Space & Astronomy

New Mexico spaceport almost complete

By T.K. Randall
September 24, 2012 ·  8 comments

Image Credit: AllenS The $200 billion project is to be the first of many planned spaceports around the United States, with plans for entrepreneur Richard Branson's Virgin Galactic to launch tourism trips in to space from the site within the next few years. Questions have however arisen over the commercial viability of the spaceport, with lagging development and competition from other states creating potential problems for the endeavor before it has even begun.

"Right now, the industry is not there to support it," said space company adviser professor Alex Ignatiev. XCOR Aerospace Chief Operating Officer Andrew Nelson however is more optimistic - "In the next couple to three years, there's going to be a demonstrative reduction in the cost to launch stuff ... so we are going to have a lot more people coming out of the woodwork," he said.[!gad]The $200 billion project is to be the first of many planned spaceports around the United States, with plans for entrepreneur Richard Branson's Virgin Galactic to launch tourism trips in to space from the site within the next few years. Questions have however arisen over the commercial viability of the spaceport, with lagging development and competition from other states creating potential problems for the endeavor before it has even begun.

"Right now, the industry is not there to support it," said space company adviser professor Alex Ignatiev. XCOR Aerospace Chief Operating Officer Andrew Nelson however is more optimistic - "In the next couple to three years, there's going to be a demonstrative reduction in the cost to launch stuff ... so we are going to have a lot more people coming out of the woodwork," he said.

Source: Herald Sun | Comments (8)

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