GOLDEN,
Colorado -- Architectural and engineering teams have begun shaping the look and
feel of New Mexico's Spaceport America, taking the wraps off new images today that
showcase the curb appeal of the sprawling main terminal and hangar at the futuristic
facility.
Last month,
a team of U.S. and British architects and designers had been recommended for
award to design the primary terminal and hangar facility at Spaceport
America – structures that symbolize the world's first purpose-built commercial
spaceport.
Selected
from an international field of eleven firms, the winning design is the work of
URS Corporation – a large design and engineering enterprise – teamed with Foster
+ Partners of the United Kingdom, a group with extensive experience in crafting
airport buildings.
When the 100,000
square-foot (9,290 square-meter) facility is completed -- the centerpiece of
the world's first, purpose-built, commercial spaceport -- the structures will
serve as the primary operating base for Sir Richard Branson's Virgin
Galactic suborbital spaceliner, and also as the headquarters for the New
Mexico Spaceport Authority.
The terminal and hangar
facility will also provide room for aircraft and spacecraft, and Virgin
Galactic's operations facilities, including pre-flight and post-flight
facilities, administrative offices, and lounges. The spacious maintenance
hangar can hold two White Knight Two carrier aircraft and five SpaceShipTwo
spaceliners – vessels now under
construction at Scaled Composites in Mojave, California.
Destination
experience
The terminal and hangar
facility are projected to cost about $31 million, and will provide a
"Destination Experience" for visitors to Spaceport America. Virgin Galactic
intends to sign a 20-year lease for approximately 84,000 square feet (7,803
square meters) in the building.
"The
URS/Foster team presented us with a concept that blends sensitivity to the
environment, cutting-edge technology and a stunning image and shape when viewed
from high above," noted Kelly O'Donnell, chair of the New Mexico Spaceport
Authority in a press statement last month.
The design chosen is a
low-lying, striking bit of construction that uses natural earth as a berm, and
relies on passive energy for heating and cooling, with photovoltaic panels for
electricity and water recycling capabilities. A rolling concrete shell acts as
a roof with massive windows opening to a view of the runway and spacecraft.
According to a press
statement released today, the low-lying, organic shape resembles a rise in the
landscape, and will use local materials and regional construction techniques.
"A careful balance between
accessibility and privacy is achieved, as visitors and astronauts enter the
building through a deep channel cut in the landscape," the statement noted.
"The walls will form an exhibition area leading to a galleried level above
the hangar that houses the spacecraft and on through to the terminal building.
Natural light enters via skylights, with a glazed façade reserved for the terminal
building, establishing a platform for spectacular views onto the runway."
Construction on the
100,000 square-foot hangar and terminal facility is scheduled to begin in 2008.
Environmentally
efficient landmark
Renderings of
the main terminal and hangar facility were to be unveiled today during a press
conference held at the Pan American Center on the New Mexico State University
campus in Las Cruces, New Mexico. Announcements regarding the winning team and
design selected were held up due to the tragic Mojave, California Air and Space
Port accident on July 26, in which a test stand explosion killed three Scaled employees
during a routine test.
Company founder
of Foster + Partners, Lord Norman Foster, said in an earlier press comment that
the world's first space terminal would be a technically complex building. The
facility not only will provide a dramatic experience for the astronauts and
visitors, "but will set an ecologically sound model for future spaceport
facilities," he added.
Jens Deichmann, vice
president of URS Corporation, accented their group's involvement: "Our team of
New Mexico, regional, and international talent is excited to help the State of
New Mexico and Virgin Galactic advance their goals of commercial space travel
and scientific and engineering education."
The New
Mexico Spaceport Authority (NMSA) is currently finalizing contract negotiations
with URS and Foster + Partners. The team will then begin working with the NMSA
and Virgin Galactic to finalize the design of the facility, and the NMSA
expects to put the construction of the facility out for bids in the first half of
2008.
Construction
of Spaceport America would begin in 2008, given a Federal Aviation Administration
issuing of a site operator's license to the NMSA. Completion is expected in
late 2009 or early 2010.
Year of the spaceship
Founded by Branson,
a British entrepreneur and adventurer, Virgin Galactic was created to undertake
the challenge of making private space
travel available to everyone.
"The deal
between New Mexico and URS working with Sir Norman Foster will produce a
spectacular, but very environmentally efficient landmark for the new era of
space travel," explained Will Whitehorn, President of Virgin Galactic.
"The design
for Spaceport America is not only breathtaking but also practical which is also
what I believe SpaceShipTwo and its launch aircraft WhiteKnight Two will be
regarded as when their respective designs are unveiled next January," Whitehorn
told SPACE.com.
Whitehorn
added that, with the commencement of construction at Spaceport America and the
completion of construction of White Knight Two and SpaceShipTwo, he and his
Virgin Galactic team are now confident that 2008 will be "The Year of the
Spaceship."
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