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.
The 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.
"But the big appeal of a New Mexico location is remoteness," La Boca went on. "And remoteness is the very feature that boosters and backers would most like to eliminate. They want this project to put them on the map. Undoubtedly the Spaceport promise is great news for real-estate speculators and general contractors in and around T or C. But is that really the point? Probably.
"Lastly, the rocket racing element of the venture seems least worthy of public funding and most farfetched. Yet it adds an element of 'cool' for those who dream of a chance to bring video game skills to bear on real rocket ships." (The Rocket Racing League, as has previously been reported in Desert Exposure, has fallen so far shy of its public promises — seven racing sites by 2008, to name just one — that it seems almost cruel to point this out.)
LIFTOFF!
(But who will pay for the cleanup from the first crash, and where will the survivors be buried?)
Which brings up the point of this article (finally, you might be thinking): Why isn't this money being spent on useful things that will benefit ALL residents of New Mexico? Why aren't we using the money that is being wasted on space joyrides for some of the ideas that Haussamen (a Spaceport supporter) suggests, or working to design a solar- and/or wind-power facility in that same place? Or dividing up the money to school districts that are now all suffering, or creating a recycling plant that could someday be self-supporting? Or even offering the money up for another dubious, albeit more beneficial plan, the state takeover of the at least temporarily defunct College of Santa Fe?
Instead, we'll use it to create a few temporary construction jobs and a few onsite jobs (how many days a week will Spaceport America actually be open when in operation?). The rosy picture of the Spaceport's multi-million-dollar economic effects painted when the project was first proposed already reads as though crafted in some alternate universe (see box) — no wonder nobody mentions those numbers any more.
Jiyul was interviewed in the Los Angeles Times, and the writer describes this moment:
"As she (Jiyul) talks, she spots a tourist peering through a gap in a crooked door at the ancient academy.
"'Why is it,' she asks, 'that people have such curiosity to look inside a place when the doors are closed?'"
Thanks to Coco La Boca for the link to the Los Angeles Times story about Jiyul and to Rep. Jeff Steinborn for supplying the EIS. Calls to the state Spaceport Authority were not returned by deadline. Alex Felsinger did not reply to an email about how he came to choose Spaceport America as one of his "winners."
Senior Writer Jeff Berg says he can usually do little more than shake his head anymore.
Show Me the MoneyAs Desert Exposure first reported in February 2006 ("Have Spacesuit, Will Travel"), the original proposal for what was then called the "Southwest Regional Spaceport" was backed by two economic-impact studies released by the state's economic-development department. An NMSU study concluded that by the fifth year of operation, the Spaceport would hit close to $1 billion in new revenues, creating $350 million in new payroll and generating more than 2,800 new jobs. A second study, by the Futron Corp., a leading aerospace consulting firm, generally looked further into the future, forecasting that New Mexico could gain $752 million in revenue and up to 5,280 new jobs by 2020. Both studies, though now several years out of date, continue to be available on the Spaceport website (www.spaceportamerica.com) Spaceport boosters who liken the project to the Hubble Space Telescope or the International Space Station — scientific projects tough to justify on a purely dollars-and-cents payoff — forget that what's now Spaceport America was never sold as science. In announcing the state's partnership with Virgin Galactic, a beaming Gov. Bill Richardson proclaimed, "I am excited that New Mexico will be on the ground floor of this new industry, and I know this will mean new companies, more high-wage jobs and opportunities that will move our state's economy forward." People for Aerospace, prime backers of Dona Ana County's extra quarter-percent gross-receipts tax, pitched financial benefits, not the final frontier: "This is economic development that benefits an immediate area, and requires local financial investment from residents that stand to benefit from the project." In short, the Spaceport has always been about money. So, almost four years — and countless delays and missed deadlines — later, how well do those starry-eyed economic predictions for the Spaceport hold up?
Construction — The Futron study anticipated Spaceport groundbreaking in 2006, and so forecast $516 million in economic impact and an average of 1,260 jobs created from 2006 to 2008. The NMSU study used a more conservative multiplier, coming up with a $480 million impact, but a slightly higher average job creation of 1,450. Presumably those figures could still pan out following the actual June 19, 2009, groundbreaking. Such an economic benefit would not be unique to the Spaceport, of course; any $200 million-or-so project — building schools, alternative-energy plants, mass transit — would spin off similar dollars.
Rocket Racing League — The Futron report counted on the Rocket Racing League to add $62 million in economic activity and 630 new jobs to New Mexico by 2015, $78 million and 780 jobs by 2020, not counting "expenditures by spectators attending league finals at the Spaceport." The league was to have begun racing by February 2007; its website now does not list any dates for actual racing to begin, or any other events, news or press releases more recent than Oct. 15, 2008.
Spaceport visitors and events — Supposed to contribute $69 million and 770 jobs by 2020. No date has been released on when the Spaceport might actually be open to the general public — if ever.
Space transportation other than space tourism — By 2020, $73 million and 449 jobs. Another "in excess of $200 million," with 1,000-1,500 jobs, was attributed to space vehicle and aircraft manufacturing, headquarters and support services. To date, besides Virgin Galactic and the Rocket Racing League, only Armadillo Aerospace, Microgravity Enterprises, Lockheed Martin and UP Aerospace have signed agreements with the Spaceport. None of them will be placing help-wanted ads any time soon. Armadillo Aerospace says, "At the moment, Armadillo is not hiring for any positions. Armadillo Aerospace feels the current team size is just about optimal for the work we're doing now. However, if you have some specialized experience you feel would benefit the team, you are local to the Dallas area, and you are passionate enough about space to work for low pay, you are welcome to contact John. . . ." It's not clear when if ever Armadillo, which is also developing space tourism, might begin hiring in New Mexico rather than its home base of Dallas. Microgravity Enterprises, based in Albuquerque, is using the Spaceport
only to fly products such as its "Comet's Tail Amber Ale" into
space and back. Aerospace giant Lockheed Martin has committed to "testing" at the Spaceport, and has contracted with UP Aerospace. UP Aerospace, which signed a 10-year agreement with the Spaceport in April 2008, built its first rocket in Colorado. Two of its three launches to date have failed to reach space, although the Spaceport website describes all as "successful." One original tenant, Starchaser Industries, which planned to build a $100 million "Rocket City" west of Las Cruces, announced in February 2008 that it was "rethinking" its plans: "New Mexico may not be the optimum location from which to conduct Starchaser operations." The company's small headquarters along I-10 closed its doors in November 2007. Space tourism — By 2020, $333 million of economic impact and 2,271 jobs, 44% of the Spaceport's total economic benefit. Those Futron numbers are based on "an upper estimate" of 61 launches in 2010 and 426 in 2020, with a total of 1,959 flights in the first 10 years of operation (2010-2019). The NMSU study also forecasted flights, ranging from as few as 56 to as many as 1,221 over the first five years, but it assumed liftoffs beginning in 2006. Virgin Galactic, the Spaceport's most prominent space-tourism promoter, has been selling tickets since 2005, priced at $200,000. As of March 2008, the company had 250 "firm reservations" and 85,000 people had "registered an interest" (without putting down the minimum $20,000 deposit). At six passengers per flight and 61 flights in the first year, those 250 paying customers would all have flown within the first nine months of operation. Not all of the company's space tourists would fly from New Mexico, however. The first flights will take off from Mojave, Calif., where the space vehicles are being developed, and in March 2008, Virgin Galactic announced its latest venture, "Spaceport Sweden." The company website adds, "Virgin Galactic is also already looking seriously at other potential spaceport locations around the world, with a view to expanding the enterprise and making the wonder of space travel as accessible to as many people as possible."
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