U.S. Looking for New Sites for Commercial Space Launches

From the sands of Florida to the palm-fringed shores of Hawaii, the U.S. government is looking for a beachhead for the next wave of space business: the commercial launch site.

Until now, most U.S. commercial payloads have been launched from Cape Canaveral on the Florida coast aboard government vehicles such as the space shuttle.

But the first U.S.-licensed commercial sub-orbital launch was completed March 29 at the White Sands Missile Range in New Mexico, and the first orbital commercial launch is set to go from Cape Canaveral this month.

With 28 commercial launches planned from Cape Canaveral through 1993, the U.S. government foresees potential launch-lock: space business projects being delayed to make room for government projects.

“Already we see crowding down at the launch pads,” said Stephanie Lee-Miller, director of the federal Office of Commercial Space Transportation.

7 Market Services

She said seven private U.S. companies now market commercial launch services: Martin Marietta Inc., McDonnell Douglas Corp., General Dynamics Corp., Space Services Inc. of America, American Rocket Co., Conatec Inc., and Space Data Corp.

And as agencies from Europe, China and Australia increase their capacity for commercial launches, the United States does not want to get shut out of the market, Lee-Miller said.

“The commercial-launch market could be easily dominated by one or two countries,” she said at a briefing.

In fact, the European Space Agency’s Arianespace facility in Kourou, French Guiana, commands more than half the world’s commercial satellite launching market.

Lee-Miller acknowledged that part of the reason for its success could be an aversion to the bureaucratic red tape that can stall U.S.-launched commercial missions. With a total investment of more than $500 million, a company can hardly afford to have a launch delayed for long.

Another key player could be China, which last year pledged to develop its commercial launch capabilities at a site near Xichang in Sichuan province.

Venture Discussed

An Australian venture that would be owned jointly by Australian, American and Japanese investors is being discussed--and one of its first launches would reportedly be with a Soviet rocket. A Brazilian site is also under consideration.

With such international competition, the pressure is on the United States, said Norman Bowles, who is responsible for licensing U.S. commercial sites.

So far, two proposals have come in, Bowles said.

Florida has suggested using three inactive launch pads at Cape Canaveral as a separate commercial facility, and Hawaii proposed two sites near the city of Hilo.

Both potential sites have the requisite warm weather and launch routes over water, and both could be operational by 1992, Bowles said.

The Hawaiian option may appeal to Japanese communications companies because of its Pacific location, while the Cape Canaveral commercial site may help retain those companies accustomed to launching from there, Bowles said.

The only problem with this ambitious plan could be communications companies and others that might take advantage of it are not convinced of the need for commercial space ports, as the launch sites are known.