A Spaceport In Ohio?

UglyTool writes to alert us to an initiative by the state of Ohio and the city of Columbus to lure Canadian rocketeers PlanetSpace to launch from an area airport (the former Lockbourne Air Force Base, now called Rickenbacker International Airport). A decision on the incentives could be made by January. From the article: "Such a package could include tax credits, financing programs and training grants amounting to millions of dollars... PlanetSpace's chairman, Indian-American entrepreneur Chirinjeev Kathuria, told MSNBC.com he expected the incentives to amount to 'somewhere in the neighborhood of $20 million.'" Five other states have spaceports approved or planned.

Comments

Saddle Up!

[El Torico]

I always like reading about efforts to get humanity off this ball of rock and water. One thing about the location though, I thought that the closer to the equator, the better. How does that compare against tax breaks?

Re:Saddle Up!

[wasted]

I thought that the closer to the equator, the better. How does that compare against tax breaks?

The ship out of Ohio will be sub-orbital, so the extra velocity gained by being near the equator isn't useful. The tax-breaks will be useful, though.

Never happen - you'll fly E over Washington, DC

[Gothmolly]

Spaceships launch east, preferably from the equator. This will mean basically that a private company can launch ballistic payloads up into the air over DC. Nobody there will let this happen.

Re:Never happen - you'll fly E over Washington, DC

[balsy2001]

Back in 1999 I had an internship at a "spaceport" in idaho competing to be the home of Lockheed's failed Venture Star (X-33). The advantages in Idaho are you start at about 5000 feet elevation and if you want a polar orbit the farther north the better. Since the plan was to pick 2 sites idaho (like about 30 other sates) thought they could have a compelling reason to be the second, every one assumed florida would be one. Based on my experience there and the problems we were facing because we would have to fly close to calgary and edmonton I have to say flying over DC is definately a very long shot. The population density of the east coast will be very problematic for anyone trying to launch east that is not on the coast. If you launch from the mid west by the time you get to the coast your rocket will have enough velocity to bring many more cities into play during an error/failure than those you fly directly over (Boston, NYC, Phili, Baltimore, DC). I am not saying it is impossible but you will have a very hard time proving to the FAA and the public that there is a 10E-9 or even 10E-6 chance of killing someone during an error (these were the kinds of numbers we were trying to show for launching north from idaho). For reference population densities of canada can be seen at http://atlas.nrcan.gc.ca/site/english/maps/peoplea ndsociety/population/population2001/density2001 and population densities of america can be seen at http://atlas.nrcan.gc.ca/site/english/maps/peoplea ndsociety/population/population2001/density2001.

Strange ship, and why in Ohio?

[Salvance]

I'd be more than happy to ride on Burt Rattan's SpaceShipOne, but PlanetSpace's rocket looks more like an ICBM with a stealth fighter attached than something destined for sightseeing. I'm sure it's fine, but it doesn't have that "Cool" factor for me.

I wonder why a Canadian team is paying that much money to fly from Ohio ... it seems like the vast Canadian tundra would be a far cheaper alternative, and the Canadian government would probably even lend some of their military airports to support Canada's image worldwide (not that it really needs much support).

Re:Strange ship, and why in Ohio?

[Ironsides]

The equator is the ideal place to launch something into orbit from. Ther further north you are, the more energy it takes to reach orbital velocity. This is due to the lower rotation of the earth at that latitude.

Obligatory "The Simpsons" Reference

[StefanJ]

MONORAIL!

Um, this is a dumb idea

As others have already noted, Ohio has two strokes against it:

It is substantially farther from the equator than Florida (and other proposed SW "spaceports").

There are heavily populated areas around and to the east of it it. Falling lower stages and strap-on boosters could end up mashing a house or highway or city block.

I wonder if there's a bandwagon effect in action. Cities in the SW are starting to get publicity for hosting space ports, so why not Ohio?

I can picture charming hucksters selling cities on space ports the way that con artist sold Springfield on thier monorail.

Rocket Science eludes Slashdot.

[camperdave]

Why all the comments about being close to the equator? This is a SUBORBITAL craft. It goes up, and then comes down. It travels no more than 50 miles horizontally. It makes no difference whatsoever where on the planet the craft is launched from. There are many places in Canada from which they can launch. Ohio just wants to grab a slice of the pie. In fact, the suggested airbase is actually not viable, because the first stage (the red and white rocket shaped part) is designed to splash down. There is no major lake near Rickenbacker.