D e s e r t E x p o s u r e
June
2009
Space Case
A Luddite looks at Spaceport America.
By Jeff Berg
10-9-8. . .
I have a new hero.
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A cutaway view of the Spaceport. (Courtesy Spaceport Authority/ Virgin Galactic) |
Her name is Jiyul. She is a South Korean monk. After spending more than a decade in solitude (ahhh...), which found her leaving her monastery only for walks in the nearby forest, she was interrupted one day by the sound of heavy machinery.
Jiyul had the good fortune, at the time, of not knowing about cell phones and their ilk. When she checked on what was disturbing the peace of her monastery, set in a beautiful natural area, she found that the Korean government was drilling an eight-mile-long bullet-train tunnel that would go underneath the monastery itself.
This was in 2001. Rejoining "society," Jiyul worked hard over the years to prevent the inevitable. Hunger strikes, sit-ins and the like did not turn the tide, and in fact, earned her ridicule and scorn from the media, the government and a lot of the public.
Undeterred, she remains an activist (www.chorok.org), and is now taking on the government again, this time over a proposed shipping canal.
During one interview about her work to stop construction of the tunnel, she said, "The speed that the culture was moving at, it was too fast."
I am sad that I didn't have the consciousness that Jiyul has when it came to the construction of Spaceport America. I don't think I would have had the courage she shows, but I certainly would have done more than howl and whine to anyone who would listen, write letters to uncaring politicos, and write the occasional anti-Spaceport diatribe.
Yes, it is coming soon to your state — Spaceport America. The much-ballyhooed and talked-about carnival for the rich is scheduled for a groundbreaking near Upham, NM, southeast of T or C, on June 19 — only a year and a half late (originally promised "by Jan. 1, 2008"). It might be taking place even as you read this. You probably weren't invited because you aren't a "key dignitary" or an "official." Maybe Joe the Plumber is going.
In addition, 11 more bid packages for Spaceport construction projects will be released to the public by the end of June. Two were released on May 7, one for the planned airfield and the site enabling works.
And of course you know the next thing that the mainstream media will be using to continue to hype this project is jobs, jobs, jobs.
Certainly, as with all construction projects, jobs, jobs, jobs do become part of the scenario. Already there are some in Sierra County, which apparently has laid claim more quickly and diligently than the manana folks of Dona Ana County, and began paving a county road in September to the site of the spaceport. Plus they have already set up a "visitors center" for the as-yet-nonexistent Spaceport in downtown T or C.
In anticipation of all those jobs, Sierra and Dona Ana county residents narrowly voted themselves an extra tax to help pay for the Spaceport, which will raise $2.9 million and $49 million, respectively. Otero County residents declined to take the bait ($0 million), though it's not clear how the New Mexico Spaceport Authority will be able to punish them for refusing to tax themselves.
The exit off I-25 at the almost equally nonexistent town of Upham continues to boast the sign that says "Future Home of Spaceport America." The sign now has a little rocket slapped across the word "Future," however, thus making it look more official.
A recent attempt to revisit the site on the road to Upham in my Volkswagen ended in futility, as I tired of the lousy roads that I have followed in the past to get there from here. A trip to T or C, then to Engle and then south will lead one to County Road A013, and then to Spaceport America (soon), but I wasn't in the mood.
Wasn't there some carping about a "bridge to nowhere" in Alaska a year or so ago? That bridge actually had purpose — bringing people from an island to the mainland and vice versa. County Road AO13 might be purposeful only to those who can afford to go to space. Beyond an occasional open house-type activity, it doesn't seem likely that Fred and Wilma will be able to cruise out for a look-see on a sunny Sunday anytime soon.
7-6-5. . .
The Spaceport project components, as reported in the Las Cruces Bulletin recently, will include that previously mentioned airfield with a runway and taxiway, roadways, water distribution system, wastewater treatment, fencing, a terminal hangar facility, and aircraft rescue and a firefighting station, among other needs of such a place. (Maybe someone will build an Olive Garden franchise out there so the locals will stop calling Sound Off about the "need" for same in Las Cruces.)
An Albuquerque-based entity, Gerald Martin Construction, will be the spaceport's lead contractor. The firm will provide general management for the design and construction contracts, day-to-day operations, design reviews and cost estimates, while other smaller businesses will provide ancillary services, according to the Bulletin article.
Martin, a large contractor, has worked on almost every kind of project from the Hyatt Regency at Santa Ana Pueblo (remember that money you spent at the casino? Both the pueblo and Martin are grateful!), to the flailing Albuquerque International Balloon Museum, which is starting to recover from financial and attendance issues (and it costs only $4 to go there).
The designers of Spaceport America, a co-production of England and the US, are Foster + Partners and URS. As noted by some, it is a beautiful facility, very other-worldly and unique. Others, offering a more primitive view perhaps, see it as "vulva inspired" (actually meant as a positive comment from blogger Richard, perhaps a gynecologist, who is part of the 62 Mile Club, a group that apparently is all for the "privatization of space"). Or, as Dona Ana County Commissioner Karen Perez put it in these very pages, "It looks like a flying bedpan." In any case, it's ours for the low, low price of $198 million.
Blogger Richard also registered his distaste with freelance "green building" critic Alex Felsinger's nomination of the Spaceport as one of the "10 Dumbest Green Buildings on Earth" (greenbuildingelements.com/2009/02/16/the-10-dumbest-green-buildings-on-earth) Richard commented, "What many of today's anti-NewSpace luddites fail to realize is that in all likelihood what will drive NewSpace is new sources of energy due to the exorbitant costs associated with existing fuels as well as the environmental impact."
Oh! Now you tell us!
Felsinger's judgment is that Spaceport America represents "another case of the rich attempting to make the rest of us think that they're doing the world a favor. Recreational space travel, at least with the current technology, is a huge and unnecessary carbon polluter. But hey, the spaceport will be LEED certified, so everything's going to be fine, right?"
Lloyd Alter, a Toronto-based architect who writes for www.treehugger.com, also pointed out the obvious for some of us. About the Spaceport, Alter said, "Tourists and passengers will drive into the middle of the desert, where Richard Branson and others will literally burn rubber, mixed with nitrous oxide, to fire people into space for seven minutes at $200,000 a pop. And guess what? It is designed to be LEED Platinum (which means the building is) to be 'both sustainable and sensitive to its surroundings.' What an oxymoronic gesture. Next thing you know we will have LEED-certified coal-fired power plants."
LEED is an acronym for Leader in Energy and Environmental Design. LEED-certified buildings have demonstrated energy conservation and addressed concerns for site development, water savings, energy efficiency, materials selection and indoor environmental quality. Certification comes after compliance with the requirements of the LEED Green Building Rating System, a nationally accepted benchmark established by the US Green Building Council.
Richard the Blogger further trashed Felsinger — and this caused me not to read any more of Richard's posts — because, oh, my gawd, Felsinger is based in San Francisco.
I wonder if Richard — the Blogger, not Branson — will be launching from the Spaceport.
4-3-2. . .
In January 2009, more than three years after the originally promised date, Virgin Galactic finally signed a lease with the state of New Mexico to shoot rich tourists into near-space from Spaceport America. Virgin Galactic is of course the private company, headed by Richard Branson, that New Mexico taxpayers are subsidizing by building the launch facility. The company promises to "locate its world headquarters in New Mexico and fly paying customers into suborbital space from the Spaceport, which is located about 40 miles north of Las Cruces."
Just for the record (again), the Spaceport is not anywhere close to being 40 miles from Las Cruces, except perhaps by rocketship. If one wants to take the paved road to Spaceport America, one goes 79 miles to T or C, 17 more miles to the ghost town of Engle, and a few more miles to the actual, nowheresville site.