To turn Ellegood's vision into reality, the authority is working on several projects, including its work with the Federal Aviation Administration to create an integrated air traffic control system that would track both rocket launches to the International Space Station and the 7:30 out of Newark. Other projects include a host of new launch sites at the Cape and a joint venture between government and schools to foster space research.
But the authority is particularly focused on its bid to attract Lockheed Martin's multi-billion dollar reusable space launch vehicle project, called the VentureStar. On this front, Florida is facing stiff competition, as one of 32 sites in 15 states competing for the project. Among the other possible sites is the Antelope Valley in California, home of legendary Edwards Air Force Base, and already host of the VentureStar prototype, the X-33.
Nevertheless, Ellegood said the Authority is confident it will get picked for one of the two sites Lockheed needs. "We have identified possible launch sites at Cape Canaveral Air Station and Kennedy Space Center, the two sides of the Cape," Ellegood said. "We have existing infrastructure which I'm sure will be very difficult to recreate," Ellegood said. The Cape already has all the facilities necessary for payload processing, as well as NASA's only existing facilities to service the ISS, a mission that Lockheed hopes the VentureStar will be ideally suited to.
Also, the location's long space history provides other advantages, Ellegood said. "We have an existing re-entry corridor which the Space Shuttle uses every time it lands here. No other location except Edwards (Air Force Base in Calif.) has an established re-entry corridor."
There's also the advantage of geography. As the proposed site closest to the equator, Florida can launch into equatorial orbits, the kind used by many commercial satellites, making it cheaper for launch companies than northern sites. And the launch over the Atlantic makes dropping an expended rocket stage or fuel tank safer.
In an attempt to look even better for VentureStar, Florida is building a $5.5 million hangar at the Cape for different types of reusable rockets. But Lockheed has refused to take any potential site out of the running until 2001. Until then, all possible states are left hanging.
In the meantime, Lockheed is meeting regularly with all proposal writers and has ranked different proposals in certain categories. So far, Lockheed has ranked Florida higher than any other proposal in "cost of doing business-taxes" and on "beneficial existing assets," an authority press release said.
And even if Florida doesn't win the contract, the multi-million dollar hangar and the other preparatory work will not be wasted if VentureStar goes elsewhere, Ellegood said.
"Most everything we're doing with VentureStar is designed to be used with whichever reusable launch vehicle is capable of using it," Ellegood said. The authority is also helping Boeing convert Complex 37 to launch its Delta IV rocket. The state has supplied a $30 million industrial development bond towards the facility.
"The Cape has a dozen launch sites that could be reactivated," Ellegood said. "There are various companies that want to use those facilities. And all of them would be considered part of the Cape Canaveral Spaceport."
The spaceport itself will need help from the FAA if it's going to expand. The current system relies on the Air Force to track commercial launches, and each launch is subjected to a complex review process. The Office of Space Transportation in the FAA is working at streamlining the process so that, once a launching vehicle is certified, getting clearance is no more difficult than it is for a commercial airplane.
Ellegood said the Florida Spaceport Authority is working closely with the office and approves of the project.
"I think it's the future," Ellegood said. "It's going to be necessary for future reusable launch vehicles."
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