Wisconsin may open private spaceport

UPI ^ | 10/21/05

[Right Wing Assault]

This is mission control in Sheboygan. Today's launch has been cancelled due to a snow day.

[inquest]

Wisconsin legislators are promoting a plan to create a spaceport in the country's top cheese-making state.

Odd choice of words for the reporter. Is he under the impression that Wisconsin's building this thing in order to export cheese to new interplanetary markets?

[phantomworker]

Very interesting. Just talked to the Director of Public Utilities of Sheboygan and there IS talk of building the Space Port in the Armory building there! They are trying to secure funding for it. There is no talk of a runway or landing in the Lake, however. ROFLMAO!!!! My friends back there are now thinking of building a tower on their house to watch the shuttle landings and wonder when tsunami warnings will be posted along the lakeshore. LOL

[inquest]

Another reason to put launch facilities as close to the equator as possible (i.e. Florida) has something to do with the amount of fuel required to reach orbit velocity. If you launch from the equator it takes less fuel than if you launched from Wisconsin.

The difference isn't that much. The earth rotates at about 0.46 km per second at the equator. The difference between Wisconsin and Florida can't be any more than one third of that. Minimum orbital velocity, by contrast, is 8 km per second.

[inquest]

There is no talk of a runway or landing in the Lake, however. ROFLMAO!!!!

Since this is being designed for private entrepreneurs, I'm guessing they're not doing it with Space Shuttle-type vehicles in mind. If there are humans going up in these things, I would assume that the method of coming back down to the surface will involve mostly parachutes.

[null and void]

Closer to the equator, less inclined orbit...

[null and void]

Notice that French Guyana is one of the few places on land in the world that can be used for launching rockets into both equitorial and polar orbits without having to overfly inhabited areas.

So what's Hawai'i? Chopped liver????

[Paleo Conservative]

So what's Hawai'i? Chopped liver????

It's one of the other few spots on the Earth that is good for both quitorial and polar launches. I never said Guyana was the only such place. It probably wasn't considered in the 1950's and 60's because of it's distance from the US mainland. There are currently private sector proposals to build launch facilities there.

[phantomworker]

Since this is being designed for private entrepreneurs, I'm guessing they're not doing it with Space Shuttle-type vehicles in mind. If there are humans going up in these things, I would assume that the method of coming back down to the surface will involve mostly parachutes.

I think you are serious. What type of vehicles do you think they have in mind?

[inquest]

Stuff similar to what the X-Prize people used, I guess. The impression I'm getting here is that Wisconsin wants to get a leg up on this space tourism business. I do know that the winner of the X-Prize wants to open up such a business. Last I heard, he's already booking reservations for $200,000 a seat, which is well within the range of a lot of rich people. It's only a trip up into space and then back down (it doesn't even circle the earth), but it's a start. If it turns out to be profitable, it could quite possibly expand to orbital flights and beyond.

[Paleo Conservative]

There would be no advantage in polar launches by using an equatorial site versus an Alaskan site.

Except that a private company trying to conserve capital could be able to launch satellites in any orbit from one site at no additional cost.

[phantomworker]

That actually makes a lot of sense. Thanks for the insight. :)

[RightWhale]

Can anybody see moving their launch to Alaska for any other reason than to achieve a high latitude orbit in the first place? The fuel cost to launch would be the same since all that equatorial velocity wouldn't be wasted. It would be an automatic tourism selling point: see the whole world from Alaska, not just that soul-stultifying equatorial band.

[Larry Lucido]

Wow, it's true!!

[phantomworker]

If it's true, that the moon really is made of cheese, what's going to become of all the cheese-makers in WI?

[olde north church]

Wisconsin legislators are promoting a plan to create a spaceport in the country's top cheese-making state.

Odd choice of words for the reporter. Is he under the impression that Wisconsin's building this thing in order to export cheese to new interplanetary markets?

Not so far-fetched. Similiar to when Kraft was trying to expand into the Middle-Eastern markets. Opened a subsidiary called "Cheeses of Nazareth".

[inquest]

Oh, that's just wrong...

[olde north church]

Why limit vehicle design to those from launch pads when the easiest solution is to launch from piggy-backing off high altitude aircraft?

[phantomworker]

Oh, that's just wrong...

Agree. LOLROFLMAO!

[phantomworker]

Why limit vehicle design to those from launch pads when the easiest solution is to launch from piggy-backing off high altitude aircraft?

Didn't NASA launch a super-sonic vehicle like that a while ago?