Spaceports – A Growth Industry
Our Nation Networks of Spaceports is Thriving – But More Needs to Be Done to Ensure Continued Growth, SpaceRef Business
“The nation’s commercial spaceport network will be expanding from the “8 that are operating now, to 17 in the next few years,” Brian Gulliver, a spaceport development team leader at Reynolds, Smith and Hills, told an audience attending the panel “An Expanding Network of Commercial Spaceports” this morning at the AIAA SPACE 2014 Forum in San Diego.”
Currently we are talking about approximately 2 flights a day. The spaceport’s passenger accommodation could be a pair of portacabins. Anything better than that is a guaranteed loss.
The spaceport will still need hangers and cryogenic fuel storage facilities.
By ‘space port’ we are talking about up-and-down suborbitals, right? I have a sense that this activity will be short-lived.
It will be many years before we need a fifth launch pad to LEO, so the rest of the spaceports are fair grounds.
I suspect that few people will be willing to pay more than 1 month’s pay for a suborbital ride.
That’s my thinking. Those sinking millions figure a market will appear, but I have my doubts.
Market would imply they are after money and would do the profit calculations. I suspect that the spaceports are about glory. The politicians want their names on prestigious buildings.
When the project fail we can always knock the buildings down and replace them with mental hospitals.
I found that entire discussion to be premature, yes there are locations being built (partially at best) but I can barely see where they could support an aircraft turnaround let alone servicing a suborbital spacecraft.
I am sure future construction will pick up pace once there is an actual company operating sub orbital flights.