A Spaceport In Ohio? 107
UglyTool writes to alert us to an initiative by the state of Ohio and the city of Columbus to lure Canadian rocketeers PlanetSpace to launch from an area airport (the former Lockbourne Air Force Base, now called Rickenbacker International Airport). A decision on the incentives could be made by January. From the article: "Such a package could include tax credits, financing programs and training grants amounting to millions of dollars... PlanetSpace's chairman, Indian-American entrepreneur Chirinjeev Kathuria, told MSNBC.com he expected the incentives to amount to 'somewhere in the neighborhood of $20 million.'" Five other states have spaceports approved or planned.
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Saddle Up! (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Saddle Up! (Score:5, Insightful)
The ship out of Ohio will be sub-orbital, so the extra velocity gained by being near the equator isn't useful. The tax-breaks will be useful, though.
Re:Saddle Up! (Score:5, Informative)
But it also depends on what orbit you want. For a polar orbit it doesn't matter where you launch from, as an east-west speed differential won't help you go north-south. The big problem with a polar launch for an equatorial orbit surely isn't the lack of equator velocity boost, but rather the fuel used to go from the pole to the equator and then making that 90-degree turn at the equator.
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If you think "terraforming" is realistic you've been reading too much science fiction.
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BTW: the parent post didn't spell "your" incorrectly! ("You're" is the contraction of "You are"; e.g.: "No. You're the moron!")
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Spelling Error (Score:5, Informative)
I think it is spelled I O W A.
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Excepting that Iowa is landlocked and flat as a pancake, and Ohio is next to one of the Great Lakes and part of it is in the Appalachian Mountains, yeah. I guess there's also a five-fold difference in population density, which would probably affect what they would look like to drive through.
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I drove through both of them last month [eventualdecline.com], and they seemed very different to me. Now, Iowa and Nebraska, those were pretty similar IMO.
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The state's could not be any more different. Iowa is a mostly agricultural state with low population that sincerely earns the term "midwest."
Ohio has the 25th largest economy in the world. The northeastern part of the state is culturally and demographically like the east coast, whereas the southern parts of the state are just as southern as you would expect below the Mason-Dixon (this explains why Ohio is such a violent swing state.)
In
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Never happen - you'll fly E over Washington, DC (Score:4, Insightful)
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But north of the equator they launch south east. Would that be safer? would it go south of Washington.
Re:Never happen - you'll fly E over Washington, DC (Score:5, Insightful)
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The acceptable casualty rates for the FAA are 30E-6. There is currently no accepted fatality rates, though given an accident that is purely a debris event (instead of an explosion on the ground), a casualty expectation of 30E-6 will provide a fatality expectation around 5 - 25E-6.
There's little extra for a polar orbit to be further north, except that there's probably less population to fly over. A launch from the midwest flying east will bring many more cities into play, but the key is that it will have
Not even close. (Score:2)
Landing in Ohio, launching from unknown location (Score:4, Informative)
Re:Landing in Ohio, launching from unknown locatio (Score:2, Funny)
-1, Nerd
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Strange ship, and why in Ohio? (Score:4, Insightful)
I wonder why a Canadian team is paying that much money to fly from Ohio
Re:Strange ship, and why in Ohio? (Score:5, Funny)
an ICBM with a stealth fighter attached isn't cool?
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Seriously, that sketch is neat looking. Very Dyna Soar-esque, and I have a soft spot for cancelled aerospace projects.
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ttyl
Farrell
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In a place where allegiance is constantly for sale, you cannot secure a space launch site.
ttyl
Farrell
It's been there the whole time... (Score:1)
He's just found another way to cash in the general masses!
Re:Strange ship (Score:2)
Besides, you have the story backwards. Canada is not looking to fly out of Ohio. Ohio is trying to enice them to come. As you noted, we have plenty of launch sites available here in the Great White North.
Obligatory "The Simpsons" Reference (Score:4, Insightful)
Um, this is a dumb idea
As others have already noted, Ohio has two strokes against it:
It is substantially farther from the equator than Florida (and other proposed SW "spaceports").
There are heavily populated areas around and to the east of it it. Falling lower stages and strap-on boosters could end up mashing a house or highway or city block.
I wonder if there's a bandwagon effect in action. Cities in the SW are starting to get publicity for hosting space ports, so why not Ohio?
I can picture charming hucksters selling cities on space ports the way that con artist sold Springfield on thier monorail.
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Spapeport scams- not just for banana republics now (Score:2)
This happened in Queensland, Australia. A two person company supposedly backed by a consortium of many others got an undisclosed amount out of the taxpayers to plan a spaceport. The same corrupt politician who fell for this also was taken in by a perpetual energy car that ran on water - although it is possible he made something on the deal himself in both cases - he liked getting brow
Ohio story (Score:5, Funny)
- The Wright brothers, who developed and flew the first airplane, were from Ohio.
- John Glenn, the first man in orbit, is an Ohioan.
- Neil Armstrong, the first man on the moon, is an Ohioan.
- Now, they are talking about building a spaceport in Ohio.
It just shows what length men will go to to get the hell out of Ohio!Re: (Score:2)
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Go Bucks!!!
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Maybe if Ohio was concerned about EDUCATION and JOBS rather than a stupid football team, things wouldn't be so dire.
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Re:Ohio story (Score:5, Informative)
John Glenn was the first AMERICAN to orbit the Earth, which he did on February 20, 1962.
Alan Shepard was the first American into space. He was aboard Freedom 7 on a suborbital flight on May 5, 1961.
Re:Ohio story (Score:5, Funny)
In Soviet Russia Earth orbits you!
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Not many people know this, but Yuri Gargarin was a proud Ohioan.
You forgot (Score:3, Informative)
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You mean _powered_and_controllable_ airplane. Ader [wikipedia.org] built a powered airplane before the Wright brothers, but the controls were not up to par. I seem to remember Lilienthal was also on the way to a powered craft, but it also would not have been as controllable as the Wright Brothers' craft. More here [idsia.ch], if it helps.
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sounds like my new Sig line...
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The Wright brothers were way ahead of their time -- they knew that Ohio was no place for a spaceport. So they launched their first vehicle from KittyHawk, North Carolina for multiple reasons:
1) They knew that since it was closer to the equator, it would be easier to go orbital. They only lacked the funding to make it happen.
2) They knew that the radar and telemetry tracking capabilities were much superior in North Caroli
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All kidding aside, Ohio was meant to play a bigger role in space than it has.
When the space program was initially conceived, the Cleveland NASA center was the obvious choice for being the technical operation headquarters.
However, dim-witted Ohio politicians (an unfortunately trend of the last 50 years) didn't know how important it was to make sure that Cleveland got the center (so they didn't bother to fight for it.)
Texas Senator Lyndon Johnson said that there
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Exotic Ohio... the obvious choice (Score:1)
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And... cmdrtaco lives really close to School Up North
I feel better now.
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Ohio vs New Mexico... (Score:2)
offhand I'd think Ohio, being farther north, would be at a disadvantage.
Ideally you'd want the highest altitude closest to the equator. Meaning Ecuador would be the logical place to put it.
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Maybe this is another "politicians school" thing they must do from time to time.
Obligatory Star Wars Quote (Score:2)
WKRP (Score:2)
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Rocket Science eludes Slashdot. (Score:5, Insightful)
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safety (Score:2)
Russians (Score:3, Interesting)
This is not for launching. (Score:5, Informative)
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But that's not my only concern. Because of the immense amount of energy needed to do a good suborbital launch, I am skeptical that it would ever be affordable to anyone but the wealthy. Energy isn't getting cheaper.
OSU (Score:2)
That's gotta make the deal look juicy to the Canucks.
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And exactly why would being a large university have anything do with it at all?
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Want to get involved with a robotics team at a small school? It might be possible--if you're lucky. At a big school? Which team would you like to join?
Don't forget Alaska (Score:3, Interesting)
Go Alaska!
Airport name? (Score:2)
Another Spaceport Not Listed: Van Horn, Texas (Score:1)
Uh oh, System Shock 2 flashback... (Score:2)
System Shock 2 starts in 2114, forty-two years after the events in System Shock, with the TriOptimum starship Von Braun serving as its main setting. The Von Braun is on its maiden voyage as the first faster-than-light starship in human history, and is joined by a Unified National Nominate (UNN) military starship, the Rickenbacker, an armed escort for the journey into the unknown.
Scam (Score:2)
Nothing wrong (Score:1)
except the snow and the rain."
Rickenbacker Air Force....NOT lockbourne.... (Score:2)