Work
at the New Mexico spaceport has reached a milestone as facilities are ready to
support the first rocket flight from the site--now targeted for July. Meanwhile,
state planners have issued a request for proposals to design and engineer
the scaled up Southwest Regional Spaceport, the needed hangers, control and
support buildings, roads, utilities, launch pads, fuel storage facilities, and
other infrastructure requirements.
Location
of the New Mexico spaceport--some 45 miles north of Las Cruces and 30 miles east
of Truth or Consequences--is a remote area near Upham that is favored due to low
population density, uncongested airspace, and high elevation.
The
State of New Mexico Economic Development Department is currently working with
various commercial space operations to establish the new Southwest Regional
Spaceport at Upham. Creation of the spaceport is considered a key component in
the state's bid to attract space-related business to New Mexico.
Keys to the spaceport
"The
spaceport has come to life," said Jerry Larson, president of Connecticut-based
UP Aerospace, Inc.--the group that will conduct an inaugural rocket blastoff and
follow-on flights from the New Mexico spaceport grounds. "The spaceport is open
for business," he told SPACE.com.
Larson
said that last week that key elements to support the launch of the UP Aerospace
SpaceLoft XL suborbital rocket are now in place. A launch pad and rail, a custom-built
rolling rocket enclosure, storage facilities, launch control center, and
payload processing center are on site.
These
mobile, temporary structures "could work for us for quite a few years," Larson
said. Still ahead for the state is finishing up an Environmental Impact
Statement--critical to obtaining a spaceport license from the Federal Aviation
Administration's Associate Administrator for Commercial Space Transportation in Washington, D.C.
Given
the temporary nature of the infrastructure at the spaceport property, UP
Aerospace can initiate its suborbital launch plans.
"It's
all been plunked down ... the spaceport has come to life," Larson said. Spaceport
construction crews have put in place the culmination of some six months of
engineering and fabrication work, he added.
"We've
been given the keys to the spaceport ... the baton has been handed to us. Now
we're going to carry it forward and get ready for flight in July," Larson said.
Launch calendar
"Our 56-foot-tall
launcher has now been craned onto the launch pad. It's exciting to see the
mobile launch facilities now in position. These major on-site milestones will
allow us to execute our site-activation plan -- culminating in the multiple
space launches we have scheduled for this year," said Eric Knight, Chief
Executive Officer for UP Aerospace. "With all the major facilities now in
place, we can begin to firm up our 2006 space-launch calendar."
Knight
told SPACE.com that it is realistic to expect a mid-summer launch to
inaugurate the spaceport. "As it looks right now, July would be an excellent--and
very achievable--target."
There
is, however, no intent to rush the process to meet some artificial deadline.
"We'll be flying vehicles into space from New Mexico for many years to
come. Doing it right -- and safely -- are our ultimate measures of
success," Knight emphasized.
The
SpaceLoft XL offers enough oomph to carry a wide variety of payloads on the
maiden flight out of the spaceport, Larson said. The types of payloads, he
added, include a number of items from customers that can't be revealed at this
time, he said.
"When
you hear about what they are ... you'll be amazed. It's kind of refreshing to
hear what some of those are," Larson noted.
Pathfinder work ahead
To
reach a July liftoff of the UP Aerospace SpaceLoft XL there is considerable work
ahead.
Larson
said that a check list of items includes site activation, hooking up computers,
laying down wiring, installing radio transmitters--"basically, put it all
together so we can operate and launch the rocket."
In
the mid-May time frame, UP Aerospace will carry out "pathfinder" work at the
spaceport. This will involve an inert rocket--the flight vehicle sans rocket motor.
"This will help us work through all the procedures needed to be able to operate
and handle ordinance and rocket safely," Larson explained.
Follow-on
testing phase work at the spaceport includes separation staging run-throughs of
the rocket to check out parachute deployments.
"Once
we're done with the testing phase, then we're ready to start the launch
campaign. That consists of having the rocket motor delivered, processing the
motor and its igniter, and getting the rocket ready to go," Larson said.
Larson
said watching the stepped up spaceport work has been nerve-wracking. "I'm not
used to being around big, heavy equipment that lifts all of the heavy structures
... especially my launcher which I worked on, design-wise, for almost a year
now."
"But
now that it's finally all on the ground ... I slept easy last night," Larson
admitted.
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