September 23 News Items

Texas Space Ventures Rocket Into Reality (Source: Dallas Morning News)
Construction is to begin next year on Spaceport America, a commercial spaceport in New Mexico (in rendering above). In Van Horn, Texas - 120 miles southeast of El Paso - a private spaceport built by Jeff Bezos, founder of Amazon.com, is already testing rockets for his Blue Origin venture. This spaceward expansion involves scores of rival start-up firms and aerospace outfits, including some in the North Texas area, prospecting on the final frontier. The companies are working on a slew of space-related projects, from building lunar landers for NASA's proposed moon and Mars missions to constructing inflatable orbital hotels to pitch to wealthy tourists eager to wake up to a sunrise in space.

While the pursuit may sound quixotic – how long have we been dreaming of jet-setting like the Jetsons? – the work is far more advanced than you might imagine. Firms have launched prototypes into orbit, secured funding for their spaceports and taken deposits for their first commercial flights. The most prominent local firm is probably Dallas-based Armadillo Aerospace. The company, founded by John Carmack, the wealthy genius programmer who created the popular Quake and Doom computer games, is focused on building vertical takeoff and landing modules for a lunar explorer. But it will soon turn its attention to building a reusable suborbital launch vehicle for space tourists.

Bigelow Aerospace, which operates out of Houston and Las Vegas, launched the Genesis II, an experimental inflatable space habitat, into low Earth orbit in June. The company hopes to have space hotels in business by 2012. And it has some experience in the hospitality industry behind it - Robert Bigelow, who built his fortune from Budget Suites of America, is its founder. Eventually, Armadillo – which has eight employees, most of them part-time – expects to build longer-range vehicles that can make it into orbit and even venture on to the moon. Click here to view the article.

Space Businesses Still Wait for Countdown (Source: Atlanta Journal-Constitution)
After SpaceShipOne pierced the heavens high over California in the first private manned spaceflight, many expected the event would immediately ignite a new era of commercial space businesses. But three years after that historic flight, the private space industry has still barely left the ground. Several commercial space projects that were supposed to take off by now have been delayed. Recent high-profile problems — including an explosion that killed three researchers at SpaceShipOne's parent company and the crashes of two unmanned rockets at another private space company — sent shudders through the industry.

Together, the setbacks reinforce what most in the fledgling industry already knew: Rocket science isn't easy, and success in space doesn't come quickly. To be sure, few if any in the space business intend to give up until they either succeed or run out of money. Like test pilots in the early days after the Wright brothers, most consider delays and mistakes part of the learning experience. Click here to view the article.

China to Build New Spaceport (Source: AP)
China is planning to build a new spaceport — the country's fourth — to boost its burgeoning space program, state media reported Sunday. The facility will be located in Wenchang on the southern island province of Hainan, about 38 miles away from the provincial capital Haikou. The site is close to the equator which makes it well suited for launches because lower latitudes have stronger centrifugal forces, reducing the amount of energy required to launch rockets. The plan has been approved by the State Council, China's Cabinet, and the Central Military Commission, it said, without giving any details on construction or a completion date.