Cape Breton Joins Space Race
The Toronto Star has today reported that Nova Scotia has signed a "team agreement" to provide 300 acres of land, and perhaps some funding, for a massive orbital launch facility that will involve industry giants and could eventually be on scale with huge NASA operations....full story inside the blog.
The Silver Dart (top left picture) will be the equivalent to the existing Shuttle being used by NASA, carrying people and returning to earth. It will be shot into orbit by the Canadian Arrow Rocket (bottom photo). Photos taken from the respective websites noted below.Some associated links...
PlanetSpace - http://www.planetspace.org/
Canadian Arrow - http://www.canadianarrow.com
NASA C.O.T.S. program - http://procurement.jsc.nasa.gov/cots/
posted by Bob Pelley @ 8/16/2006 11:17:00 AM
5 Comments:
Cape Breton joins space race
N.S. signs private launch facility deal
Space station flights planned by 2009
Aug. 16, 2006. 03:32 AM
Scott Simmie, Staff Reporter, Toronto STAR
Cape Canaveral's got competition.
Cape Breton is going to enter the space race.
The Toronto Star has learned that Nova Scotia has signed a "team agreement" to provide 300 acres of land — and perhaps even some funding — for a massive orbital launch facility that will involve industry giants and could eventually be on scale with huge NASA operations.
"We're basically building a private manned space program for Canada," says Chicago's Dr. Chirinjeev Kathuria, chairman of the PlanetSpace firm that lit the fuse for this deal.
"The facility will see orbital flights, similar to the Kennedy Space Center."
Nova Scotia, which confirmed the agreement late yesterday, could not be happier.
Like New Mexico, which is making a huge investment in a spaceport for commercial use, it envisions virtually unlimited economic spinoffs as private enterprise goes to space.
"This is a huge opportunity for the province," says Mark James, business development executive, Defence and Aerospace, for Nova Scotia Business Inc. — a development agency that promotes economic growth in the province.
"If you look at New Mexico, the state is investing over $500 million for a facility similar to this. We see commercial space exploitation as the next big sector."
PlanetSpace is a partnership between Ontario's Geoff Sheerin (who has been developing the Canadian Arrow rocket for space tourism), and American space and technology entrepreneur Kathuria of Chicago (who was a founding director of the company that sent the first tourist into space).
Earlier this year, the pair began negotiations with the province and other players in the aerospace industry to build a facility and spacecraft they hope will eventually shuttle astronauts and supplies to the international space station.
They've also been in talks with the U.S. space agency, which is very interested in their Silver Dart design. (The Dart is named for an aircraft that Alexander Graham Bell helped design and build — and which made Canada's first heavier-than-air powered flight in 1909.)
"PlanetSpace is in discussions with NASA to sign a space act agreement with one of the NASA centres to build a cargo and crew vehicle for the International Space Station," said Kathuria.
The agreement means NASA would offer technological assistance.
And so will some other heavy-hitters. PlanetSpace did not want to name those partners yesterday, but Nova Scotia's James confirmed that industry leaders from Canada and the U.S. are on board. With that backing, PlanetSpace believes its hypersonic glider, powered by engines it has already developed, will be on the launch pad before the end of the decade.
"Our target launch date will be 2009 or 2010," says Sheerin, president and CEO of PlanetSpace.
For Sheerin, the breakthrough is especially sweet. An industrial designer who's dreamed of rockets and space since childhood, he formed Canadian Arrow to compete in the $10 million (U.S.) X Prize. That competition, won by a U.S. firm, was for the first private company to build a manned reusable spacecraft capable of suborbital flight. (The vehicle that won will be the prototype for a passenger ship being constructed for Virgin Galactic, which plans to offer space tourism flights for $200,000 U.S).
Despite some who chuckled over the concept, Sheerin and his wife and a small team worked tirelessly at replicating, and improving on, the reliable engine design that was used in Germany's V2 rocket during World War II. They succeeded in building the largest liquid propellant rocket engine ever constructed in Canada.
But why Cape Breton?
Sheerin says it's at the same latitude as the Russian launch facility, the Baikonur Cosmodrome. It's a position on the Earth from which a ship can get to the International Space Station more efficiently than launching from other latitudes.
"I put my finger on Baikonur on my little globe of the world here, and I rotated it around until it collided with Canada and it came right in at Cape Breton," says Sheerin. "Launching from that latitude in the Americas saves you fuel, believe it or not, over Kennedy."
PlanetSpace still plans to offer space tourism flights on the Canadian Arrow, but those will likely take place from a "Midwestern state," says Kathuria. Nova Scotia will be strictly orbital.
And already, the province is over the moon.
"Space has always been handled by government and by military, and there's countless examples around the world where lack of competition stifles moving forward," says the province's James. "With the mantle being passed off to the private sector, I think a number of companies are going to be hugely successful. And we want to work with one of the winners."
Canadian Arrow and PlanetSpace, prior to this development, had been based in London, Ont.
Sheerin says the hardware is already packed up and he anticipates relocating to Nova Scotia in September.
It made CBC as well. I guess all that stuff in the back barn may come in handy someday. (and the price of moonshine just doubled since they'll now use it for rocket fuel).
Cape Breton eyed for private space launch site
Updated Wed. Aug. 16 2006 11:34 AM ET
CTV.ca News Staff
Canadians who want to travel to outer space may not have to venture very far to a launch pad.
PlanetSpace, a company which hopes to make space tourism a reality within the next few years, is looking at building a launch pad in on Cape Breton Island.
According to a Toronto Star report, the Nova Scotia government has already signed an agreement to provide 300 acres of land for a massive space launch that could rival the Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Fla.
However, York University astronomer Paul Delaney, told Canada AM Wednesday that the company has not yet fully committed to the project.
"They're looking at it. They haven't committed to build it yet, but they've done all the formalizing and saying let's see if we really can do this."
If the deal does go through, space tourism could be just around the corner for Canadians with the inclination and the cash.
"If you've got a couple hundred thousand dollars lying around, you could jump on a flight to the international space station into low earth orbit from Cape Breton in three, four, five years," Delaney said.
"That's exciting stuff."
With its proximity to the Atlantic Ocean, many agree that Cape Breton is an ideal location for a space launch site.
"It's in a great spot - in the same latitude where the Russian space program launches,' Delaney said.
PlanetSpace, a partnership between Canadian entrepreneur Geoff Sheerin and Chicago-based Chirinjeev Kathuria, hopes to fly more than 2,000 space tourists in the next five years.
"We're basically building a private manned space program for Canada,'' Kathuria told The Star. "The facility will see orbital flights, similar to the Kennedy Space Center."
In 2003, Sheerin opened the Canadian Arrow Space Centre in London, Ont. - the world's first private astronaut training centre.
In the past few years, more players have joined the push for private space travel.
In 2004, millionaire entrepreneur Richard Branson announced his intention to launch Virgin Galactic flights. Branson and his two children plan to be aboard the first departure in 2011.
PlanetSpace pegs their fares at $250,000 US for a suborbital flight. That includes a two-week training course.
According to PlanetSpace's website, reservations for space travel will be accepted soon.
Cool - the sattellite view of Florence is pretty cool. If you look closely you can see Buzzy's truck at Tim Horton's.
There's also been renewed interest in liquified coal as an energy source. This was under consideration for here in the 80s during that energy crisis but just didn't have enough support to make it fly. A facility is being built in the US that claims it's feasible once oil is over $50US per barrel. There are some rumblings about this as a potential opportunity related to the opening of the Donkin mine. With a viability at that price it certainly could be considered as I doubt oil prices will be dropping to those levels in the forseeable future.
the space program is another step closer to reality today. Planet Space teamed up with NASA!
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