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NASA proposes commercial spaceport at KSC

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  • NASA proposes commercial spaceport at KSC

    Sounds like SpaceX won't be alone down there. SpaceX has already taken over Launch Complex 40, the former home of the mighty Titan IV, from NASA for their Falcon 9/Falcon 9 Heavy rockets & Dragon spaceship.

    Link....

    NASA proposes commercial launch pad

    Plan meant to make US more competitive worldwide


    BY TODD HALVORSON
    FLORIDA TODAY

    CAPE CANAVERAL - NASA will unveil plans this week that would enable Florida or private companies to build and operate a commercial launch complex at Kennedy Space Center.

    With shuttle fleet retirement set for 2010, the complex could pave the way for an American company to launch U.S. astronauts and supplies to the International Space Station rather than buying those services from Russia.

    It could help the U.S. regain a larger share of a global commercial launch-services market dominated by foreign competitors.


    Hundreds of jobs could be created, offsetting an anticipated loss of 2,500 to 3,500 positions after shuttle fleet shutdown. But the plan is controversial.

    People are concerned about the impact on coastal wetlands and on endangered and threatened species. Potential threats to areas of high historical or archeological value likely will be questioned, too.

    NASA, consequently, will hold four public hearings next week as part of an environmental assessment required by federal law. Agency officials will seek comment about the proposed project in general and about two specific sites now under evaluation.

    "What we want people to do is talk to us," said Mario Busacca, head of planning and special projects in the Environmental Program Office at KSC.

    "Here's the bottom line: In order for NASA to make a good decision, we need the public input," he said. "We need to understand what their issues are and how any decision we make is going to affect the public.

    "Without that data, we cannot make a good decision."

    The idea of hosting a commercial launch complex on KSC grounds evolved after President Bush in 2004 directed NASA to finish the International Space Station and retire the aging shuttle fleet in 2010, then send astronauts back to the moon by 2020.

    NASA officials began examining potential "nontraditional" work that could be done at KSC. For example, the three-mile shuttle runway has been opened up to commercial companies and universities. Hosting Virgin Galactic or other space tourism companies is a possibility.

    Last year, NASA commissioned a study to evaluate sites for a commercial launch complex on KSC property -- 140,000 acres stretching from north Merritt Island to Oak Hill and New Smyrna Beach.

    Only sites on NASA property were examined. Old launch complexes on Cape Canaveral Air Force Station were not considered because NASA does not have jurisdiction over Air Force property.

    The engineering firm Reynolds, Smith and Hills Inc. of Merritt Island evaluated potential sites for a two-pad complex that could host rockets as large as United Launch Alliance Atlas 5 and Delta 4 Heavy vehicles.

    NASA set several ground rules.

    A 150-acre parcel was required. Rockets could not fly over KSC facilities. The complex had to be at least five miles from residential areas. Tracts subject to flooding by a Category One hurricane's storm surge were eliminated.

    Eleven initially were selected, but nine of those were eliminated after further evaluation.

    Some were deemed too close to populated areas in Volusia County. Others were eliminated because wetlands or scrub jay habitat would be destroyed. Some were ditched because they would result in more frequent closures of popular Playalinda Beach.

    The sites selected include one on the Atlantic coast south of shuttle launch pad 39A and north of Atlas 5 complex 41 at the air base.

    The other is inland. Near the western edge of Mosquito Lagoon, the site is east of State Road 3, north of State Road 406 and south of Scrub Ridge Trail Road.

    The coastal site is preferred, but federal law requires NASA to examine all reasonable alternatives.

    The cost of building the two-pad complex would be $504 million to $590 million, according to site selection study estimates.

    No NASA money would be invested. NASA would provide the real estate, but it would be up to the state or commercial companies to foot the bill for building and operating the complex.

    "This won't happen unless there is a non-NASA entity that is able to bring forward the capital required to build it and also has the wherewithal to operate this facility," NASA Spaceport Development Manager Jim Ball said.

    Commercial companies and the state already have expressed interest. Some think the complex could help U.S. companies compete with foreign firms dominating a multibillion-dollar global market.

    In the past five years, American companies captured only 17 of 97 commercial satellite-delivery missions launched worldwide.

    Last year, only three of 30 missions flew from the U.S. The last commercial launch from the Cape came in April 2006.

    "A facility like this would certainly, in our opinion, move us back in the direction where we need to be, where we are more competitive," said Steve Kohler, president of Space Florida, an agency created by the Legislature to develop the state's aerospace industry.

    "In order for us to re-emerge as a major competitor, this is the kind of thing we feel we need. It could put the state of Florida in a position where we would become a leader among the states and a competitor among the nations again."
    Last edited by Dr Mordrid; 17 February 2008, 15:29.
    Dr. Mordrid
    ----------------------------
    An elephant is a mouse built to government specifications.

    I carry a gun because I can't throw a rock 1,250 fps
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