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Spaceport Development Picks Up Steam In Texas
RocketAcademy writes "The Lone Star State is moving to become a leader in spaceport development.
The Houston Airport System is officially moving ahead with plans to turn Ellington Airport, near NASA's Johnson Space Center, into an FAA-licensed commercial spaceport. The airport system has completed a feasibility study for turning the field into a spaceport for suborbital spacecraft such as Virgin Galactic's SpaceShip Two and XCOR's Lynx. In the longer term, spacecraft could link Houston to Singapore in as little as three hours, according to airport system director Mario Diaz.
Meanwhile, state Representative Rene Oliveira (D-Brownsville) introduced a bill that would allow county commissioners to close a local beach for launches from the proposed SpaceX launch site in Cameron County. The bill is part of a flood of spaceport-related legislation that has been introduced recently in the Texas legislature."
(Line for the 10-mile-high club forms to the rear of the craft.)
"and thank-you for riding Virgin Galactic. We hope you'll come again."
Sent from my ENIAC
Science, shame they don't teach that in Texas schools.
http://www.emdrive.com/ Why not develop this technology so everyone can use their microwaves and a copper cone to have a spaceport in their driveway?
Governments could even rake in tons of revenue and taxes on emdrive certification and licensing fees. This would be great for the economy.
The only problem is...nobody wants to come back.
Texas: building for the Space Age, educating for the Bronze Age.
The whole plan relies on people being lifted up by the Rapture.
Texans, please choose your Malaysian prostitutes.
Private space ports! How glorious! Just like in the 1970s with OTRAG! Oh wow!
Since it's for the few and does not cater to the many, it's just cronyism done in the traditional Texas way.
Twitter supports and protects racists - by smearing their critics with the "Hate Speech" label.
It only accelerates the speed of cattle rustling of businesses to Texas(sans workers unfortunately) while making sure it is too expensive for regular people to use it.
Twitter supports and protects racists - by smearing their critics with the "Hate Speech" label.
The number of launches to space is very low. I believe the FAA put around 50 major rocket launches, in the entire world last year. All the world's rocket launches could be handled form a single space port. ESA's French Guiana spaceport is probably the best one. The United States already has infrastructure at Cape Canaveral. I believe there is a glut of rocket models and spaceports in the United States, and world wide. Texas should stay out of the space launch business because of that.
We dont want your unwashed masses, if we did we get them cheaper just over the border (or home depot). We do want all your businesses to relocate here sans employees (we will provide). Gun makers should move here too as the rest of you really dont want or need them but they are part of our heritage. I bet we could swing a deal and send say Houston to Detroit and you give us Ford.
"Remember, politicians and diapers should be changed often and for the same reason."
Take away from the every-day citizen(beach) and give more to the wealthy(space travel). How about also increases taxes on gas to compensate for the spacecraft fuel costs too?
Seriously, why on earth does anyone need to travel to another part of the world any faster than a private jet can already do??? Secondly, someone flying a private just because they can is so inconsiderate of the amount of pollution they are producing just so they get that convenience.
The telephone works great for sending voice instantly around the world for pennies and about 0 pollution, if you need video, the internet can do that too!
legitirmise doing
...that other states keep driving business out with higher taxes, more bureaucratic red tape, burdensome regulations, and corrupt closed shop union cronyism.
This is why California keeps driving businesses to Texas.
Also, Texas now ranks higher than California in standardized test scores, both in aggregate, and in each demographic ethnic group.
For a more in-depth discussion of these points (with numerous statistics to back it up), see Chuck DeVore's The Texas Model: Prosperity in the Lone Star State and Lessons for America.
Lawrence Person (lawrencepersonh@gmailh.com (remove all "h"s to mail)
http://www.lawrenceperson.com/
First they make a Linux port, and now a Texas space agency acquires them! Awesome! This should make for an excellent version of space invaders!
How does one steal a business? Am I stealing your wife if I tell her that I won't beat her as much as you do and she comes to me?
New Mexico already was screwed by Virgin Galactic on this. The state built Spaceport America for Virgin. Then Virgin demanded a better deal, and got it. Once in a while Armadillo Aerospace launches some test rocket from there. The terminal building is used for bus tours.
Hey baby, come with me, I've got all this fancy stuff in the kitchen, you won't even notice that you're barefoot, and you can be sure you'll enjoy popping out a few babies.
I know Texans want to believe they're living in Paradise on Earth, but not everybody drinks their brand of tea.
Where are they gonna put that one?
Please do not reply to my insightful posts with your idiotic ramblings.
virgin Galatic and all these other new space
what corp is getting ready to take over heavy lifiting needs?
spacex,
lol just saying, all other corps look nice on paper, when you deliver sometthing let me know, 8)
Ah, arrogant pride. That's surely going to persuade. After all, you just want the freedom to dictate conversation, and since your words are so much better than anybody else's, you truly deserve that power.
Thanks for convincing me not to drink the Texas Tea.
Maybe you should learn some humility.
After all, you just want the freedom to dictate conversation, and since your words are so much better than anybody else's, you truly deserve that power.
Thank you for being so reasonable. Many of you carbetbagging yankees simply don't understand how precious my opinions are, but I respect you for being one of the few to admit it.
Thanks for convincing me not to drink the Texas Tea.
So long as you don't stop eating Texas beef stew or Texas pizza.
Maybe you should learn some humility.
You're right. I forgive you.
Because if you want the money to flow back to the "masses" you better find something interesting for those "rich bastards" to spend it on, rather than having it stagnate in some bank account. Money is most effective when it is in use, lubricating the economy engine.
How beneficent of you, why truly your forgiveness is worth slightly less than a used roll of toilet paper.
A roll of used toilet paper? Who the hell took that much used toilet paper and reassembled it into a roll. Something only a yankee would think up, no doubt.
10 miles is only 52,800 feet, which isn't terribly high. Heck, a lot of airliners these days are pushing that regularly. 100 mile high, now...
do you think chuck norris should learn some humility too?
*punches you*
Recycled, used... is there so much of a difference, ultimately?
"Round the bowl, down the hole, go Tide go."
XD
Designed, built and operated by the New Mexico Spaceport Authority (NMSA), Spaceport America is nearing completion of the first phase of construction, which includes basic operational infrastructure such as an airfield, launch pads, terminal / hangar facility, emergency response capabilities, utilities and roadways
Umm, there's already a spaceport under construction and really close to Texas.
PS: I don't reply to ACs.
Seriously, why on earth does anyone need to travel to another part of the world any faster than a private jet can already do???
Because sometimes really expensive shit needs to be done right now. Putting it off for a half a day or more can cost a lot of money. Maybe your boss needs to sign off in person on a big deal. Maybe you need a one of a kind part delivered to keep a critical system up.
Whether there's enough of that sort of need to support a suborbital travel industry at this time is a big, unanswered question.
A "_____"port is a transportation and commercial node - but there's no transport or commerce of note taking places at these "space"ports... just glorified amusement park rides. They're being built (with tax dollars) for no purpose other than allowing airport mangers and commissions and various state officials to brag about having a "space"port.
Steam has only just been finished on Linux, and now it will be used for Spaceport Development? This is great news, I hope that this new Spaceport will be very interesting! Furthermore, it appears that development is happening only in Texas, which I assume can only be a good thing! Does Valve have a special Spaceport-only development team deployed in Texas?
Congratulations to Valve for their continued success!
While tax policy might provide an easy out if one of the states involved is California, replace it with a state not so far off the chart. The governments of these business-sycophantic states cannot create new businesses on their own but rely on other states to create and grow them. The mentality in these states is that if you do not own a business, you must be denied freedom.
When a state government actively pursues businesses, they not only remove jobs from a state (usually with as much stealth as possible as to not alarm the public and block it then and there), they fail to generate the promised jobs in the new state, and most importantly fail to promote to workers that the new state is worth moving to for the long term (aside from few exceptions). This applies to any state that puts its living-in-the-flesh constitutents in a lower priority than those created of legal fictions.
Individuals at fault? Not really.
Governments to blame? Definitely.
Twitter supports and protects racists - by smearing their critics with the "Hate Speech" label.
He's already had to do so. Though he wasn't half as senile crazy as Clint Eastwood.
Better be a pretty small part.
When Fascism comes to America, it will call itself Anti-Fascism, and tell you to give up your guns.
Somebody can't seem to grasp that a used roll of toilet paper is...bare.
I guess your ability to follow a metaphor is lower than I thought.
Texas has the 2nd largest population in the country (behind only California).
Texas has the 2nd largest economy (again, behind California, and only slightly), larger than most independent countries.
Texas is one of the few states that contributes more to the federal wallet than it recieves.
Texas has a top notch education system that utilizes wealth redistribution (thats what it is even if not called that) ensures the poorest school districts still get adequate funding.
On top of that it has many state run aid programs to put kids into college.
Veterans who are Texas residents get a free ride through college.
Texas has some of the healthiest residents int he nation, and one of the best healthcare netowrks
Also, more hospitals per capita than any other state, and state programs to people who cant affords it.
You can keep saying they're backward, but Texas is actually one of the most progressive states in teh nation, particularly for a "conservative" state (except its not really conservative; 45/55 split on votes, not very one sided).
but what is clear, is that you're simply an ignorant moron who has never actually been there, and knows absolutely zero about the state.
The guy who said the election was rigged won the presidency with the second-most votes.
Used roll of toilet paper =/= Roll of used toilet paper.
I think somebody has been staring into the sun too long.
Good to see that bigotry is alive and well on slashdot.
Better be a pretty small part.
Sounds like any such suborbital transportation system would be moving several tons of payload at a time. It wouldn't have to be that small.
What's clear is that you're an apologist for Texas, providing a few bold claims about Texas, while papering over the negative sides.
Notice no mention of anything like how Texas had to cover its budget deficits with Federal stimulus money. No mention of how Texas's Rick Perry went to California trying to poach businesses from the Golden State. No mention of how poor school districts in Texas are actually performing. No mention of the actual health of Texans (Texas is the 12th most Obese state in the nation and its sheer population means it has a lot of fat people) , or the problems with emergency rooms in Texas.
You remind me of the Wingnuts to be discussed here:
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2012/04/01/1075007/-Wingnut-stereotyped-California-versus-wingnut-stereotyped-Texas
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2011/08/15/1007146/-Blue-California-s-Economy-vs-Red-Texas-Not-What-the-Conventional-Wisdom-Suggests
Take out the oil business, an accident of geography, and Texas won't look so good at all.
Can we load all of Texas onto a rocket and send it to mars? One way?
Have gnu, will travel.
Suborbital also includes the recreational flights up and then back down to the same launch location.
That Texas is going so hard for this business is interesting because New Mexico built a whole space port near White Sands just for Virgin Galactic and other enterprises - then the state legislature pretty much bungled it. VG has been talking about ducking out of their contract since NM hasn't met their obligations.
With Texas going whole hog, it looks like "oops" for New Mexico...
One where:
Valero Energy Corporation
Dell Computer Corporation
Sysco
Enterprise Products
Plains All American Pipeline
Tesoro
etc.
were never founded in Texas.
And the rest of your post? [[Citation Needed]]
Lawrence Person (lawrencepersonh@gmailh.com (remove all "h"s to mail)
http://www.lawrenceperson.com/
The balance of my point still stands. Those kind of states rely on deceptively acquired businesses(proven through the actions of the Economic "Development" Board) while providing no substantial promotion for workers to move to a state with worse working conditions.
The proof is in the types of jobs offered, the general hostility towards questioning business as well as the general Southern hostility to worker representation outside of employer-formed groups such as contractors and staffing agencies.
Twitter supports and protects racists - by smearing their critics with the "Hate Speech" label.