time before its cheaper to put a satalite in space then it is to stick a antenna on the water tower.
At first I thought the headline said "First-Ever *Pirate* Spaceport Nears Final Approval"
Now THAT'S news.
I'm curious to know what the primary requirements are in order to qualify a location as a FAA approved spaceport. Can anyone provide some insight?
OK, the nice thing about launching from Cape Canaveral is that bad launches splash down in the mid Atlantic. I'm not to happy (as a Denver resident) about W(here)TF these amature efforts leaving from the left coast are supposed to ditch...
honestly believe the sun goes around the earth, and not the other way around.
/me needs to proofreed
GENERATION 26: The first time you see this, copy it into your sig on any forum and add 1 to the generation.
I believe the parking is free at Mojave. I've been there a couple of times (by light plane, not by car). Mojave itself is a bit of a dump, but the airport's pretty good.
I went there to see the XCor unveiling (despite the article, XCor is not in the X-Prize competition). My writeup of the Xcor trip is here if you are interested.
Oolite: Elite-like game. For Mac, Linux and Windows
I mean, that's what most home computers are used for, right?
Your monitor is staring at you.
Despite what the main post says, XCOR is not now, nor have they ever been an entrant in the X-Prize.
How many people, given the chance, would leave their families and go live on Mars given reasonable (or not so) odds of making a life there, albiet a hard one? But you could still send them "mail" and possible someday have Internet like connectivity, but definitely atleast a "mail-like" situation, virtual that is.
Yes, let's homogenise and bureaucratise everything right off the bat. That way we won't have to worry about the problems with international and private competition in space exploration, since there won't be any space exploration.
And my mother said I could never really be a space cowboy.