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Puerto Rico’s Ports Authority is looking for an operator to run the island’s own spaceport

Ceiba spaceport map
The arrow points to the city of Ceiba

Puerto Rico’s Ports Authority has now issued a call for proposals from potential operators of the spaceport the authority wishes built at an airport in the town of Ceiba on the island’s eastern tip.

The developer — which would operate the Spaceport for several years, depending on the negotiation — would design and build the infrastructure needed for horizontal launches at JAT, using private capital, equity and investment.

…“Vertical launches in Puerto Rico are challenging, considering the population density, among others. However, we want to do a feasibility study for vertical launches in Puerto Rico, with an emphasis on the use of barges and launches in high seas,” the agency stated in the RFP.

Note that the first goal would be to make the airport usable for rocket companies that use an airplane for their first stage, such as Virgin Orbit and Northrop Grumman. The next step would be figure out where a vertical launchpad could be safely and practically established.

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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.

 
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25 comments

  • Andi

    Minor edit in first sentence: ” the authority wishes to build”

  • Andi: In this case no change. “The authority wishes built” is I think correct.

  • Gary

    I wonder if Puerto Rico, as a US territory, would be subject to the same regulatory regimen as the mainland? Wonder if this would be a potential option for SpaceX?

  • Gary: All the same regulations would apply, in Puerto Rico or in fact anywhere in the world. The federal bureaucracy rules the actions of any American rocket company, wherever it launches from.

  • Gary

    Oh for Galt’s Gulch.:(

  • pzatchok

    I just do no t see the need.

    Are there a shortage of possible US continental airports on the coast?

  • Jay

    They don’t have the infrastructure for this. Their roads are crumbling, power system is prone to outages, and Puerto Rico is right in the middle of hurricane alley. Also there is active volcano on the island.
    I remember writing here on the board about the problems they have on the island when I was there after hurricanes
    Maria and Irma.

  • john hare

    pzatchok
    February 24, 2023 at 1:06 pm
    I just do no t see the need.

    Are there a shortage of possible US continental airports on the coast?

    Depends on if people in Puerto Rico can close a business case for their location. If they can, or can’t, or if a US airport would be better is not for us to judge.

  • Curious if ” . . . with an emphasis on the use of barges and launches in high seas,”” should read ” . . . of barges and launches [on the] high seas,”” While there is likely some tolerance for sea state, I can’t imagine it’s overly much.

  • Andi

    Bob, I sit corrected. I didn’t read it carefully enough. Sorry to bother you!

  • Andi: No apology necessary. And you NEVER bother me. Please keep correcting me when you see an error, which I guarantee will happen again! :)

  • Edward

    pzatchok,
    The need may be due to a growing number of space launches. Eastward to southward launches are complicated by the presence of some islands, but northeastern orbital launches may work. They could always do suborbital launches, but those may require water landings, which also complicates things.

    From the article:

    [The Ports Authority] wishes to select a spaceport operator to achieve two public policy goals: sustainable job creation and economic redevelopment for the region focused on space-related activities and international cargo hub ecosystems; … and best practices for airport redevelopment that will reduce environmental impacts, realize economic benefits and improve community relations.

    For Puerto Rico, the need seems to be high technology jobs for its population and a better functioning airport (apparently the José Aponte Hernández airport at Ceiba). There may be some prestige desired, as the Arecibo radio telescope is now defunct. The potential jobs could be in the biotech industry, too:

    The project also calls for developing a business plan for the integration of biosciences and biomanufacturing in the spaceport in Ceiba, “with an emphasis on reentry and retrieval operations of highly sophisticated cargo.”

    The “emphasis on the use of barges and launches in high seas” indicates to me that they are willing to get creative in their quest for high tech jobs.

  • Col Beausabre

    Given the corruption and misgovernment in Puerto Rico – I would definitely have second and third thoughts about locating there

  • Richard M

    I’m with Jay: the weak local infrastructure is going to more than offset the favorable latitude. The medium and heavy launch providers are largely shifting toward a model of building the rockets near their launch site; and the quickie launch small class launchers who might be able to make PR work are facing a mighty shakeout, thanks to lack of demand and the pressure of SpaceX rideshare missions.

  • Sippin_bourbon

    This would require sea vessels or aircraft to ferry the rockets and payload to the island.

    But that is not uncommon. I seeing that the ESA ferries things to their sight is South America. And many items are ferried (by river) to KSC.

    I am all in favor of setting up as many spaceports as possible.

    I remember a documentary where a guy from AOPA says “A mile of highway gets you a mile down the road, but a mile of runway can take you anywhere”. The context was a discussion about closing the Meigs Airport in Chicago, one of many small airports closed, being closed, or proposed for closure. It was eliminating infrastructure.

    We are in an era where people are wanting to build the spaceports infrastructure. I say do, because there may come a time when gov tries to shut them down, and some will. Build as many as possible, create options and competition. In this economy, it may even help a few local workers, companies.

  • Sippin_bourbon

    Ug. “I am seeing…” And site, not sight.

  • pzatchok

    Just make a larger runway and then offer it up as a space port.

    In the mean time it can then be used for all other aircraft. All the other buildings should be built by the customers who will use the runway.

  • sippin_bourbon

    It has an 11000 ft runway. KSC’s is 15000.

    On one end,you would have to extend into the ocean.
    The other end has a significant displaced threshold of almost 2400 feet, indicating there is a physical obstruction of some kind. So expansion is limited.

    But why. If they are thinking rocket launches, not STS, why a longer runway?

    After looking at Google.maps, and seeing how close it is to housing and other populated area, I cannot see them launching anything big.

  • pzatchok

    Other than launch facilities everything they are asking for could just as easily be connected to a university or industrial park instead.

    This is nothing more than a jobs program.

  • Sippin_bourbon

    If it investment money, who cares. If it taxpayer money, that’s another story.

    However there is also the possibility it is just a scam, and some local pols are just looking g for another program to skim.

  • pzatchok

    There is always tax payer money involved in some way.

  • Sippin_bourbon

    If the primary funds are investors, so be it.
    Maybe it is a split. What is acceptable? 50/50? 80/20?.
    This is not the same as SLS level funding.
    We can establish infrastructure now, or play catch up in the future.

  • Edward

    Richard M wrote: “the quickie launch small class launchers who might be able to make PR work are facing a mighty shakeout, thanks to lack of demand and the pressure of SpaceX rideshare missions.

    I see the rideshare missions as evidence of the demand that already exists. The existing smallsat launch companies are already launching at their maximum rate (Virgin Orbit was delayed due to delays in approvals, not due to lack of demand or due to SpaceX’s rideshare launches).

  • pzatchok

    If the PR demand was there private companies would already be looking at the area as an investment area.

    So any proposal from PR is only looking for public funds. Private funds would already have been offered. Private companies never ask the government to lead a private company coop. But they are asked to provide the buildings and facilities that will later only be rented at extremely low rates in order to provide a few jobs.

    Later after the original use never pans out some other private company comes by and buys the facilities for almost nothing. Normally just for the land. And coast land in PR is pretty pricey. Get the local government to invest in the already running airport then politically sink the project over the next 5 years then come by and grab it up for next to nothing. Someone could pick up he property for a promise o clean it up and very discount price.

    Washington will be paying for this.

  • sippin_bourbon

    If it comes to Fed Money, then I am opposed.
    I am willing to see it play out a bit first.

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