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Want To Buy a Used Spaceport?
Hugh Pickens writes writes "Want to buy a 15,000-foot landing strip? How about a place to assemble rocket ships or a parachute-packing plant? Have we got a deal for you. The Orlando Sentinel reports that with the cleanup and wind-down of the shuttle program, NASA is quietly holding a going-out-of-business sale for the its space-shuttle facilities including Launch Pad 39A, where shuttles were launched; space in the Vehicle Assembly Building, the iconic 526-foot-tall structure first used to assemble Saturn V-Apollo rockets; the Orbiter Processing Facilities, essentially huge garages where the shuttles were maintained; Hangar N and its high-tech test equipment; the launch-control center; and various other buildings and chunks of undeveloped property. 'The facilities out here can't be in an abandoned state for long before they become unusable,' says Joyce Riquelme, NASA's director of KSC planning and development. 'So we're in a big push over the next few months to either have agreements for these facilities or not.' The process is mostly secret, because NASA has agreed to let bidders declare their proposals proprietary, keeping them out of the view of competitors and the public. Frank DiBello, thinks the most attractive facilities are those that can support launches that don't use the existing pads at KSC and adjacent Cape Canaveral Air Force Station. 'Anything that still has cleaning capabilities or satellite-processing capabilities, the parachute facility, the tile facility, the OPF, all three of them, they have real value to the next generation of space activity,' says Frank DiBello, President of Space Florida, an Independent Special District of the State of Florida, created to foster the growth and development of a sustainable and world-leading space industry in Florida. 'If the infrastructure helps you reach market, then it has value. If it doesn't, then it's just a building, it's just a launchpad, and nobody wants it.'"
Dump it on a rube, let them clean it up. No way that's not a toxic mess.
I wonder if you get stuck with a toxic clean up bill as well.
"If any question why we died, Tell them because our fathers lied."
I'm really not sure if it would be a suitable deal without free shipping.
Damn_registrars has no butt-hole. Damn_registrars has no use for a butt-hole.
Basically they want somebody like Space X to move in to the facilities. Of course most of the DoD contractors that could chop in for this are gonna underbid or wait for these to close up... There's more money in charging for "repair" to rotted facilities than to take over existing ones. Really only a year or two unoccupied will "kill" these as they include state of the art clean rooms and rocket assembly facilities. Once the doors open, those are ruined with years to clean them up again. Those DoD contractors will get to charge DOUBLE when NASA needs those again.
Ha. Ha, NASA.. Your expensive contractors got their money. "National Treasures" don't come before the bottom line.
...like hurricanes and moistly corrosive air.
The name of the top bidder is a closely guarded secret but those familiar with the process describe him as a bold, British chap with a habit of touching the corner of his mouth with his little finger.
Negative moral value of force outweighs the positive value of good intentions.
That's a good fishing spot.
Aren't they supposed to use those facilities for the SLS?
Sell it to China
Hard to tell after the journalist filter, but
and its high-tech test equipment
could mean anything from Apollo era IBM mainframe (which would be cool, but not export controlled anymore) to fairly recent NSA spy satellite stuff that is going to have all manner of strange expensive regulations.
"Science flies us to the moon. Religion flies us into buildings." - Victor Stenger
The summary makes absolutely no mention at all of the next-gen rocket, SLS (capable of well over 100mT to orbit), which is being finished up. The boosters for it have been test-fired already (as have the main engines, which are left-over Shuttle main engines, and the upper stage for now is a big version of the Delta IV upper stage), and it is on-track for CDR. SLS will use LC-39A and the VAB. NASA and Florida are just looking for others who would also like to use the facilities, since they won't be in constant use. Boeing is already using one of the Shuttle processing buildings for their CST-100, which is part of NASA's "commercial crew" program and is already very far along, having tested its parachutes, heatshield, abort thrusters, airbags, etc.
Now, I'm quite skeptical with the idea of going back to 100+mT rockets for exploration instead of multiple commercial 15-30mT rockets (which have other, current customers and so are cheaper and will be around as long as the US is a country and which may shortly be capable of reusable flight), and especially I'm skeptical of the zipcode-engineered SLS, but it IS the current plan and it has lots of Congressional support and I'll cheer it along and enjoy its launches. People deserve to know that it's actually being built and that the VAB and LC-39A are going to be used by it, not all this BS about "oh, 'Bama canceled NASA, so they're having a fire sale." NASA's budget is still about the same (which is only about half of a percent of the federal budget, by the way), and the International Space Station is doing just fine with NASA astronauts in it, being resupplied with cargo by American spacecraft (SpaceX's Dragon right now has made two successful supply runs up and safely back down, soon to be joined by Orbital Science's Cygnus), and soon Dragon will be also shuttling the astronauts up and down to Station. http://www.nasaspaceflight.com/2013/01/yir-part4-iss-new-year-successful-2012/
Oh, another thing is that NASA is currently experimenting with a deep space habitat based on ISS modules and a Space Exploration Vehicle for going to asteroids or the moons of Mars. NASA retired Shuttle, and a dang good thing, too! Now we can really go explore beyond the confines of the Earth's gravitational influence.
Also, NASA's Orion capsule is VERY far along, has done several tests already and will do its first orbital test in the late 2014 time frame. This means by the time President Palin (or whathaveyou) is inaugurated, NASA will have essentially 3 man-rated capsules (Dragon, Orion, and Boeing's CST-100) already flight tested and a big-ass rocket built and prepping for launch (in 2017). NASA is NOT fracking canceled.
http://www.nasaspaceflight.com/2013/01/sls-cdr-engineers-work-baffling-issue/
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About the SEV: http://www.nasa.gov/exploration/technology/space_exploration_vehicle/index.html
About the Deep Space Hab using ISS heritage or possibly even just existing ISS spares: http://www.nasaspaceflight.com/2012/03/dsh-module-concepts-outlined-beo-exploration/
Used astronaut suits? Training centrifuges? That would make a killer amusement park ride. Miscellaneous special-purpose rocket building tools?
They must have a warehouse full of junk that would find a happy new home in a geek's mother's basement.
Schroedinger's Brexit: The UK is both in and out of the EU at the same time!
This shit needs to be banned across the board for public contracts, auctions, and sales of all types. It prevents bidding wars and hides the selection process from public scrutiny.
"The Russians put our camera made by *our* German scientists and your film made by *your* German scientists into their satellite made by *their* German scientists."
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How about base jumping inside the Vehicle Assembly Building?
Well shit, if there's a super-secret NSA spy satellite on the list of items, I'm gunna wait and snipe a $1 bid before the clock runs out.
NASA seems to be taking a page from Nokia's book, selling off its property so it can lease it back from the new owner and raise money to buy time to reinvent itself as a smartphone maker. Turns out its much cheaper to put smartphones in orbit than people... Even the North Koreans are doing it.
Someday you'll be taking the Cape Canaveral tour with your grandkids, and as you pass the Vehicle Assembly Building, the tour guide will announce, "you see we leased this back from the country we sold it to. That way it comes under the monthly current budget and not the capital account."
Emperor: Good. Good! Your turn from the Dork Side is almost complete. Let the bloated government flow through you, cannibalizing all resources not directly going into the hands of people who scare easily, and thus more likely to vote against me.
(-1: Post disagrees with my already-settled worldview) is not a valid mod option.
wouldn't this be a perfect place for a hacker space?
anyone else?
The process is mostly secret, because NASA has agreed to let bidders declare their proposals proprietary, keeping them out of the view of competitors and the public.
And out of the view of upstarts like SpaceX. Who here will be surprised if these facilities end up in the hands of Boeing and/or Lockheed? And future launch contracts as well.
Have gnu, will travel.
It's here, it's here! The year of the Linux Desktop!
The USA's debts to China are payable in _US_ dollars, not Euros, not renminbi, not gold. So the USA can pay its debts to China in full any time it wants. Think about that.
The US Federal Reserve created trillions of US dollars in 2008+ by loaning from "thin air". Guess how China and the rest of the USA's creditors feel about that. They're not going to make loud noises publicly about it since that would just make things worse.
China is not that stupid though - they got more tech for all that funny money. And they've managed to use some of that funny money to buy real stuff.
Why? With the state of the US national debt they already own the remaining rest anyway.
Not even close to true. China holds debt, but this same BS went on with Japan back in the 80's. Then Japan took it in the shorts because they had manipulated their money for several decades. In addition, they allowed large bubbles to develop. Sound familiar? The only real difference is that China will not lose 10-15 years. They will likely lose 20-30 years of stagnation. And that assume that they do not end up in a civil war when multiple bubbles pop.
I prefer the "u" in honour as it seems to be missing these days.
Turn the VAB into a casino and add the profits to NASA's budget.
I am the unwilling control for my Origin.
Four decades of "stellar" leadership, and the swan song is the auctioning off of America's space program.
But some few Americans - and the OPEC nations, and the last communist nation and burgeoning superpower on planet Earth - got rich...
Orwell: "In a Time of Universal Deceit, telling the Truth is a Revolutionary Act"
I hear it will lose half its value as soon as you drive it off the lot!
That doesn't matter as much to China, they've endured major economic and cultural chaos about once a generation for the last several centuries. As it is, the majority of the country remembers life pre-industrialization and while they probably wouldn't like going back they know that it's possible. A more likely scenario to me is that after a couple of years of the world trying to get off its dependence on the dollar the Chinese will be happily selling cheap plastic crap to Africa, South America, India and its own populace.
"Think about how stupid the average person is. Now, realise that half of them are dumber than that." - George Carlin
The abortion that the Bush Madministration mis-named 'Orion' (probably to make people forget the original Project Orion) should have been cancelled before it ever was presented to Congress. Seriously, a slightly-inflated Apollo capsule, riding on hardware designed in 1974, and this was supposed to be our glorious return to space? No, Orion and SLS was yet another pork-barrel project, designed by lawyers and lobbyists who think they're more competent to design a spacecraft than actual rocket scientists.
"Think about how stupid the average person is. Now, realise that half of them are dumber than that." - George Carlin
Actually, multiple things wrong with what you are saying.
First off, there are multiple bubbles building in China. They are crashing with Chinese gov. lying throught their teeth on just about everything. Even now, they claim that the economy is doing great, yet, they are building up massive coal reserves because now where as much electricity is being used.All in all, China is in REAL trouble.
Now, as to the issue of cash, I find it interesting that nearly all investors are pushing the dollar. IOW, it is spreading more than ever before. Why? Well, who else are you going to go with?
China? Nope. Even China is desperately buying dollars and trying hard to spread their yuan to others in hope that if they crash, others will as well.
Japan's yen? Nope. Been in a recession for nearly 15 years and are now far more dependent on China than any other nation, with China now demanding their islands.
Euro? Nope. They are heading into a massive recession with the euro possibly collapsing.
Australian dollar? Nope. They depend on Chinese importing their resources. Well, if China collapses, so will Australia.
UK Pound? Nope. They are in a massive recession with the pound about to slide downwards.
Canadian Dollar? Possibly. Right now they are far too small, BUT, they have ran a tight fiscal ship.
You may think that investors want off the dollar, but nothing could be further from the truth. Investors and other nations desperately want dollars. Heck, even Iran and Venezuela wants dollars.
I prefer the "u" in honour as it seems to be missing these days.