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."

Comments

Really Cool Place

[kavachameleon]

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

Re:location location location

[kavachameleon]

Yes.

You've obviously never been there. It's way the hell out in the middle of no place.

There's already a spaceport

[xil]

What about the Green River Intergalactic Spaceport in Wyoming?

Good location.

[Ungrounded Lightning]

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).

Re:What are they going to do?

[mirio]

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 ;)


I think you're missing the point. You could just as easily ask why people climb Mt. Everest or run marathons. It's not like anyone climbing Everest is set to make some big scientific discovery. They are doing it to do it..for personal achievement.

I think you also miss the entire point of Scaled's interest in this venture. They have spent more money than the X-prize pays out, so what's their motivation? It's called space tourism. There are literally only a handful of people that can shell out 20 million for a ride to the space station, but there are a helluva lot more than can shell out $100,000 for a subortial flight. Seriously, look at the pictures. Can you honestly say that you wouldn't want to do that????

Interesting scaled facts:

[Anonymous Coward]

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

Not the First

[DynaSoar]

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.

Re:Now all we need...

[f97tosc]

Clearly if you have the technology and money to Tote along a reactor (nuclear is preferable, but diesel will do), convert sea water to LHOx, and launch your rocket, transporting a truckload of water to wherever you please is a small matter.

Tor

A few corrections

[jfoust]

• The original poster called this the "first-ever private spaceport", but it's not clear this is true, depending on one's definition of private. It is certainly not the first commercial spaceport: FAA/AST has issued commercial spaceport licenses for years to facilities in Alaska (Kodiak), California (Vandenberg), Florida (Cape Canaveral), and Virginia (Wallops). Mojave, though, would be the first commercial inland licensed spaceport.
  
  
• XCOR Aerospace is not a competitor for the Ansari X Prize.
  
  
• Technically, Scaled does not need a spaceport license to perform its flights from Mojave. (Recall that Scaled already has a launch license from AST.) As far as the FAA is concerned, SpaceShipOne's launch "site" is the White Knight carrier aircraft, which takes off from Mojave under an experimental airworthiness certificate, as I recall. Thus Scaled does not need to wait for Mojave Airport to get a spaceport license.
  

XCOR not participating in X-Prize

[JCallery]

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.

Re:Now all we need...

[AKAImBatman]

The whole point of getting the fuel from the ocean is to make it cheaper. By making the fuel cheaper, it becomes more cost effective to simply make the rocket a little bigger. The interesting part about the aforementioned Sea Dragon project was that the study showed that rockets are pretty much a fixed cost. The bigger you make them, the cheaper they get. That's why the idea behind the Sea Dragon was to build something the size of our largest ocean going vessels in a shipyard, then drag it out to sea where it could be fueled by a nuclear powered aircraft carrier.

The reason why NASA didn't pursue the project was because the government no longer wanted big rockets. All they wanted was a token project that displayed the fact that the U.S. was still the leader in space technology. Beyond that, Nixon's administration wanted NASA dead. Thus NASA had to make a hurculean effort to build a craft that "sort of" met all the stupid requirements that were thrown at it. The end result was technologically impressive (kudos to the engineers!), but was never going to be cost effective.

Re:Absolutely right

[jandrese]

Floatplanes have numerous disadvantages that you must consider.

1. Water has a higher drag than rubber-on-concrete, so you need more power to get up to speed to lift off, which lowers your max gross takeoff weight.
2. Floats are generally bulky and cannot be retraced, so they cut into your fuel efficency in the air. The floats themselves are also heavier than the wheels they replace (and sometimes incorperate wheels), which lowers the amount of cargo you can carry
3. Water can turn choppy at a moments notice, and choppy water is treacherous to land in.
4. Land next to water is expensive, and your airport consists of more than runways. Your terminal, fuel shed, and hangers will be on expensive waterfront property

This only touched on a few points, but it should be obvious why most airports are not on the water. For small "puddle jumpers" seaplanes are the perfect solution, but for generalized travel they just aren't economical.

Re:So does this mean...

[Reziac]

The bizarre thing about your post is that Mojave looks hardly different from Mos Eisley!!

(I live about 20 miles down the road from there :)

Re:Are there discount rates for long-term parking?

[Alioth]

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.