Plans by Californian space flight and rocket developer XCOR Aerospace to create an operational base in Florida could see it use NASA’s dormant Shuttle Landing Facility.
The company aims to commence operations from the Kennedy Space Centre (KSC), the…
Plans by Californian space flight and rocket developer XCOR Aerospace to create an operational base in Florida could see it use NASA’s dormant Shuttle Landing Facility.
The company aims to commence operations from the Kennedy Space Centre (KSC), the Cecil Field Spaceport, or other Florida-based locations in 2014. If demand for the reusable launch vehicles it is developing continues to gather pace, it will also set up a manufacturing and assembly centre in the state. In total, XCOR foresees creating just over 150 jobs in the area until late 2018.
“The next era in space exploration is underway, and the Space Coast of Florida is ground zero in the Obama Administration’s effort to launch Americans from US soil and create good jobs that support an economy built to last,” said NASA chief of staff David Radzanowski.
“The region continues to be a key strategic location for companies, like XCOR, who want to build on our nation’s great legacy of innovation and entrepreneurship.”
XCOR, a privately-owned firm that in February raised US$5m to help fund its upcoming Lynx Mark I Suborbital vehicle, is based in Mojave, California. It is also building an R&D centre in Midland, Texas.
In late 2012 and early 2013, the company plans to begin test flying its prototype Lynx Mark I suborbital spacecraft. The company hopes its reusable vehicles will eventually be used for research, private spaceflight and launching small satellites. Its investors include serial space travel angel investor Esther Dyson, and Pete Ricketts, the co-owner of the Chicago Cubs baseball team.
Announcing plans on 23 August to establish a base in Florida, XCOR CEO Jeff Greason said the company was looking forward to becoming part of the fabric of the Space Coast.
“When we started the company back in 1999, we could only have dreamt about the possibility of flying the person on the street or the citizen scientist to space from such an important place,” said Greason.
On 8 August, NASA issued an RfI on new ways to use KSC’s Shuttle Landing Facility, which has not been fully utilised since last year’s retirement of the Space Shuttle.
“NASA KSC seeks to identify industry interest to operate and maintain the Shuttle Landing Facility through a long term agreement that will also allow NASA continued access to the facility for its government and industry aerospace customers,” stated the RfI
“A long term agreement is contemplated to allow the new operator sufficient time to implement their business plan, including any capital improvements projects considered necessary to make the Shuttle Landing Facility self-sustaining.”
NASA said it was looking to bring in potential partners for the facility from 1 October 2013. The space agency added that it could establish a Public-Private or Public-Public Venture to grant the partner an interest in the property for a specified term.
An XCOR spokesman said that the NASA RfI and its potential use of the Shuttle Landing Facility “are not directly a cause of one activity or the other”.
He said: “For us, we do not favour one operational model of the Shuttle Landing Facility over another. If NASA chooses to maintain control of Shuttle Landing Facility or they wish to have a private or government entity operate it, it is fine with us.”
