ALBUQUERQUE, New Mexico - New Mexico lawmakers
agreed today to proceed on a three-year commitment of funds to build a regional
spaceport, designed to support commercial rocket launchings, including
passenger-carrying suborbital vehicles.
"Our
view of this is all systems go for the spaceport," said New Mexico
Economic Development Secretary Rick Homans, also Chairman of the New Mexico
Spaceport Authority in nearby Santa Fe.
"This
sends out a message loud and clear that New Mexico is setting out on this bold
plan," Homans told reporters in a telephone briefing. "This is real
and we're moving forward on this."
Legislative
go-ahead
The New Mexico legislature offered broad, bipartisan support for the spaceport, Homans said,
despite early skepticism in some political quarters regarding the project.
Specific
actions taken by the legislature included authorizing a $100 million in capital
outlay over fiscal years 2007, 2008, and 2009 towards the spaceport. "That
is a financial commitment from the state. There's no need to go back for any
other approvals in terms of getting money authorized every year," Homans
added.
There are
several conditions put upon the expenditure of the money, such as successfully
obtaining a spaceport license from the Federal Aviation Administration's (FAA)
commercial space transportation office.
Also, state
lawmakers want official cost estimates that certify the spaceport can be built
at or below a projected $225 million price tag, Homans said.
Request
for proposals
Homans said
that as a single voice the New Mexico Spaceport Authority will now proceed
immediately in issuing next month a request for proposals to scope out the
architecture and engineering needs to build the spaceport.
By
mid-2006, a selected architecture and engineering firm will be fully engaged,
with spaceport specifications and cost estimates to be complete by year's end,
Homans said.
Then, by
the first quarter of 2007, construction bids are to be issued, pending the
spaceport license approval by the FAA, Homans explained.
The
spaceport site is approximately 27 square miles of open, generally level, range
land that can be found 45 miles north of Las Cruces and 30 miles east of Truth
or Consequences [map]. This site was picked for its low population density,
uncongested airspace, and high elevation.
Homans also
noted that a March 27 suborbital rocket launch by UP Aerospace from the
spaceport property is being delayed until mid-May. The New Mexico Spaceport
Authority and the rocket group, he said, have agreed to hold off on that flight
in order to assure that high-quality data can be obtained from the launch -
information to be utilized in the FAA spaceport license application.
Home
base
New Mexico
Governor Bill Richardson has strongly backed the New Mexico spaceport effort,
including the landing of the annual X Prize Cup in the state.
Last
December, Richardson and Sir Richard Branson, Chairman of Virgin Companies
announced a partnership to build the world's first commercial spaceport. Virgin
Galactic will locate its world headquarters and mission control for its
personal spaceflight business at the spaceport.
One of the
first "good news" calls Homans plans to make is contacting Virgin
Galactic, based in London, England. That communication, he added, will inform
them that "New Mexico is moving forward with the spaceport and with a
future home base for them."
Last month,
Richardson announced that Rocket Racing League, an aerospace entertainment
organization that is developing the nascent market for low-altitude rocket-powered
aircraft racing, will bring its world headquarters to New Mexico. That activity
is to be inaugurated later this year at the X Prize Cup festivities in Las Cruces, New Mexico.
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