Cornwall Expects Big — Maybe Too Big — Things From Newquay Spaceport
There’s some news from Cornwall on the spaceport front:
Cornwall Council has admitted that it is ‘anticipating a positive announcement’ on the bid to have the UK’s first spaceport in Newquay bringing thousands of new jobs and an £1bn a year into the local economy.
Newquay is among eight UK sites vying to become the first spaceport in Europe as the Government aims to meet the growing interest in space tourism.
The Government is expected to announce the location of the spaceport at the Farnborough Air Show which starts on July 16.
If successful, horizontal rocket launches could take place from Newquay , which has one of the longest runways in the country, to see small size satellites put into orbit. The space sector could be worth more than £1 billion by 2030, which is more than 10 per cent of the current economy.
Editor’s Note: It looks like somebody’s got spaceport fever. Also known as Richardson Syndrome, it is a very serious condition that leads people to do and say all sorts of crazy (and often expensive) things. The only cure for that is reviewing the history of commercial spaceports. Preferable with a couple of pints on hand, which you’ll need once you realize what you’ve gotten yourself into.
I’ve lived for six years near Mojave spaceport, which hasn’t seen a spaceflight in almost 14 years. Small rocket launches aside, Spaceport America has stayed largely idle since they dedicated the Virgin Galactic Gateway to Space way back in 2011. (You don’t need to spend $225 million to launch sounding rockets.) Midland’s spaceport dreams expired when XCOR and Orbital outfitters did. Burns Flat in Oklahoma never saw a launch. Florida’s Cecil Airport is still waiting for its first spaceflight.
Maybe things will be different in Cornwall. Maybe they’ll catch a wave. Maybe the timing is finally right. I don’t know. You never say never in this business.
It’s great that they’re willing to pursue this, but they need to manage expectations. And not go giving things away on sketchy promises. One thing that helps is Newquay won’t be dependent on its space business. It’s not like they’re building a spaceport in suburban nowhere and waiting on something that is always 12 to 18 months away.
2 responses to “Cornwall Expects Big — Maybe Too Big — Things From Newquay Spaceport”
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.
The politicians get the bragging rights…and they get to spend other people’s money. It’s a win-win proposition.
There are a few things any space port needs to be successful, a good location, rail, road, air and water access if possible, as many of those as you can otherwise. Depending on where in the world it is, particularly if its Western operated, overflying populated areas is a no go. Next you need a good anchor tennant, “if you build it, they will come” doesn’t work here. Finally unless you are a LSP or other form of anchor tennant building the spaceport for yourself, you need luck,