Local authorities in Scotland have approved spaceport concept
Capitalism in space: Local authorities in northern Scotland have recommended that planning of a private spaceport in Sutherland should move forward.
Will this happen? I wonder, based on this detail from the article:
Councillors on Highland Council’s north planning applications committee will consider the proposals for Space Hub Sutherland on Friday.
The local authority has received 457 objections to the plans and 118 representations in support of them. Impact on the environment and risk to human health are among the reasons for the objections.
Local community councils have supported the project because it is expected to create new jobs.
The article implies that the local communities support the project, but I’m not sure. Either way, in our fear-driven society today getting that many objections would be is a major hurdle for any project to leap.
On Christmas Eve 1968 three Americans became the first humans to visit another world. What they did to celebrate was unexpected and profound, and will be remembered throughout all human history. Genesis: the Story of Apollo 8, Robert Zimmerman's classic history of humanity's first journey to another world, tells that story, and it is now available as both an ebook and an audiobook, both with a foreword by Valerie Anders and a new introduction by Robert Zimmerman.
The ebook is available everywhere for $5.99 (before discount) at amazon, or direct from my ebook publisher, ebookit. If you buy it from ebookit you don't support the big tech companies and the author gets a bigger cut much sooner.
The audiobook is also available at all these vendors, and is also free with a 30-day trial membership to Audible.
"Not simply about one mission, [Genesis] is also the history of America's quest for the moon... Zimmerman has done a masterful job of tying disparate events together into a solid account of one of America's greatest human triumphs."--San Antonio Express-News
Capitalism in space: Local authorities in northern Scotland have recommended that planning of a private spaceport in Sutherland should move forward.
Will this happen? I wonder, based on this detail from the article:
Councillors on Highland Council’s north planning applications committee will consider the proposals for Space Hub Sutherland on Friday.
The local authority has received 457 objections to the plans and 118 representations in support of them. Impact on the environment and risk to human health are among the reasons for the objections.
Local community councils have supported the project because it is expected to create new jobs.
The article implies that the local communities support the project, but I’m not sure. Either way, in our fear-driven society today getting that many objections would be is a major hurdle for any project to leap.
On Christmas Eve 1968 three Americans became the first humans to visit another world. What they did to celebrate was unexpected and profound, and will be remembered throughout all human history. Genesis: the Story of Apollo 8, Robert Zimmerman's classic history of humanity's first journey to another world, tells that story, and it is now available as both an ebook and an audiobook, both with a foreword by Valerie Anders and a new introduction by Robert Zimmerman.
The ebook is available everywhere for $5.99 (before discount) at amazon, or direct from my ebook publisher, ebookit. If you buy it from ebookit you don't support the big tech companies and the author gets a bigger cut much sooner.
The audiobook is also available at all these vendors, and is also free with a 30-day trial membership to Audible.
"Not simply about one mission, [Genesis] is also the history of America's quest for the moon... Zimmerman has done a masterful job of tying disparate events together into a solid account of one of America's greatest human triumphs."--San Antonio Express-News
“Hurtle” – Verb: to move at high speed, in an uncontrolled manner..
“Hurdle” – Noun: a barrier athletes in a foot race must jump over.
Ray Van Dune: Thank you. Typo fixed.
You are welcome, and I should have added, I agree with your assessment of the hurdles the project faces.
The market for a high-latitude private spaceport kind of escapes me. The former “Kodiak” location in Alaska at least offers a wide range of Southerly launch azimuths over the pretty damn near empty North Pacific.
This Moine location would seem to offer only Northerly launches, being blocked to the south by the UK and Ireland, and to the east by Scandinavia and Russia. Westerly? Oof… perhaps not a good option for smallsat-class boosters!
Ray, what about ”point-to-point“ travel by global rocket? Doesn‘t every large city need a spaceport?
A land spaceport for p2p only really makes sense for a winged rocketplane, and the only real difference from an existing airport in that case is the ability to serve unpowered, gliding landings as a normal feature rather than as an emergency situation (and to supply rocket fuel, and perhaps a hangar large enough for a launcher aircraft). For a VTVL, well, Elon’s not designing CVN-sized barges just for grins; the massive noise generated on a regular (daily?) schedule would get suborbitals kicked out of most cities in a hurry, never mind the collateral risks of a crash in an urban environment.
Just as the NRO made Rocketlab launch the NRO satellites from Virginia, I’m sure the UK will want to do the same thing. It doesn’t have to be in Scotland but it has to be somewhere.
With the UK leaving the E.U. and becoming a real country again, it is vitally important to national security to be able to launch its space assets from its own soil.