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mithridates
Joined: 03 Mar 2003
Location: President's office, Korean Space Agency
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 Posted: Fri Apr 06, 2007 4:46 pm Post subject: New Mexico county is great |
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Nice work.
http://www.physorg.com/news95051594.html
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N.M. County Passes Spaceport Tax
(AP) -- Voters in a southern New Mexico county have approved a tax to raise an estimated $49 million toward a $198 million tourism spaceport, according to unofficial returns Thursday.
Residents of Dona Ana County voted on the sales tax Tuesday in what backers said was a make-or-break election for the state-supported Spaceport America.
"This positive vote for the spaceport ballot initiative means America's new frontier begins in southern New Mexico," Gov. Bill Richardson said Thursday. "I'm proud that the people of Dona Ana County chose a high-tech and high-wage future, with better math and science education, and expanded opportunities for young men and women right here in New Mexico."
The complex would cover 27 square miles of desert near White Sands Missile Range, where the U.S. launched its first rocket after World War II. Its anchor tenant would be British millionaire Richard Branson's Virgin Galactic.
Branson envisions starting suborbital rocket flights, at about $200,000 a person, in 2009. Eventually, the spaceport could offer trips into orbit and beyond.
Unofficial results from the county clerk's office showed the tax leading by 265 votes out of more than 17,000 cast, and only 108 provisional ballots were left to be counted, county election supervisor Lynn Ellins said.
Provisional ballots are cast by people whose names don't appear on the voting roster or who cannot meet identification requirements. The clerk's office must check each ballot to make sure the person is registered and hadn't already voted.
"New Mexico is really poised now to be the launchpad for this whole personal space flight industry," said Rick Homans, the state economic development secretary.
The voting results will probably encourage investors, banks and other governments considering backing the industry, he said.
Critics argued that the venture is too risky and that the tax would be a better spent on existing county problems.
"We shouldn't be taxing the poor. This spaceport is a state project, it should be funded statewide," said Dona Ana County Commissioner Oscar Vasquez Butler. "We have a lot of poverty, we have a lot of needs in terms of sewers, roads and drainage and 45 percent of our children are without health care." |
I like how you always have a person coming in and saying that the county would be better off without the benefits coming in from a spaceport. Yeah, having billionaire Richard Branson setting up shop in your county won't help at all.  |
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Gopher
Joined: 04 Jun 2005
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| Posted: Fri Apr 06, 2007 8:11 pm Post subject: |
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Mithridates: you seem to address some inside issue that I am not aware of. I do not understand your sarcastic commentary.
I think it is an interesting and important story -- doubly so because voters are helping to enable and drive this. Exciting to see grass-roots activity involved in such activities. |
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mithridates
Joined: 03 Mar 2003
Location: President's office, Korean Space Agency
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| Posted: Fri Apr 06, 2007 8:33 pm Post subject: |
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| Gopher wrote: |
| Mithridates: you seem to address some inside issue that I am not aware of. I do not understand your sarcastic commentary. |
That's because I wasn't being sarcastic at all, except towards the last person who was opposed to the tax for a silly reason. There's always one person who opposes forays into space because we haven't fixed each and every last problem on Earth first.
Maybe the comment towards the last person made it look like I was being sarcastic about the whole thing, but not at all; the reason I started the thread is because this is exactly how I feel:
| Mith agrees with what Gopher wrote: |
| I think it is an interesting and important story -- doubly so because voters are helping to enable and drive this. Exciting to see grass-roots activity involved in such activities. |
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EFLtrainer
Joined: 04 May 2005
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| Posted: Fri Apr 06, 2007 8:43 pm Post subject: Re: New Mexico county is great |
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| mithridates wrote: |
Nice work.
http://www.physorg.com/news95051594.html
| Quote: |
N.M. County Passes Spaceport Tax
(AP) -- Voters in a southern New Mexico county have approved a tax to raise an estimated $49 million toward a $198 million tourism spaceport, according to unofficial returns Thursday.
Residents of Dona Ana County voted on the sales tax Tuesday in what backers said was a make-or-break election for the state-supported Spaceport America.
"This positive vote for the spaceport ballot initiative means America's new frontier begins in southern New Mexico," Gov. Bill Richardson said Thursday. "I'm proud that the people of Dona Ana County chose a high-tech and high-wage future, with better math and science education, and expanded opportunities for young men and women right here in New Mexico."
The complex would cover 27 square miles of desert near White Sands Missile Range, where the U.S. launched its first rocket after World War II. Its anchor tenant would be British millionaire Richard Branson's Virgin Galactic.
Branson envisions starting suborbital rocket flights, at about $200,000 a person, in 2009. Eventually, the spaceport could offer trips into orbit and beyond.
Unofficial results from the county clerk's office showed the tax leading by 265 votes out of more than 17,000 cast, and only 108 provisional ballots were left to be counted, county election supervisor Lynn Ellins said.
Provisional ballots are cast by people whose names don't appear on the voting roster or who cannot meet identification requirements. The clerk's office must check each ballot to make sure the person is registered and hadn't already voted.
"New Mexico is really poised now to be the launchpad for this whole personal space flight industry," said Rick Homans, the state economic development secretary.
The voting results will probably encourage investors, banks and other governments considering backing the industry, he said.
Critics argued that the venture is too risky and that the tax would be a better spent on existing county problems.
"We shouldn't be taxing the poor. This spaceport is a state project, it should be funded statewide," said Dona Ana County Commissioner Oscar Vasquez Butler. "We have a lot of poverty, we have a lot of needs in terms of sewers, roads and drainage and 45 percent of our children are without health care." |
I like how you always have a person coming in and saying that the county would be better off without the benefits coming in from a spaceport. Yeah, having billionaire Richard Branson setting up shop in your county won't help at all. |
Branson has 49 mil in his back pocket. It's ridiculous for him to ask the people to underwrite him on this, regardless of the benefits. It's no different than pro sports teams doing the same. Any community that agrees to paying the rich to make them pay hundreds of dollars to use what they have already paid for is stupid. |
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mithridates
Joined: 03 Mar 2003
Location: President's office, Korean Space Agency
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| Posted: Fri Apr 06, 2007 8:52 pm Post subject: |
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There's a similar discussion going on at slashdot.org, and this comment seems to be the most pertinent here (the one not in italics):
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et's think about how absurd this is: a man worth about $7.8BN (which represents about 11% of New Mexico's GDP) just got one quarter of his spaceport paid for by people who make on average $29-33k, so that people with multi-million-dollar net worths can blast themselves into space?
No... They paid for part of the spaceport so he'd build it where they live and so that those multi-millionaires would come to spend their money where they live. He was going to build it anyway, and he was almost certainly not going to build it in New Mexico without any incentive to do so.
Let me put the numbers in proportion for you: if Branson took one third of his net worth (percentage-wise, not too out of line with what the residents of the county just did for his little corporate venture) and divided it amongst ALL the people of the county, he would effectively raise the median income by 50%.
You're right, it was pretty stupid of the residents not to vote for Branson to give them a 3rd of his net worth.
Or hey, they should have voted to end the Iraq War and have all the defense spending sent to them. Then they'd all be rich and their problems would be over!
How many jobs will this spaceport actually bring in that residents in the county within commuting distance will be qualified for? And don't they realize that the spaceport will bring in a lot of much higher paid people (engineers, technical staff, etc), who will drive property values through the roof as they snap up land for McMansions? Cue the trickle down economics comments.
Yeah, I know, trickle down sucks, but it's what they're dealing with. I'm sure they'd feel so much smarter watching the space port be built somewhere else and having the money of these tourists come in somewhere else while their own economy continues to go down the shitter.
But you know New Mexico is large and sparsely populated. I wouldn't be too concerned about the property values driving out locals. Those engineers will need houses, they'll need food, the rich tourists will need lodging, that's all jobs and money coming into the community.
Is this the best thing for them? Well we'll have to see. It really depends on what happens to Virgin Galactic. If it succeeds, then this little place in New Mexico that you've never heard of before could become a significant tourist destination. |
I'm in support of it anyway just because Bill Richardson is in support of it and I think he's great. |
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EFLtrainer
Joined: 04 May 2005
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| Posted: Fri Apr 06, 2007 9:24 pm Post subject: |
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Again, in the end,who's going to get the money? Taxes come from everyone. Does everyone benefit? No. This is simple. If he wants money from the people, let him sell stock or use profit sharing, etc.
Branson is a god compared to many of his ilk, but this is still not a fair solution. |
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mithridates
Joined: 03 Mar 2003
Location: President's office, Korean Space Agency
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| Posted: Sat Apr 07, 2007 4:01 am Post subject: |
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| EFLtrainer wrote: |
Again, in the end,who's going to get the money? Taxes come from everyone. Does everyone benefit? No. This is simple. If he wants money from the people, let him sell stock or use profit sharing, etc.
Branson is a god compared to many of his ilk, but this is still not a fair solution. |
Well, it was put to a referendum to the people that actually live there so I'm going to assume they've given it a lot of thought and have decided it'll be in their best interests. If the tax was imposed on only this one county from the state legislature then there might be some problems, but they seem to be prepared to make a bit of a sacrifice to see their small corner of the world become the centre of something important. Plus, it's only a 0.25% sales tax. Maybe it's the Canadian in me talking but I wouldn't even notice 0.25% tacked onto my bill. |
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EFLtrainer
Joined: 04 May 2005
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| Posted: Sat Apr 07, 2007 6:02 am Post subject: |
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You're either missing or misunderstanding the point. Perhaps ignoring it. "They" didn't agree to anything. Some percentage did. The rest potentially get nothing out of it despite paying for it. Again, Branson could fund this himself, so there's no reason to ask anyone else to do so.
We call it welfare when public money goes to individuals. We call it funding when it goes to businesses. Go figure. |
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mithridates
Joined: 03 Mar 2003
Location: President's office, Korean Space Agency
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| Posted: Sat Apr 07, 2007 8:18 am Post subject: |
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| EFLtrainer wrote: |
| You're either missing or misunderstanding the point. Perhaps ignoring it. "They" didn't agree to anything. Some percentage did. The rest potentially get nothing out of it despite paying for it. Again, Branson could fund this himself, so there's no reason to ask anyone else to do so. |
Well, the company's part of a larger group, not one like SpaceX that is run solely out of the pocketbook of its founder before it goes public. Virgin will be investing $250 million in the project too, and for a company that has yet to turn a profit that's quite a bit. And in the end, the only way to decide things is a vote, and since a majority said yes that means more want it than not, so it really is their decision. Virgin is also looking at a location in Sweden to do the launches so if the county in New Mexico showed that they clearly weren't interested then they probably would have given up and done it there instead (although Sweden will probably be the second launch site because they expect to expand). New Mexico isn't the only place in the world to launch suborbital flights. The plan is to move the company's headquarters and all its 200 employees from London to New Mexico, so it's not just a few rich people popping in and out a few times a year. And like I said, I trust the word of Bill Richardson over that of anybody on this site when it comes to what's best for the state. I hope he becomes the next president.
Here's the pdf on a number of questions asked before the vote:
http://www.spaceportamerica.com/downloads/countyCommisionersMtgQnA.pdf |
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mithridates
Joined: 03 Mar 2003
Location: President's office, Korean Space Agency
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| Posted: Sat Apr 07, 2007 9:07 am Post subject: |
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Oh, and here's a better breakdown of the exact figures. Since a spaceport once built is like any other air/sea/spaceport, the infrastructure will be there for any other company that feels like offering a service. It's not so much just Virgin running the whole thing as N.M. building the spaceport and Virgin leasing it out as the main tenant for a few decades.
This reminds me, I'd better check how the first airports were built and run. I wonder if it happened the same way.
| Quote: |
New Mexico's local media are reporting that Dona Ana county voters have endorsed, by a slim majority, the proposition to raise a local sales tax to contribute to the cost of constructing the proposed $198 million Spaceport America, located 72km (45 miles) north of Las Cruces city.
The final result is expected on Thursday. If positive, Dona Ana county's local sales tax revenue for the spaceport is expected to raise around $48 million. A further $11 million could come from the combined contributions of the Sierra and Otera counties, if their forthcoming ballots are also positive.
The counties are expected to provide $59 million of the spaceport's projected $198 million construction bill. A further $115 million has already been appropriated by the state, and $25 million should come from related local government road building and a final $25 million from federal government funding.
Last month the state legislature released $33 million of the state's $115 million for the spaceport's final design engineering, construction bid process and initial road construction. Suborbital tourism company Virgin Galactic and the New Mexico Spaceport Authority also signed a memorandum of agreement (MoA) for a potential 20-year spaceport leasing deal worth more than $27 million.
Virgin Galactic is the designated anchor tenant for the spaceport, which is expected to start operating in 2010. |
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mithridates
Joined: 03 Mar 2003
Location: President's office, Korean Space Agency
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| Posted: Sat Apr 07, 2007 9:14 am Post subject: |
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Ooh, not directly related but I just realized that the Soyuz to the ISS is launching in 15 minutes. That rich guy is on board along with two cosmonauts. For anybody that wants to see the launch:
http://www.space.com/ISS/ |
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mithridates
Joined: 03 Mar 2003
Location: President's office, Korean Space Agency
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| Posted: Sat Apr 07, 2007 9:44 am Post subject: |
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| Nice. A perfect launch. I like the little black cat doll the one guy took on board; it's floating around now that they're in zero-g. I think NASA should really make the switch over to metric though, both in broadcasts and inner usage as well. Statute miles and feet per second etc. is an archaic way to give altitude and velocity. |
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huffdaddy
Joined: 25 Nov 2005
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mithridates
Joined: 03 Mar 2003
Location: President's office, Korean Space Agency
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| Posted: Mon Apr 09, 2007 6:40 am Post subject: |
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That's quite the addictive game, thanks. I've been using it to show some people I know (that know nothing about space) how orbits work when you first encounter a planet when it's not completely circular yet. A 3D version with the planets moving too would be even better. |
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mithridates
Joined: 03 Mar 2003
Location: President's office, Korean Space Agency
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| Posted: Mon Apr 09, 2007 6:48 am Post subject: |
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Oh, and back to the main subject, now that the votes have all been tallied:
http://www.dailytech.com/article.aspx?newsid=6829
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Science Voters Approve Funding For Spaceport America
Spaceport America, which will eventually be located in the desert of New Mexico, is one step closer to construction thanks to a Spaceport Tax
Voters in Dona Ana County, New Mexico went to the polls to make the state a launchpad for space tourism. Last week, voters approved a one-quarter of 1 percent tax that will be used to pay for the construction of Spaceport America. The tax will help generate $6.5 million per year for up to 20 years for the project.
The vote won in 61 precincts and lost in 39, with six precincts coming in with a tie.
The $198 million project will create a spaceport that will cover 27 square miles of desert near the White Sands Missile Range. The idea behind the spaceport is to be able to launch suborbital rocket flights -- for about $200,000 per person -- from the spaceport. Launches into orbit and further is a long-term goal that will be taken into consideration after a few years of successful launches.
"New Mexico is really poised now to be the launchpad for this whole personal space flight industry," said Rick Homans, State Economic Development Secretary.
The company previously worked with New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson to secure up to $33 million for funding of the spaceport in the desert. The final design and engineering of Spaceport America will now be able to move into "high gear" because of the passing of the Spaceport Tax.
There have been a number of road bumps that both state officials and Spaceport officials have had to deal with the past two years. Along with having to secure state funding, officials had to get approval for estimated project costs, sign multiple lease agreements with ranchers and State Land Office, and form relationships with a number of state-operated organizations in New Mexico.
Spaceport America should be fully operational by late 2009 or early 2010. |
And the comments too, because we might as well preempt anybody that has something to say that's already been said elsewhere:
| Quote: |
wow
By apollo7 on 4/7/07, Rating: 5
By apollo7 on 4/7/2007 7:38:31 PM , Rating: 5
Honestly, I'm quite surprised about this post. After reading about all the spaceport stuff that dailytech has posted in the past, I really thought it was just wishful thinking. So I never really researched much into it. I thought that it wouldn't be until sometime around 2015 or later before they actually got this stuff in motion.
Kudos to the residents of New Mexico btw.
RE: wow
By KaiserCSS on 4/7/07, Rating: 1
By KaiserCSS on 4/7/2007 8:35:53 PM , Rating: 1
Definitely. Great to see a lot of support for the program so early on.
... but isn't it ironic that New Mexico is the chosen location for a spaceport? Roswell, anyone?
RE: wow
By Vertigo101 on 4/7/07, Rating: 2
By Vertigo101 on 4/7/2007 9:53:15 PM , Rating: 2
Let me say that as an employee of White Sands Missile Range, Birthplace of America's Missile and Space Activity, among other things (Trinity Site), the area isn't a bad choice, if you think the program as a whole is actually going anywhere. 
(As an aside, we need the jobs down here.)
Parent
RE: wow
By bigboxes on 4/7/07, Rating: -1
By bigboxes on 4/7/2007 11:25:20 PM , Rating: -1
Roswell is in New Mexico.
RE: wow
By Spivonious on 4/9/07, Rating: 2
By Spivonious on 4/9/2007 10:13:18 AM , Rating: 2
...and that's why it's ironic. Do you read posts before replying to them?
RE: wow
By Scrogneugneu on 4/8/07, Rating: 4
By Scrogneugneu on 4/8/2007 2:42:20 AM , Rating: 4
And I wondered how that tax vote passed... now I get it : little Aliens wanna go home!
RE: wow
By TomZ on 4/7/07, Rating: 3
By TomZ on 4/7/2007 9:05:29 PM , Rating: 3
The whole thing sounds silly to me. Basically, taxpayers are paying for the development of a service that only the very rich can afford to take advantage of. Sounds like the voters got duped to me.
Just because it's "space" doesn't mean that it's "good."
RE: wow
By KristopherKubicki on 4/7/07, Rating: 4
By KristopherKubicki on 4/7/2007 9:52:07 PM , Rating: 4
Pretty sure they said the same thing about airports in the 1950s.
RE: wow
By Ratwar on 4/8/07, Rating: 2
By Ratwar on 4/8/2007 2:43:47 AM , Rating: 2
True, but that still means that the New Mexico tax payers might be getting screwed. They pay for the first one, but once a spaceport proves to be viable, competing ones will undoubtedly spring up at what will probably be at a cheaper price and more efficient design, since the good people in New Mexico have paid to get rid of the kinks for everyone else.
*Sits back and waits for Spaceport Service Pack 1*
RE: wow
By masher2 on 4/8/07, Rating: 3
By masher2 on 4/8/2007 2:42:10 PM , Rating: 3
> "competing ones will undoubtedly spring up at what will probably be at a cheaper price and more efficient design"
The ports of Shanghai, Singapore, and Rotterdam were three of the first major seaports in their respective regions, starting in some cases, many centuries ago. Today, they're the three largest ports in the world.
Heavy shipping isn't the same business as selling computers...there's a lot to be said to being there first.
RE: wow
By marvdmartian on 4/9/07, Rating: 2
By marvdmartian on 4/9/2007 9:29:48 AM , Rating: 2
Yeah, but on the other hand, seaports are defined more by geography (where the natural bays occur to form harbors) than spaceports would be. Pretty much, you can build a spaceport anywhere that you have a piece of land and no one around to complain about the noise (which was the original idea for airports too, but the bozos still ended up building all around them, THEN complaining about the noise!).
Of course, the people of New Mexico that got this idea sold to them are still assuming that anyone will be willing to travel there to do a sub-orbital hop into space. And as was previously pointed out, once other spaceports are built, it's highly likely they'll lose out big time.
My only question is, who wants to start a pool on when the first piece of luggage to be lost by the luggage handlers will be??
RE: wow
By Seemonkeyscanfly on 4/9/07, Rating: 2
By Seemonkeyscanfly on 4/9/2007 10:10:28 AM , Rating: 2
quote:
My only question is, who wants to start a pool on when the first piece of luggage to be lost by the luggage handlers will be??
I'll take open for business, day number 2.
RE: wow
By masher2 on 4/9/07, Rating: 2
By masher2 on 4/9/2007 10:16:59 AM , Rating: 2
> "on the other hand, seaports are defined more by geography..."
True enough, but you still have to consider the benefits of being first, coupled with simple inertia. Look at Silicon Valley, for instance...how many firms still startup there, simply because that's where the action is?
If this spaceport is built and succeeds, there will be a large amount of infrastructure built up around it. Firms to support that infrastructure will tend to base themselves there, and firms to support those firms as well. If its succesful enough, it can become self-perpetuating....any company with a hook into orbital or suborbital flight will want at least a presence there.
RE: wow
By Aesir on 4/8/07, Rating: 1
By Aesir on 4/8/2007 7:58:00 AM , Rating: 1
Hmm, using your brains isn't exactly a natural strength of yours, is it? I mean, no offense, but its pretty obvious that very few actual New Mexico residents will take advantage of the *flight* opportunities the Spaceport will provide, at least not in the next couple decades. It's the employment opportunities that will be readily provided, and quite a few of those at that, spanning the gamut of employment possibilities from engineers to "hygiene technicians".
Being from Dona Ana I've heard all sides of the subject, and even have an english professor adamantly opposed to the Spaceport's creation. He nearly made the same mistake you did, but at least he acknowledged that there would be several high-income positions available. What he failed to recognize was that there would be a large number of low-income jobs available (space tourists need somewhere to stay, hence the "hygiene technician" positions.
What I find pretty amusing is that the world's elite and super wealthy will be spending several hundred grand to visit a mostly-barren desert (and the space above said desert, of course).
RE: wow
By Ringold on 4/8/07, Rating: 2
By Ringold on 4/8/2007 4:09:38 PM , Rating: 2
People make the same mistake when they complain about tax breaks being given to big businesses coming in and setting up facilities, like assembly plants, research labs of various sorts, and other types of big operations. They completely forget what the government's bean counters have already figured out; each high-income job created spawns 2 to 3 lower income jobs in the surrounding areas, all of whom earn and pay taxes, all of whom contribute to the growth of the area that attracts still other businesses wishing to cash in on the fact that now there's a lot more people earning a lot more money.. all of which translates in to more property tax revenue, sales tax revenue, and if the state has an income tax, much more income tax revenue.
Spaceport wins. Government wins. Citizens win -- even those who aren't employed directly or indirectly with the spaceport probably wont complain that a whole new high-paying industry employing some of America's brightest individuals is helping drive growth in their state.
Except for the old, retired people. They bitch about absolutely everything, though, so they don't count.
Oh, and that assumes this all pans out. But considering there are nearly a thousand billionaires around the world, and rapidly growing, and god only knows how many millionaires.. I think it'll work.
RE: wow
By rudy on 4/8/07, Rating: 2
By rudy on 4/8/2007 2:32:39 PM , Rating: 2
If you lived in a small town don't you think you would like to be able to service people with any business if those people had 200k to throw at a space flight? It will bring the only thing better then jobs into the area tourist with shit loads of money.
RE: wow
By AlexWade on 4/8/07, Rating: 2
By AlexWade on 4/8/2007 9:03:38 AM , Rating: 2
Hey, I want to go into space as much as the next person, probably more. But I won't pay $200,000 to do so. And that will be a problem for this place. Great ideas that are priced beyond most people's means will never succeed. Great technology that succeeded dropped in price. This spaceport better hope it does too, or there will be a lot of empty seats.
RE: wow
By Targon on 4/8/07, Rating: 2
By Targon on 4/8/2007 9:17:15 AM , Rating: 2
As time goes on, the price to go will drop, or it will stay the same but the average income will go up. Eventually it will become affordable to the average person.
Hell, a television used to cost a lot of money compared to the average income, and look at where we are today. Incomes tend to go up over time, even if they are going up slower compared to the cost of living(due to gas prices).
RE: wow
By masher2 on 4/8/07, Rating: 2
By masher2 on 4/8/2007 2:45:56 PM , Rating: 2
> "Great ideas that are priced beyond most people's means will never succeed..."
The founders of Learjet or Hinckley Yacts would disagree with you there.
RE: wow
By Ringold on 4/8/07, Rating: 2
By Ringold on 4/8/2007 4:14:06 PM , Rating: 2
I think you've tieing up NASA and private space industry in your mind. Yeah, NASA couldn't engineer its way out of an Apollo capsule these days.
Private enterprise though, on the other hand, smells profit, and when capitalists smell profit... anything can be done, unless the government stands in its way.
What is a spaceport?
By timmiser on 4/7/07, Rating: 2
By timmiser on 4/7/2007 9:47:27 PM , Rating: 2
OK, that is a glamourous word but what is it exactly? The tax will raise $6.5 million per year for 20 years. That's not really a whole lot of money. But wait, 25% of that will go to NM schools math and science programs which leaves about $5 million left. (Is this the modern way to con a voter these days?) What this is is a chunk of land, leased from ranchers and other groups, that scream out to the space companies such as Virgin Galactic and Spacely Sprockets, "Hey, this is the place to build your facilities!" The tax probably covers marketing programs to lure the space related companies there, make the land ready to develop by taking care of all the environmental impact stuff, and a whole lot of "For Lease" signs.
RE: What is a spaceport?
By thatguy39 on 4/7/07, Rating: 2
By thatguy39 on 4/7/2007 10:41:59 PM , Rating: 2
I don't even know what your point is.
(I may have skipped a jibberish lesson or two in my youth.)
RE: What is a spaceport?
By glitchc on 4/7/07, Rating: 2
By glitchc on 4/7/2007 11:29:08 PM , Rating: 2
Maybe he skipped a language lesson or two in his...
Just teasing. On a serious note, perhaps the author meant to say "What is a spaceport tax ?"
Location?
By clemedia on 4/8/07, Rating: 2
By clemedia on 4/8/2007 1:39:01 PM , Rating: 2
Wouldn't the The southern tip of Florida be a better launch point? I was under the impression the close to the equator the less energy it takes to launch. If Florida put one in, would it just bankrupt that spaceport.
That is assuming it doesn't go bankrupt by itself.
RE: Location?
By kaborka on 4/8/07, Rating: 2
By kaborka on 4/8/2007 2:07:48 PM , Rating: 2
Location does not matter for suborbital flights.
RE: Location?
By masher2 on 4/8/07, Rating: 2
By masher2 on 4/8/2007 2:57:07 PM , Rating: 2
Florida is a pretty poor choice of location for a space center...Cape Canaveral was picked more for political reasons than anything else. In addition to the extremely poor weather conditions and high watertable, land today in South Florida is exorbitantly expensive. New Mexico is a much better choice.
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