On Tuesday, U.S. Senators Michael Bennet and Mark Udall of Colorado announced that the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) approved $200,000 in grant monies for a Colorado spaceport feasibility study.<\/p>\n
Spaceports are similar to regular airports with the airplanes being replaced by commercial craft that are part airplane and part spacecraft.\u00a0 These vehicles would \u201cfly\u201d suborbital paths outside Earth\u2019s atmosphere, thus allowing travelers and commercial payloads to travel to their destinations more quickly.\u00a0 According to the Colorado Space Coalition website, a trip to Australia, for example, would take less than 5 hours instead of the normal 20 hours.<\/p>\n
“We see Spaceport Colorado as a key driver for bringing a wide array of spaceflight-related business to our state, including spacecraft development and manufacturing, advanced scientific research, and crew training,” said Tom Clark, CEO, Metro Denver Economic Development Corporation.\u00a0 Additionally, the spaceport could also offer other options such as space tourism, global travel, and unmanned spacecraft facilities.<\/p>\n
The recently approved study will be the first step in obtaining a license to operate a commercial spaceport in Colorado, one of several states seeking to establish a spaceport.\u00a0 Alaska, California, Florida, New Mexico, Oklahoma, Texas and Virginia are already designated as spaceport states, and some of these states are already proceeding with spaceport development.\u00a0 Phase one of Spaceport America<\/a>, the world’s first commercial spaceport built specifically for sending tourists and payloads into space, is nearing completion in New Mexico at a cost of $209 billion in taxpayer funds.<\/p>\n The proposed site for the Colorado spaceport is Front Range Airport<\/a>, which is six miles east of Denver International Airport. \u00a0Last December, Colorado Governor John Hickenlooper announced that he had requested the federal government \u201cdesignate\u201d Front Range Airport a spaceport for \u201csuborbital horizontal takeoff,\u201d making the proposed spaceport the first to offer horizontal launch capabilities.<\/p>\n To further entice commercial aerospace business to Colorado, Hickenlooper also signed a limited liability law into effect.\u00a0 The \u201cinformed consent\u201d law gives permanent liability exemption to both spacecraft carriers and suppliers from lawsuits by passengers in the event of a crash or explosion. The law is based on one used by ski resorts, which exempts them from lawsuits by skiers who waive their rights when they buy a ski pass. The law does not exempt spacecraft carriers and suppliers from cases involving gross negligence or from damage incurred on the ground, however.<\/p>\n \u201cHaving a spaceport in Denver will make Colorado a leader in space travel and solidify our reputation as a pioneer in the 21st<\/sup> century innovation economy,\u201d Senator Bennet said in a press release. \u201cIt will bring jobs to our state and fuel economic development and scientific research. This effort has been an \u2018all hands on deck\u2019 approach and I\u2019m proud to partner with leaders throughout the state to work on making this dream a reality.\u201d<\/p>\n So while it appears Colorado and a number of other states are rocketing ahead in their development of spaceports, the question remains, \u201cIf they build them, who will come?\u201d<\/p>\n Is there really a demand for commercial spaceports?<\/p>\n The experts are divided on this one.\u00a0 According to Alex Ignatiev, a physics professor at the University of Houston and adviser to space companies, \u201cRight now, the industry is not there to support it.\u201d<\/p>\n Andrew Nelson, COO of XCOR Aerospace, which manufactures reusable rocket engines for major aerospace contractors, disagrees.\u00a0 \u201cIn the next couple to three years, there\u2019s going to be a demonstrative reduction in the cost to launch stuff\u2026so we are going to have a lot more people coming out of the woodwork.\u201d<\/p>\n