An article earlier this week in the Alamogordo (N.M.) Daily News indicated that Otero County’s economic development board wanted nearly Holloman Air Force Base designated a spaceport. Huh? With Spaceport America just on the other side of the mountains from Holloman, why promote developing another spaceport?
It turns out there was some confusion on the part of the Daily News, which has since corrected the original article. In a followup piece, county officials tell the paper that what they’re interested in is a piece of the annual X Prize Cup activities. County officials said that it’s possible that the Cup might “unite with the Holloman Air Force Base Air Show on a temporary basis”, with the implication that the Cup might move from Las Cruces International Airport to the air force base before finally going to Spaceport America. An X Prize Foundation press release Thursday said that the organization is considering an expansion of the X Prize Cup that could include activities at Holloman or White Sands, although keeping the event based primarily in Las Cruces.
The X Prize Foundation should avoid doing any serious temporary merging with any air show – They need keep the X PRIZE CUP totally focused on space travel, and space derivatives.
I totally agree. The whole point of the X-Prize was to achieve things which have not been achieved before on a budget which IS achievable. I’d hate to see the reverse occuring – a common occurence in industry.
I agree that the X Prize Cup should remain space-focused, though can certainly understand the tendency to consider a merging with air shows, since such things are still very popular. X Prize needs to hang in there – in time, attendence will balloon.
I am so very thankful I just moved to New Mexico. I can feel the buzz int he air!
Mr. Valyn:
Yes the space side of the industy needs to keep the momentum going. BUT, when is an airshow and a spaceshow really seperated especially when much of today’s commercial manned technology is largely dependent on aeronautical technology? The commercial manned spaceflight side of the aerospace industry also relies heavily on the aeronautical side for talent in everything from engineers to pilots; a relevant networking point for the two.
That said, as has been said, the Xprize does need to be careful about the main focus of the event, as Mr. Halls-Moore has said, as this industry DOES tend to, as of late, swept innovation under the rug.
Garry On,
I understand that there is a lot of space that is tied to aeronautical technology. And if I were a specfic vehicle company (armadillo, masten, XCOR) I wouldn’t hesitate to go to airshows, and even if I am not, I’d still recommend it. HOWEVER, X Prize Cup and the X Prize Foundation is not a company pushing a specific design – It is kind of an industry trade group and industry trade show (ok, its more complex than that, but there are definatly signs of that). Thus, its focus really does need to be on manned spaceflight.
The point is, manned spaceflight (and its derivatives like space tourism, space sports, etc), and by its extention, its representatives (IE X Prize Cup and X Prize Foundation), need to be seen as a true independent industry – not a derivative industry thats an outgrowth of the aviation industry.