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Announcement on Spaceport Expected 16th July.

Saw this today in various media, not what I was expecting.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotla...lands-44838787

We already have one on the Isle of Wight

Look forward to the Scotland/Kazakhstan twinning ceremony. At least Kazakhstan realises communism doesn't work.....

ridiculous.................

Stoopid. Snake-oil strikes again. Here is a list of no-hopers that the Government should not put taxpayers money into,....: UK commercial "Spaceport" or commercial rocket launch facility (unless total loss of cost is accepted), commercial wing-borne "hypersonic" air breathing transport or space launcher, blimps, balloons or lighter than air commercial vehicles, cheap flying taxi's and flying cars. Additionally, the concept of wasting £££Billions on trying to integrate self driving cars on Britain's roads should be binned and the potholes filled-in instead! :)

OAP

Less chance of one dropping on populated areas

Quote:

Originally Posted by Onceapilot (Post 10197812)

Add motor-racing circuits! At least the parish council in Cardiff knocked that one on the head before I had to pay for it.

CG

Begs the question, what happens if/when Scotland gets independence.

might be the fastest way to get to Sutherland..................

Cheers CG. ;) Oh Yes! UK Gov have cornered the market for Polar Orbit Launches...of what? 10kg Polar orbit Spy satellites. Guess we can't get enough of those for the commercial market? BTW, I guess they have factored the launch rate to match the weather conditions, wind, rain, temperature and jetstream? :O

OAP

Today's "Times" refers to "both vertical and horizontal launch sites". Vertical I can understand, but horizontal? I thought the Great British Ground-Grabber had been retired,

They are putting a couple of million into it, plus another couple for the other sites, that will probably build the road to the Scottish site, and why four? all that does is dilute the spending across each one.

Here's another one of those spaceports that was years ahead of its time and financing. I went by the office in T or C a few weeks ago but decided not to buy the ticket for the bus ride out to the Jornada del Muerto basin.

Quote:

New Mexico’s Sad Bet on Space Exploration

Spaceport America was supposed to bring a thriving space industry to the southern New Mexico desert—but for now it’s a futurist tourist attraction, not an operational harbor to the cosmos.

https://cdn.theatlantic.com/assets/m...jpg?1519743225

Nigel Young / Foster and Partners

Ingrid Burrington
Mar 2, 2018

Soon after departing the small resort town of Truth or Consequences, New Mexico, the video monitors on the bus come to life. Stars glitter in the night sky, a mystical flute soundtrack lilts, and a narrator’s voice intones: “All that you see around you was at the bottom of the sea.” The Conquistadors named the flat desert basin that formed after the sea receded Jornada del Muerto, or Journey of the Dead Man. As the bus lumbers through it, the narrator chronicles humanity’s fixation with the mysteries of the sky.This is the road to Spaceport America, which bills itself as “the world’s first purpose-built commercial spaceport.” But to believe the tourist-bus video, it’s not just a dormant industrial park erected with the promise of economic revitalization. It’s the latest stop in humankind’s ageless reach for the stars.

Spaceport America lies about 20 miles southeast of Truth or Consequences, roughly 50 miles north of Las Cruces, and at a perpetually indeterminate moment in the near future. Although the spaceport has been flight-worthy since 2010, the first launch by its anchor tenant, Virgin Galactic, still hasn’t taken off. While the private space industry appears to be at a major turning point elsewhere in the world, its impacts haven’t quite reached the small New Mexico cities banking on its future. There aren’t many places where a spaceport like this, meant to service an international community, is feasible. Given the state’s large and controversial investment in the project, its success or failure might have broad impact on private space travel.

https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2018/03/new-mexicos-sad-bet-on-space-exploration/554243/

And I always thought that launching as close as possible to and heading towards the equator was the ideal location and direction for a rocket aiming for orbit or beyond. That, and in an easterly direction (preferably over water, just in case).

Seems my secondary school level physics along with all those NASA and EASA folk were just wrong.

The top of Scotland was the place to start.

JAS

This is about as likely to be completed as Tempest.

I thought it would be considered as a good news for UK. For many decades I was surprised that the UK (government) did not pay attention to space activities and the country was lacked far behind France, Germany and even Italy (note that Italy is now producing the Vega launcher for small-sized payloads). And while cooperating with ESA (European Space Agency) I met many brilliant British engineers who had to work (and reside) in the Netherlands, Belgium and (less) in Germany just because the UK did not participate in many space programmes. Things started to change in the last 5-7 years and IMHO the idea about having a launch pad in Scotland is in line with those changes.
Commercially wise, such business will unlikely bring much profit (as the market is quite crowded) but not necessarily be a total loss. In this particular case, having LockMart behind the industrial consortium seems to be a good sign as those guys are shrewd businessmen.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Just a spotter (Post 10198378)

Depends what orbit you want. For geostationary (most comms satellites) and manned (can get higher mass into a low inclination orbit) equatorial is good. If you want a high-inclination or polar orbit (earth imaging, high-latitude comms), launching from higher latitudes is not a problem. In fact if you want a sun-synchronous (slightly retrograde) orbit, as commonly used for Earth imaging, launching from the equator is a disadvantage, and your ideal launch point would be from a high latitude.
As you say, launching over water is handy, especially if your first stage is non-reusable.

Quote:

Originally Posted by NutLoose (Post 10198355)

Political flim-flam. This "spending" won't even pay for the road SIGN'S, never mind,...a road.:hmm:
My most generous guess is that it could be a cover story for a UK controlled mini spy sat launch capability, possibly useful but, pretty much a loss leader and not a "spaceport", mind you, neither is the concept of space tourists from Newquay. :)

OAP

I guess it depends upon whether the authorities are aiming for satellites only or for people/space tourism as well.

Also, whether the Scaled Composites/SpaceShipOne approach will ultimately win over the usual rocket method. The latter seems tragic and it is a pity the former seems stalled after that sad crash.

If SpaceShiOne got going, Bristol, with its excellent connections, has a stonking great runway at Filton which needs snapping up before it is turned into a load of unaffordable "affordable" housing and an out of town retail extravaganza.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scaled_Composites