NEW SPACE RACE

The future of the space industry is a 70-sq-km piece of desert in New Mexico near the White Sands Missile Range, about an hour8217;s drive from the nearest city, Las Cruces.

The future of the space industry is a 70-sq-km piece of desert in New Mexico near the White Sands Missile Range, about an hour8217;s drive from the nearest city, Las Cruces. The skies are clear 320 days of the year and the only marks of civilisation are a 22-m runway and a rocket launchpad. The idea is that civilian passengers from around the world will arrive by plane and depart straight upward into outer space.

The next space race is under way. The market for commercial space tourism is expected to generate more than 1 billion in annual revenues by 2020, according to a study released last month by Research Reports International, a market-research firm based in Evergreen, Colorado. Billionaire entrepreneurs like Branson and Microsoft8217;s Paul Allen are looking to fill that demand, partnering with governments to build launching pads and training facilities around the globe, and thrill seekers are already lining up to buy tickets.

8216;8216;The market is wide open for private players,8217;8217; says Steven Morris, president of Research Reports International. So far, the lack of launching pads hasn8217;t been an issue because space trips are so few and far between. That8217;s going to change.

According to Futron, a Bethesda, Maryland-based consulting firm, 15,000 passengers will be willing to pay 700 million per year by 2021 merely for a white-knuckle ride and a few minutes of weightlessness. With entrepreneurs now planning on opening up a market for cheaper flights, the demand for launchpads is expected to soar.

Virgin Galactic has chosen the New Mexico spaceport as its headquarters. The facility is going to be built partially underground with shops and restaurants. Virgin plans eventually to open new launchpads in other areas of the world. It is negotiating with the British Royal Air Force to use its Lossiemouth base in northern Scotland, which has a long runway, low population and controlled air traffic. It8217;s also looking into using a rocket range in Kiruna, Sweden, that could give passengers a 8216;8216;spectacular view of the Arctic Circle8217;8217;, says Virgin Galactic chief William Whitehorn.

Other countries have also caught rocket fever. Developers in Singapore and the United Arab Emirates are bent on adding spaceports to their existing economic hubs. Singapore is planning a 115 million facility funded by Space Adventures, a Richmond, Virginia-based space-travel company, and its partner, Sheikh Saud Bin Saqr Al Qasimi, Crown Prince of Ras al-Khaimah in the United Arab Emirates, as well as some private investors. The port, to be located next to Singapore8217;s Changi airport, will function as a base for suborbital flights and as a private astronaut-training facility. 8216;8216;Singapore developed as a port country,8217;8217; says Michel Lyon, project manager of the Spaceport Singapore project. 8216;8216;Moving into space is a natural evolution for them.8217;8217;

The spaceport being planned for the United Arab Emirates, located in Ras al-Khaimah, less than an hour8217;s drive from Dubai, will be smaller than the Singapore and New Mexico sites. Sheik Qasimi, the crown prince, has committed 30 million of the expected 100 million cost of the project. The deal is part of Ras al-Khaimah8217;s development program to build hotels, shopping centers, improve airports, and attract business.

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Until the 200,000 ticket prices are lowered, space tourism will be confined to the superrich. But 8216;8216;that8217;s kind of like saying the computers that people bought in 1978 were only extravagant items for the rich8217;8217;, counters Space Adventures CEO Eric Anderson. With luck, the new tourism boom will put space within reach of the ordinary millionaire.

MICHAEL HASTINGS and ALLAN MADRID