Texas Spaceports
CTR Researcher Supports Transportation Projects for the 21st Century
Recently, the media has brought the exciting work of privately owned space exploration companies to public attention. The $10 million Anasari X prize for space travel was awarded to the piloted SpaceShipOne on October 4, 2004, alerting the public that the age of private space exploration has arrived. The technology that created SpaceShipOne promises to take everyday civilians (provided they have the necessary funds) into space, offering an experience that was once only available to astronauts. There is also demand in the private sector for more advanced unmanned craft and for satellite development.
In response to Texas legislation aimed at putting Texas at the forefront of private space exploration, the Texas Governor's Office of Space and Aviation awarded grants to three Texas counties to launch spaceport programs. At the Center for Transportation Research (CTR), researcher Michael Bomba contracted with the Governor's Office to administer these grants, providing oversight and guidance to the selected counties.
Willacy, Brazoria, and Pecos counties have begun work to attract companies and organizations to their sites. Dr. Bomba's job is to advise the counties in the best use of their funds to establish competitive sites and to attract private sector research and exploration. To date, the three counties have made encouraging strides toward the operation and development of fully functional, competitive spaceports.
Of the three, Pecos County has had the most success thus far. This site has hosted a number of suborbital rocket launches and has many new launch events planned for 2005. Brazoria County is not far behind.
Suborbital rockets and Unmanned Aerial Vehicles, or UAVS, can travel to the upper limits of the atmosphere, between airplanes and satellites, and capture critical data that can be reported back to technicians on the ground. Not only can these craft reach altitudes up to 65,000 feet, they can hover there for some time, collecting data. If used for military purposes, these craft would be too high for enemies to intercept.
Some entrepreneurs have plans that are loftier yet. Imagine a company that could develop reusable crafts and rockets to travel beyond the atmosphere into space, performing such work as launching satellites into orbit. The company that could achieve this would find the work lucrative, as would the spaceport supporting such activity. According to Dr. Bomba, this work can only be done by the private sector. NASA and government programs in other countries, simply can not take the risks, financial and human, that private companies are willing to take.
It is easy to see how being one of the first states to support the development of spaceport programs could bring significant technological and economic development, as well as talented scientists and engineers, to rural regions of Texas. Dr. Bomba believes that Texas should remain at the forefront of this technology for the good of the science, as well as Texas.