UPHAM, N.M. (AP) — State officials have vowed to push on to ensure Spaceport America becomes a success despite a recent tragedy that has delayed commercial space flights by Virgin Galactic, the anchor tenant at the taxpayer-financed spaceport in southern New Mexico.
The New Mexico Spaceport Authority is developing a plan that includes hiring more staff to boost marketing efforts aimed at diversifying the spaceport’s client base.
Christine Anderson, the authority’s executive director, tells the Albuquerque Journal and the Las Cruces Sun-News that it’s important to remember that it’s not the Virgin Galactic Spaceport, but rather Spaceport America.
“Up to now, we were focused on building the spaceport, which was a humongous task,” she said, acknowledging that it was designed around Virgin Galactic’s needs. “We have to now adjust our business strategies.”
Speculation about the future has been swirling in the wake of Virgin Galactic’s spaceship breaking up over the California desert during a test flight on Oct. 31. One pilot was killed and another was seriously injured.
While it could be at least six months before the space tourism company resumes tests flights, it’s unclear how soon commercial flights could begin from the spaceport. And the longer it takes Virgin Galactic to launch operations in New Mexico, the more pressure builds on the spaceport authority to generate revenue needed to keep the facility open.
Anderson said during a legislative meeting the day before Virgin Galactic’s testing mishap that the spaceport would face a $1.5 million budget shortfall starting in July if Virgin Galactic didn’t start flying next year.
That shortfall is expected to be more now that the company will likely not fly during the 2016 fiscal year, Anderson said.
Some possibilities to ensure the spaceport’s economic viability range from concerts and photo shoots to aircraft testing. But Anderson has declined to name any potential customers, saying talks are ongoing with at least a handful of companies.
Even before the Virgin Galactic incident, industry experts said New Mexico had done little to recruit more space companies, thus turning the $219 million spaceport into a one-trick pony tied to the fortunes of Virgin Galactic.
UP Aerospace has been flying payload rockets to suborbit from Spaceport America’s vertical launch pad since 2006, but president and CEO Jerry Larson said the spaceport’s business plan has been “too narrow” from the start.
“They’re focused on one tenant and one type of launch method,” Larson said, referring to Virgin’s strategy of horizontally launching its mother ship from the runway.
“The spaceport’s vertical launch pad has been more of an afterthought, with few funds put into developing that part of the facility,” Larson said. “They constructed the spaceport with all their eggs in one basket.”
That strategy began almost a decade ago under then-Gov. Bill Richardson’s administration. Now, the spaceport authority expects to request capital outlay funds in the next legislative session to build more hangars and to further develop infrastructure at the vertical launch pad.
But New Mexico has already lost ground to other spaceports in Texas, California and Florida as competition increases in the commercial space industry. Nine spaceports are now licensed by the Federal Aviation Administration, and about 10 more are under construction.
Patricia Hynes, director of the Space Grant Consortium at New Mexico State University, said it’s urgent for New Mexico to show leadership now.
“We have a 12,000-foot runway out there. We need to use it. It is state property. We need to be talking about it as a community,” she said. “There’s a lot of discussions we need to have. There are a lot of things we have to look at.”
