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Nova Scotia to Build Space Tourist Launchpad
Identity Missing writes "Lockheed Martin is planning on building a commercial spaceport in Nova Scotia Canada. The details are a bit shaky, but apparently the project is serious enough to attract 45 million dollars from the Federal government. The launch pad will specifically be built in Cape Breton, a mostly rural island characterized by low employment, thick colloquial accents, and kitchen fiddle parties. A PDF is available with pictures and a description of the planned orbital glider, the 'Silver Dart,' somewhat lacking the aesthetics of the X Prize winner."
Don't know about the Monopoly money equivalent, but $45 M CDN is about $46.8 M USD right now.
Things have changed a little.
The Silver Dart name is intended to ride on the coat-tails of the original Silver Dart, which also flew out of Nova Scotia. The Canadian Arrow company name also seems to be intended to ride on the coat-tails of the Avro Arrow. So they are trying to associate themselves with the two most famous aircraft in Canadian history, despite having nothing to do with either. And they seem to have overlooked the fact that both of these famous aircraft met ignominious ends, which can't be good for luck.
The high latitude of Nova Scotia makes it more costly to launch for an equatorial orbit. Getting to GEO or lower-latitude LEO orbit would require more fuel. There's a reason why Arianes launch from French Guiana and not Europe.
Two wrongs don't make a right, but three lefts do.
Cape Breton is one of the southernmost parts of Canada.
There are clear physical advantages to building spaceports (or any space launch pads) close to the equator, for reasons other than weather. Gravity is lowest at the equator, due to two reasons: one being Earth an oblate shape and thus an equatorial point is furthest from core and thus has least gravity, the other being the centrifugal spin of the Earth which is strongest at the equator. Put together, this accounts for about 2% less weight, which does not seem much, but does make a difference.
If you have noticed, both the USA and USSR chose to build their spaceports as south as possible. The most used USA launch spot is in Florida, and in the USSR the Bainokur cosmodrome is located in Kazakhstan, which is not even a part of Russia anymore, but clearly the benefits gotta outweigh the logistical and political diffculties.
Back on topic of this particular case, once the choice of the country (Canada) has been made, Nova Scotia would seem like a good solution due to the reasons outlined above. The question comes, why Canada? LM is a US company, has huge ties to the defense industry, lots of political connections, and the US in general is more business-friendly than Canada. I find it very hard to believe LM would get out of Canada (be it government, commerce, industry ties, or simply geographical settings) anything they couldn't get in the US. Any ideas?
" how much is that in Canadian monopoly money? Ha ha, canucks, we love you miserable bastards, eh "
http://www.canada.com/vancouversun/story.html?id=292a762e-5b3e-4909-9ea3-ca664b774391&k=97109
"Loonie soars to new 30-year high
Eric Beauchesne, CanWest News Service
Published: Saturday, May 26, 2007
OTTAWA -- The loonie soared to a new 30-year high of nearly 93 cents US Friday and toward what one Canadian bank is saying will be parity with the ailing U.S. greenback within two years.
The dollar, after hitting a high of 92.8 cents US, closed Friday at 92.64 cents US, its highest closing level since 1977."
"The strength of the Canadian dollar can no longer be laid solely to weakness of the greenback," Gignac said. "The loonie has appreciated against almost all currencies."
Now be nice or well hook the Chinese on Timbits and buy the US debt and turn your country into an amusement park. Eh.
Need Mercedes parts ?
Don't let the coastline fool you, this ain't Florida. The northern atlantic is a cold, icy, foggy place most of the year (remember Titanic). I certainly hope you don't need good weather to launch rockets.
boxlight
The 'Silver Dart' name plays homage to Canada's first plane.
Frankly, I think they'd do better with some sort of (much less expensive and land-intensive) tie-in to Bell's early high-speed hydroplaning watercraft, the HD-4.
Whatever they do, it sounds like it will end up in the dictionary under "boondoggle."
There has been ongoing interest in developing a spaceport in this region for some time. Because of its location, they are able to reuse Russian telemetry data.
This is a great place for such an effort. We are on the ocean and have the worlds deepest harbour nearby. The site is all solid rock, the top of what's left of the Appalachian mountain chain. There is a huge deposit of undersea natural gas nearby waiting to be developed and supply energy needs.
The population here are the most overeducated, underpaid group of people in the country, there are engineers all over the place that were raised in a naval tradition, and one of the major industries of the provincial capital is educating foreigners, so there's a great foundation for inbound brain drain.
They aren't the only company interested in this effort either.
I'm quite looking forward to hopping in the car for a few hours and kicking back in Cape Breton National Park with a case of beer and a joint to watch rocket ships take off.
-1 Uncomfortable Truth