British commercial spaceport competition
The UK government announced plans in early 2014 to select a site, build a commercial spaceport, and have it in operation by 2018.
The spaceport is intended to be used to launch both human-carrying flights and commercial satellite missions.[1][2][1]
As of March 2015[update], six potential locations were still being considered.
History
The spaceport plan is a part of a broader plan announced by the government in April 2014.[3] Earlier references and statements about a UK spaceport, with explicit statements about HTHL spaceplanes, date back at least to 2012.[4]
A site selection process got underway in 2014. The sites of interest were principally Scottish, such as Campbeltown Airport, Glasgow Prestwick Airport (Scotland), Kinloss Barracks, RAF Leuchars (Scotland), RAF Lossiemouth and Stornoway Airport, but they also included Llanbedr Airport in Wales and Newquay Cornwall Airport in England."[2] The first phase of the evaluation process objective was to develop a shortlist.[2]
Shortlist: early 2015
The shortlist was released in March 2015, and only two airfields were ruled out. In narrowing the field, the overriding imperative of the licensing authorities was to find a location that limits danger and inconvenience to the general public. This led to all five of the short-listed locations being situated in coastal areas. The government ruled out two airfields in its consultation process: RAF Lossiemouth and Kinloss Barracks, in Scotland, due to operational defence reasons.[5]
The shortlist locations selected were:[5]
- Campbeltown Airport
- Glasgow Prestwick Airport
- Stornoway Airport
- Newquay Cornwall Airport
- Llanbedr Airport
- RAF Leuchars was confirmed as a potential temporary facility.[5]
See also
References
- ^ a b McKie, Robin (13 July 2014). "Britain plans to build commercial spaceport". The Guardian. Retrieved 25 July 2013.
- ^ a b c Bergin, Chris (25 July 2014). "British government reveal vision for the UK's first spaceport". NASAspaceflight.com. Retrieved 15 July 2014.
- ^ Shaping the future of the UK space sector, April 2014.
- ^ UK.gov to clear way for Britain's first SPACEPORT, 11 July 2012.
- ^ a b c UK ministers issue spaceport shortlist, BBC.
External links
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