Residents of Otero County
in New Mexico have defeated a Spaceport America tax increase to help build an inland
spaceport that will serve as the launching ground for commercial spacecraft.
Reports from the field
there say Tuesday's election tally show that 52.3 percent voted against the
tax; 47.7 percent voted for the tax.
While not impacting
Spaceport America as far as moving forward, the Otero non-support means
there will be less money for operations. Officials have said the initial
estimate cost to build the spaceport 45 miles (72.4 km) north of Las Cruces,
NM, is about $198 million, with a cap set for $225 million.
Earlier, both Dona Ana
County and Sierra County approved a tax increase meaning that Spaceport America
will proceed. However, the Otero vote for the tax increase would have raised
some $2.3 million for the effort, with that county becoming part of a triad of
support to build the facility.
British
billionaire Sir Richard Branson has tapped Spaceport America to serve as
the launching ground for his Virgin Galactic spaceliners, a fleet of privately
build suborbital spaceships that will launch passengers on space tourism treks
for about $200,000 per seat. Hardware for the air-launched SpaceShipTwo vehicles
and their WhiteKnightTwo mothership are under construction at Scaled Composites
in Mojave, California.
The spaceport is also
expected to be home base for a separate venture to fly passengers aboard a
new fleet of reusable vertical take-off and landing craft for about
$100,000 per ticket. The first piloted flights of the unique, bubble-like
spacecraft are slated to begin in 2010.
The new joint venture between
Rocket Racing, Inc., and Armadillo Aerospace of Mesquite, Texas, was announced
last month at the Lunar
Lander Challenge in Las Cruces, where the Armadillo team won $350,000 in
the NASA-sponsored moon lander contest.
While the Otero County vote
may have failed to support Spaceport America, the process is still underway to
bring it closer to reality. The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) is currently
reviewing Spaceport America's license application.
SPACE.com staff
contributed to this report from New York City.
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