D e s e r t E x p o s u r e
June
2009
Spaceport America
Page: 2The belated lease signing took place just weeks after the Spaceport's equally tardy licensing by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), originally promised for early 2008. That roughly coincided with the test of Virgin Galactic's White Knight Two launch vehicle, the "mother ship" for SpaceShipTwo, the vehicle that Virgin plans on using (so they say) to "carry commercial astronauts into space," according to Heath Haussamen's New Mexico Politics blog.
So, however far behind schedule, the pieces are falling into place. Nothing can stop those rich guys (if there are any left nowadays) from going into orbit (almost) now. Not even a 2007 fatal explosion at the Mojave airport where X Prize winner Burt Rutan is developing Virgin Galactic's spaceships, "during a fuel flow test that included filling the oxidizer tank with 4,500 kg (10,000 pounds) of nitrous oxide followed by a 15-second cold flow injector test." Though the tests for SpaceShipTwo did not ignite the gas, three employees were killed and three others injured, two critically and one seriously, from shrapnel wounds.
Put that on your tombstone: "I died making rockets for rich guys to go to the stratosphere in."
Perhaps not surprisingly, the inaugural Virgin Galactic flights did not take place at the Mojave test facility in late 2008 as originally planned. Nor did they happen in "early 2009," as the first such postponement promised.
In May, however, another Spaceport tenant, UP Aerospace, launched a SpaceLoft XL from the site. Although much ballyhooed in the press and described as "successful," the launch actually failed to reach suborbital space (62 miles up), much less its goal of 70 miles high. To date, only one of three UP Aerospace launches from the Spaceport has actually reached space. Batting .333 would be pretty good in baseball, but not so much in the rocket business.
Spaceport Authority Executive Director Steve Landeene put a relentlessly positive spin on the failed launch in a statement: "Today's launch was great experience for the students of New Mexico. Although we did not achieve the maximum altitude we wanted, the launch delivered on all the learning objectives that we wanted to provide the students. They received hands-on experience in designing and preparing their scientific experiments, and received experience unmatched in the classroom."
And what about the Spaceport's Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) — variously promised by the end of 2006 and mid-2007? Although the EIS was approved by the FAA in December 2008, which was one of the last steps of the licensing process, some concerns remain. These mostly center on the Spaceport's impact on El Camino Real, and its historical preservation.
El Camino Real was the pre-space age road from Mexico City to Santa Fe and points north that was used extensively by travelers, conquerors, armies, native tribes and countless others. It runs north and south for about 1,500 miles, and was used from around 1600 nonstop until almost 1900. It runs mostly parallel to the Rio Grande and I-25 and is now the corridor that takes present-day travelers, conquerors, armies, drug dealers and spaceship passengers to their appointed destinations.
Some of the issues brought up about the Spaceport's possible adverse affect on El Camino Real came from Ty Hays, public land counsel for the National Trust for Historic Preservation. A brief call to Hays at his Denver office clearly indicated that he is not satisfied with the final EIS, which is probably available at your local library. But Hays did say that he was also dealing with numerous other preservation issues, and was not up to date on the Spaceport America situation.
Some of Hays' concerns were outlined in an August 2008 e-mail to the FAA office in Fairfax, Va. Among other issues, Hays noted that the EIS did not comply with certain aspects of the federal Transportation Act. He wondered whether Spaceport America would "use" El Camino Real, focusing on direct and indirect impact to the area in which the historic pathway falls into the land that is being used by the Spaceport. Hays' complete memo can be found at www.preservationation.org/resources
Zia Engineering and Environmental Consulting has been hired by the Spaceport Authority to decide whether 400 years of history can be usurped by wealthy space tourists.
Some of the land that the Spaceport itself is located on came in part from two local ranches, owned by the Cain and Wallin families. A deal signed in late 2006 by the families gave the Spaceport 18,000 acres. Ben Cain, who with his wife Jane operated one of the ranches, died in 2007 after a battle with cancer. Although Spaceport America's website (www.spaceportamerica.com) was glad to post the "historic" agreement between the landowners and the various Spaceport entities on their, Cain's passing is not noted. It is perhaps ironic that has passing was almost two years to the day before the "official" groundbreaking will at last take place.
Financial details of the ranch transactions, of course, are not available.
1-0. . .
Recently, the very nice Las Cruces Railroad Museum hosted its second annual railroad days event, at which the new Rail Runner Express, the commuter train that currently runs from Belen through Albuquerque to Santa Fe, made a guest appearance.
Some bloggers around the state noted this visit — in particular, Haussamen (haussamen.blogspot.com), a former reporter for the Las Cruces Sun-News (one of their better ones over the years), and Coco La Boca, who writes an interesting blog, cocoposts (cocoposts.typepad.com) from a base in Albuquerque.
There has been speculation that the state might actually extend the rail line from Belen to Las Cruces, an idea that Haussamen says "makes no sense to me." Instead of running commuter rail through towns like Socorro and T or C, he wrote, "Socorro has a college that could use some cash. The state is building Spaceport America near T or C. Both towns probably need upgrades to roads, schools, parks and other public infrastructure. . . . If we're going to spend money we don't have, let's at least spend it on things that will be useful."
Coco La Boca latched onto Haussamen's inclusion of that the Spaceport as a good idea by posting this comment: "Wait, wait, wait. Commuter rail isn't 'useful' but space tourism is?"
I contacted Coco, and received this further comment in reply: "I wouldn't really give a hoot about it if tax dollars weren't critical to the whole thing. I don't see the clear public benefit. Yet we are repeatedly and uncritically sold and told that this was going to be great — heralding a new era in space flight. Says who? The governor and Richard Branson. Where is the objective analysis and critical oversight?
"I'm a skeptic of the value of manned space travel and the idea that we can learn something coincidentally from risky and expensive tourist launches. It seems misguided at best. The idea that such an operation would provide opportunities for science learning 'for the children' is a little forced as well.
"There are several other such spaceports, yet most news promoting New Mexico's venture doesn't suggest that the scheme is anything but unique to New Mexico. That the spaceport will benefit and grow other businesses and supporting economies is questionable but a good argument.