Spaceport America (formerly named Southwest Regional Spaceport) is the "first purpose-built commercial spaceport" in the world, although initial construction is not yet complete. As of October 2009[update], eight suborbital missions have been launched from the port. Located near the White Sands Missile Range in state-owned desert 45 miles (72 km) north of Las Cruces and 30 miles (48 km) east of Truth or Consequences, it is currently under active development and is expected to be completed in 2010.
The creation of Spaceport America was the result of a long term effort by many individuals to bring orbital launch and recovery operations and infrastructure to southern New Mexico. The initial spaceport concept was suggested in 1990 by Dr. Burton Lee (Stanford University), who proposed the creation of a land recovery facility for commercial and government orbital re-entry capsules. Lee authored the initial business and strategic plans, secured seed funding in the amount of US$1.4 million through a congressional earmark with the assistance of Senator Pete Domenici, and worked closely with Bernie McCune and Len Sugerman of the New Mexico State University Physical Science Laboratory (PSL) to develop local support for the spaceport concept. The non-profit group Southwest Regional Space Task Force was created in 1992 by Dr. Ave Tombes, VP for Research and Economic Development at NMSU, in response to these successful efforts to obtain congressional and local support for the initiative. The Taskforce coordinated local and statewide efforts to promote the Southwest Regional Spaceport (SRS), as it was originally designated, including ties with federal organizations such as White Sands Missile Range (WSMR).[]
The SRS was renamed Spaceport America in 2006 after Governor Bill Richardson and Secretary (Taxation and Revenue Department) Rick Homans adopted the spaceport initiative as a formal state of New Mexico economic development program, with Virgin Galactic slated to be the anchor tenant. Spaceport co-founders since 1990 include Lou Gomez, Bill Gutman, Rick Homans, Burton Lee, Bernie McCune, Gov. Bill Richardson, Hanson Scott, Len Sugerman, and Lonnie Sumpter, among others (see below for a link to the Official Spaceport America History presentation, as of October 2007).[]
Spaceport America is the first built-from-scratch commercial spaceport in the world. The US$225 million venture was announced in mid-December 2005 in Santa Fe. Richard Branson's Virgin Galactic plans to launch its first flight from the spaceport in 2011. Virgin has already collected its $200,000 per-person fee from the first 300 passengers. Once completed, Spaceport America is expected to be the venue for the annual X Prize Cup suborbital spaceflight competitions.
As of early 2007, the "fledgling spaceport" consisted of little more than "a 100-foot (30 m) by 25-foot (7.6 m) concrete slab," part of the launch facility for the spaceport's first launch tenant, UP Aerospace.
New Mexico Spaceport Authority received its launch license for vertical and horizontal launch in December 2008 from the Federal Aviation Administration's Associate Administrator for Commercial Space Transportation.
On December 31, 2008, Virgin Galactic signed a 20-year (240-month) lease on terminal facilities at the spaceport. Under the deal, Virgin Galactic will establish their world headquarters in New Mexico, and will pay US$1 million per year for the first five years, as well as payments on a tiered scale, based on the number of launches the company makes. The agreement is one of several conditions that are required to release state funding for the spaceport.
On 22 October 2009, the spaceport announced that paid tours of the facilities would begin in December 2009.
Construction of a temporary launch facility at the spaceport site began on April 4, 2006. The early operations of the spaceport are thus dependent on temporary infrastructure, some of it borrowed from neighboring White Sands Missile Range.
On April 3, 2007, voters in neighboring Doña Ana County approved a spaceport tax referendum, which passed by only 270 out of nearly 18,000 votes cast. Although collection of the tax was set to begin in January 2008, in order for collection of the tax to begin, a spaceport district had to be created, which required that the tax be approved and collected in at least two counties. Since only voters in Doña Ana county had approved the tax as of January 2008, collection of the tax was placed on hold.
In April 2008, voters in Sierra County, the actual home of the proposed spaceport, approved the collection of the Spaceport Tax in their county, thus finally enabling the creation of a spaceport tax district and freeing the disposition of over US$40 million in funding. Voters in a third county, Otero, voted in the November 2008 general election to reject the spaceport tax.
The first images of what the new Virgin Galactic spaceport terminal will look like were released in early September 2007. Designed by Foster + Partners, with construction advice being given by the URS Corporation, construction of the permanent facilities began on June 19, 2009, and is expected to be completed in 2010.[]
Gerald Martin Construction Management from Albuquerque was chosen in December 2008 to oversee construction of the spaceport. The first of 13 bid packages for the spaceport is expected to be publicly released in late April 2009 and "all 13 bid packages should be released by June. ... The goal is to have it completed in 17 months, by December 2010."
A ground-breaking ceremony marking the beginning of construction was held on June 19, 2009. New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson presided over the ceremonies which included historical actors and model rocket launches as well as a keynote speech by Will Whitehorn, president of Virgin Galactic. A pre-groundbreaking ceremony and free community breakfast was held at Ralph Edwards Park, which is on the banks of the Rio Grande River in downtown Truth Or Consequences, New Mexico. Truth Or Consequences is the closest city to Spaceport America. A visitor center is planned in downtown Truth Or Consequences to provide shuttle bus services to the Spaceport. A detailed overview of the two-to-three year construction process was presented by the construction manager in November 2009.
, Luna, Otero, and Sierra Counties.]]
The site area nets approximately 670,000 sq. ft., with the terminal & hanger facility grossing an area of 110,152 sq. ft.
The western zone of the Facility (25,597 sq.ft.) houses support and administrative facilities for Virgin Galactic and the New Mexico Spaceport Authority. The central zone contains the double-height hangar (47,000 sq. ft.) to store WhiteKnightTwo and SpaceShipTwo crafts. The eastern zone (29,419 sq. ft.) encompasses the principal operational training area, departure lounge, spacesuit dressing rooms, and celebration areas.
The onsite restaurant and mission control room have a direct east views across the apron, runway and landscape beyond.
The port is designed with environmental sustainability in mind. It's designed to meet the requirements the LEED Gold Certification. It will incorporate "Earth Tubes" to cool the building, solar thermal panels, underfloor radiant cooling and heating, and natural ventilation during the mid seasons.
The port has hosted several launches prior to its completion and start of full operations, expected in 2010-2011.
| Launch | Date (UTC) | Vehicle | Payload | Launch pad | Launch contractor | Result | Remarks |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | September 25, 2006 | SpaceLoft XL | Various | UA launch tower | UP Aerospace | Failure | The [unsuccessful] maiden launch of a SpaceLoft XL rocket by UP Aerospace. It veered off course and lost control shortly after lift-off. |
| 2 | April 28, 2007 | SpaceLoft XL | Celestis and other payloads | UA launch tower | UP Aerospace | Success |
The first successful launch, a second Spaceloft XL, primarily carried cremated human remains, including those of astronaut Gordon Cooper and Star Trek actor James Doohan. |
| 3 | December 19, 2007 | Proprietary test vehicle | Technology Demonstration | UA launch tower | UP Aerospace | Success | Low-altitude atmospheric launch. |
| 4 | December 2007 | Space plane prototype | None | UA launch tower | UP Aerospace | Success | Proprietary technology launch for Lockheed Martin. |
| 5 | August 12, 2008 | Space plane prototype | None | UA launch tower | UP Aerospace | Success (Spaceport America & UP Aerospace view) Anomalous (Lockheed-Martin view) | Proprietary technology launch for Lockheed Martin. |
| 6 | May 2, 2009 | SpaceLoft XL |
New Mexico student
payloads Celestis Discovery |
UA launch tower | UP Aerospace | Anomalous |
"Education opportunity for New Mexico students to design experiments that use the environment of suborbital space to answer scientific and engineering questions". The craft failed to reach space. |
| 7 | August 4, 2009 | Black Watch | ground-launched UAV prototype | UA launch tower | UP Aerospace | Success | Test flight launch for Florida-based Moog-FTS. |
| 8 | 10 October 2009 | "reusable rocket plane" | Lockheed proprietary payload | UA launch tower | UP Aerospace | Success | Test of "proprietary advanced launch technologies" for Lockheed Martin. |
