FYI,

"Private Spaceflight Industry Foresees Steady Progress in 2007"
Space.com
http://news.yahoo.com/s/space/20070201/sc_space/privatespaceflightindu
stryforeseessteadyprogressin2007

: The budding personal space travel industry anticipates progress on
: a number of fronts in 2007, including favorable U.S. regulatory
: decisions, the availability of affordable insurance, new spaceport
: developments and increased testing of new spaceship designs.

: While noting the progress 2007 is expected to bring, the head of
: the newly formed Personal Spaceflight Federation (PSF) says the
: industry is still at the starting gate.

: "We're still in the developing capabilities phase," said Bretton
: Alexander, vice president of corporate and external affairs at
: Transformational Space Corp. (t/Space) and the first president of
: Washington-based PSF.

: PSF is an industry alliance of more than a dozen businesses and
: organizations engaged in commercial human spaceflight. The
: organization was created to address regulatory, legislative and
: policy issues facing the industry, Alexander said.

: PSF members include spaceship developers and operators, spaceports,
: space destination and transportation agents. The list of companies
: involved in the industry include Bigelow Aerospace, a manufacturer
: of expandable spacecraft, as well as rocket and spacecraft
: developers such as Space Exploration Technologies (SpaceX),
: SpaceDev, Rocketplane-Kistler and XCOR Aerospace.

: Within the next few months the U.S. Federal Aviation
: Administration's Office of Commercial Space Transportation is
: expected to issue its final rules for the licenses that commercial
: suborbital spacecraft owners will need in order to conduct checkout
: and flight verification missions.

: One part of the FAA rulemaking is designed to protect the safety of
: members of the public who are not involved in private space travel
: operations. Another part of the new rulemaking will contain
: regulations designed to ensure that passengers--called "Space
: Flight Participants" in FAA documents--are able to make informed
: decisions about their personal safety before boarding private
: spaceliners.

: Insurance and liability

: John Gedmark, PSF's executive director, foresees continued research
: and development activity on a number of vehicles and spaceports
: throughout the year.

: "We anticipate these activities will lead to vigorous flight
: testing in the following year, with the first commercial suborbital
: passenger flights taking place in 2009," Gedmark said.

: But Alexander said there would be important areas that are not
: addressed in the new FAA regulations, particularly issues of
: insurance and liability.

: "That's where the industry and particularly the federation are
: going to spend a lot of its efforts. We want to make sure insurance
: is available, that it's affordable and that [the industry] can
: withstand an accident--that is likely to happen sometime in the
: first few years of this activity," Alexander told Space News.

: One issue still to be worked out is a standard cross waiver of
: liability, Alexander said. Cross waivers of liability such as those
: that exist for expendable launch vehicle missions and space shuttle
: and space station activities provide some protection from lawsuits
: to companies and individuals involved in the specified activity.

: The PSF also is focused on getting the FAA to come up with a
: workable definition of "informed consent," that will apply to
: future commercial space passengers who will be asked to sign
: liability waivers acknowledging the risks involved in commercial
: spaceflight, Alexander said. "You've got to regulate for safety,
: but you must get informed consent from passengers. What is the
: standard for informed?"

: Momentum and the legitimacy

: "If 2007 can build on the momentum from the end of 2006, the space
: tourism industry will be in great shape," said William Pomerantz,
: director of space projects for the X Prize Foundation, of Santa
: Monica, Calif.

: Pomerantz pointed to the Nov. 13 flight of Blue Origin's unpiloted
: Goddard vertical takeoff and landing vehicle, the beginning of a
: project to develop passenger-carrying suborbital space ships. Blue
: Origin is backed by billionaire Jeff Bezos, founder of Amazon.com.
: Goddard made this first test flight from Blue Origin's privately
: owned West Texas space launch site. More test flights are scheduled
: to take place in 2007 as the company refines its designs for the
: New Shepard, a vehicle that will be designed to take commercial
: passengers on flights into suborbital space.

: Another milestone is expected in October when the Wirefly X Prize
: Cup will be staged again in Las Cruces, N.M., showcasing the
: evolution of numerous private space rocket ventures, Pomerantz
: said. "All of this is adding to the momentum and the legitimacy of
: the space tourism industry."

: Meanwhile, phased work on New Mexico's Spaceport America has
: started. The New Mexico spaceport is scheduled to be the world
: headquarters for Sir Richard Branson's Virgin Galactic suborbital
: spaceline. Current plans are to locate it 18.6 kilometers east of
: Truth or Consequences, N.M., and 30 kilometers north of Las Cruces.

: A major step toward its construction took place Dec. 21 when the
: New Mexico Spaceport Authority secured long-term access to
: 72.8 square kilometers. Legal agreements were signed with the State
: Land Office, Sierra County, and two private ranch operations.

: The voters of Dona Ana County in southern New Mexico will go to the
: polls April 3 to vote for a 0.25-cent gross receipts tax that will
: be used to fund infrastructure for Spaceport America and a math and
: science education program in the county school system.

: "This is an important vote, because the credibility and viability
: of New Mexico's spaceport, Virgin Galactic and the new space
: industry will be on the line," said Rick Homans, chairman of the
: New Mexico Spaceport Authority and the state's cabinet secretary of
: economic development.

: Homans told Space News the tax will generate about $6.8 million
: each year, for 20 years. "Surrounding the election there will be a
: lot of questions asked and answered, and a positive vote will say a
: lot about the commitment in New Mexico to the bold and innovative
: goal to build the world's first purpose-built commercial
: spaceport," Homans said.

: Rocket City

: Spaceport America also will be the site for UP Aerospace's return
: to flight following the Sept. 25 mishap that led to the crash of
: its SpaceLoft XL suborbital rocket. In the inaugural flight for the
: spaceport, the SpaceLoft XL rocket dove into the remote desert
: after 90 seconds of flight, destroying customer payloads.

: UP Aerospace, with its primary business office in Highlands Ranch,
: Colo., is developing the SpaceLoft XL to carry scientific,
: educational and entrepreneurial payloads into suborbital space. The
: firm now is targeting its next launch from the site in April if it
: wins FAA approval for another launch. UP Aerospace also is working
: on a multiyear lease agreement with New Mexico Spaceport America
: officials.

: Starchaser Industries of the United Kingdom also is eyeing New
: Mexico as a center for its operations. The group intends to open
: the first phase of its New Mexico-based Starchaser Rocket City
: resort in 2007, said Steven Bennett, chief executive officer of the
: rocket company.

: Starchaser is developing the Thunderstar, passenger-carrying space
: ship. Bennett said that flights aboard the Thunderstar/Starchaser 5
: rocket vehicles could take place from Spaceport America as early as
: 2009.

: No substitutes for safety

: According to Patricia Grace Smith, the FAA's associate
: administrator for Commercial Space Transportation, 2007 is
: the "bridge year" for private human spaceflight--from business
: plans to start up to bending metal to firm and projected dates for
: initial operations.

: "By year's end, I expect a substantially increased number of tests
: and experimentally permitted flights on the path to piloted flights
: in the foreseeable future," Smith said.

: "The vital ingredient in all this is scrupulous adherence to the
: safest possible operations," she said. Smith said safety is the
: goal that all agree is imperative. "To the extent that all parties
: accept no substitutes for safety, private human spaceflight will
: grow in public acceptance and esteem to a point in time when it
: will be a routine form of transportation. That's why testing is
: vital, and that's why I expect to see more of it in 2007," she
: concluded.

Mark Reiff