UK Spaceport

vivatifosi

The government and space industry in the UK have published a few papers on the space industry here over the past year or so and as a sector it achieves a good rate of growth.

In terms of the UK space port, it seems that they are looking to launch much smaller satellites. This involves using a very long runway to launch aircraft which in turn launch the satellites, rather than launching rockets. This Telegraph article has a good summary:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/newsbysector/industry/engineering/11734494/UK-space-industry-punching-above-its-weight-in-the-global-market.html

Surprised that, per the article, we have a good size chunk of this industry already. £11.8bn pa sector, 8.8% growth pa, 37,000 people directly employed. Aim is to grow the sector to £40bn by 2030.

The background info:

Report "Case for Space" by the industry:
http://www.ukspace.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/LE-Case-for-Space-2015-Full-Report.pdf

Report "National Space Policy" from the government:
https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/484864/NSP_-_Final.pdf

.string.

On latitude and launch direction:

Launching over the sea is favoured to avoid landing on populated areas.
So Torquay is good for that, but launching westwards is against the rotation of the Earth --- so much for the benefits of southern ports for that mission.

Launching Eastwards would get the advantage back, but the rocket would potentially, be like an incoming missile for London.

Launching North/South for a polar orbit would even things out, and Polar orbits can be useful.

In the end, the economics will rule; after all the origin of the Spaceport lies in the Virgin Joy Ride project, so in a way who cares. The view will be what matters.

In the latter case the economics of the latter presumably depend on the location being convenient to potential customers, logistics and public accessibility.

I've not seen the business model for this; if anyone finds it please post it.
Cheers

vivatifosi

It isn't a rocket per se string, it is a HTHL (horizontal take off, horizontal landing) space plane. This is more like the Virgin Galactic type space plane.

From a beeb article last year:
The emphasis will be on the expected emergence of a new breed of low-cost rocket planes that can launch fare-paying passengers to sub-orbital altitudes and also satellites into orbit.

In terms of the model, it looks government funded initially:
Most of potential vehicles are still quite some time away from flying, but ministers believe that if the UK gets its act together now, the nation can catch the first wave when it arrives.


http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-31711083

.string.

Yes - I see I did use the word rocket - habit I guess. I should have used a different word like vehicle.

The Physics are the same though.

unforeseen

It looks as though the list of possibles are what used to be called master diversion aerodromes that have a long runway

Campbeltown - ex RAF Macrihanish
Newquay = ex RAF St Mawgan
Prestwick = self explanatory (ex RN & RAF)
Llanbedr = ex RAE/Dera. Although not an MDA it had an extended runway to act as Vulcan dispersal site
Stornoway = has a history of military use as a NATO FOB and Atlantic stopovers (Don't think this was ever a MDA)

The other common thing is that the main runways point out to sea

zagubov

unforeseen wrote: »

It looks as though the list of possibles are what used to be called master diversion aerodromes that have a long runway

Campbeltown - ex RAF Macrihanish
Newquay = ex RAF St Mawgan
Prestwick = self explanatory (ex RN & RAF)
Llanbedr = ex RAE/Dera. Although not an MDA it had an extended runway to act as Vulcan dispersal site
Stornoway = has a history of military use as a NATO FOB and Atlantic stopovers (Don't think this was ever a MDA)

The other common thing is that the main runways point out to sea

It makes sense when you think about it I suppose. You need an airport with a long runway but not in a location where it could otherwise be developed as part of a city's infrastructure (and be expensive).