Chapter III - Space Activities the Best of Two Worlds

III: Space activities Stennis Space Center • Michoud Assembly Facility • Eglin Air Force Base NASA/SSC photo Gulf Coast Aerospace Corridor 2013-2014 – 38 Chapter III - Space activities The best of two worlds The Gulf Coast has its foot Mississippi Alabama in both commercial and Florida government space activities, and two key facilities have Louisiana lots of room to grow... GCAC illustration, Google Earth map he April 21, 2013, launch of Orbital Science’s Antares rocket was de- Chapter at a glance scribed as “picture-perfect” by NASA • Gulf Coast is part of an exclusive club of Administrator Charles Bolden. He areas with NASA centers Thad reason to be happy. • Stennis Space Center most capable of NASA’s gamble to have commercial companies develop ve- four NASA sites that test rocket engines hicles to service the Interna- • Michoud Assembly Facility building tional Space Station is paying Orion and core for Space Launch System off. SpaceX proved it could • Stennis Space Center testing two engine deliver supplies in a May 2012 types for Space Launch System mission, and now Orbital was • Eglin home to a powerful space on its way to doing the same. Antares But for the Gulf Coast there observation radar was special significance with Antares. The twin Aerojet AJ26 engines of the first stage were MAF is where the four-engine launch vehicle tested at Stennis Space Center (SSC), Miss. core stage will be built. It’s also where the Orion The Gulf Coast is in an exclusive club of loca- crew capsule is put together. tions with NASA centers. SSC is where NASA Both facilities are also involved in commercial has tested large rocket engines since the 1960s. space ventures. SSC tests three types of com- Forty miles away in New Orleans is Michoud mercial rocket engines, and MAF is where the Assembly Facility (MAF), where huge aerostruc- composite structure for the first space-bound tures have been built since the 60s. winged commercial space vehicle is being built. Both have big roles in the current NASA pro- Involvement in both the federal and commer- gram, the Space Launch System (SLS), which is cial sides of the multibillion-dollar space enter- designed to send astronauts further into space prise bodes well for the region. While NASA’s than ever before. SSC is where the SLS launch programs rely on funding provided by Congress, vehicle J-2X and RS-25 engines are tested, and the commercial field is more open-ended and can venture into activities that are not necessar- By David Tortorano ily on NASA’s agenda. It can include everything from traditional satellite launches to the still- Gulf Coast Aerospace Corridor 2013-2014 – 39 Chapter III - Space activities developing space tourist industry. On top of all that, both SSC and MAF are actively courting commercial ventures to take advantage of under- utilized NASA facilities. NASA and the South The South’s love of space flight goes back to the early 60s, when President Kennedy issued a challenge to beat the Soviets and get a man on the moon before the end of the 1960s, NASA launched a program to establish manufacturing, test and launch facilities needed to get there, and the South was the big winner. 1 It became the home to key NASA facilities because of the availability of large tracts of land and interconnected waterways needed to trans- port large space vehicles. Longer periods of fair weather flying, the same things that attracted the military, also played a role. In addition, powerful, senior Southern politicians recognized the economic benefit the space program would bring. 2 Huntsville, Ala., Houston, Cape Canaveral, Fla., Bay St. Louis, Miss., and New Orleans formed the “Space Crescent” in the South. In NASA illustration Space Launch System takes off in this drawing. Both “Way Station to Space,” Mack R. Herring cited a Stennis Space Center, Miss., and Michoud Assembly story in the July 20, 1964 issue of U.S. News & Facility, New Orleans, participate in the program. World Report that described the space program as a new industry in the South worth “billions.” U.S. companies hold seven of the top 10 rank- Money for facilities was being spent at the rate ings in a Space News list of the top global space of “one-million dollars every two hours.” companies by sales. The U.S. government out- That the South benefited when NASA domi- spends all other nations combined ($64.63 bil- nated the space program is clear. What is less lion in 2010), establishing 74 percent of the certain is how well the South will do in an age global total for government space budgets. 3 when private players may eventually dominate The United States produced 38 percent of the space. Some areas are already taking steps to en- world’s satellites between 2001 and 2010. 4 In sure they get a piece of the growing field. 2010 alone, the United States captured 52 percent of this market’s global revenue. 5 Also, the The space industry country generated 32 percent of the world’s suc- In its assessment of the state of the industrial cessful orbital launches between 2001 and 2010. 6 base, the Pentagon in 2012 reported to Congress For 2010, the United States garnered 28 percent that the overall health of the U.S. space indus- of global launch revenue. 7 trial sector remains sound, but is at risk due to According to the Pentagon, the global space the global recession as well as an increase in for- economy has had a multi-year string of growth eign competition. since 2007, increasing almost $20 billion in activ- Photo page 38 : The Multi-position B-1/B-2 test stand, where the Space Launch System will be tested. Gulf Coast Aerospace Corridor 2013-2014 – 40 Chapter III - Space activities ity from 2009 to a total activity of over $276 billion in 2010. While the United States is the overall world leader in space, its dominance is eroding. For- eign countries have targeted space as a strategic industry, as evidenced by the growth in national space agencies from 40 in 2000 to 55 in 2009. 8 The Futron Space Competitiveness Index 9 shows the U.S. ranking has gradually decreased each year, with a four percent total drop from 2008 to 2011. Commercial space The space race today involves private companies and regions that hope to get a piece of the multibillion-dollar action. AP science writer Seth Borenstein wrote in May 2012 that there are more companies looking to make money in orbit than there are major U.S. airlines still flying. Space is a potentially lucrative field for commercial companies. The Aerospace Industries Association estimates space a $45.6 billion piece of the $223.55 billion aerospace industry in the United States in 2013. The missile product group NASA photo Space Shuttle Main Engines that will be used in the accounts for another $21.84 billion in sales. core stage of NASA’s Space Launch System are The Federal Aviation Administration said 21 stored at Stennis Space Center, Miss. percent of orbital launch attempts in 2011 were commercial, earning revenue of $1.9 billion. including Washington and Colorado. Still, the The FAA Office of Commercial Space Trans- South has some of the most unique capabilities portation (AST) study of launches in 2009 in the world that can be a lure for the new breed. showed that the U.S. commercial space transpor- SSC, for instance, is the most capable of NASA’s tation industry and the industries it enabled, in- sites where rocket engines are tested, the last cluding satellite manufacturing and services, was place in the country where NASA can test full- responsible for generating $208.3 billion in eco- scale engines or whole rocket stages 24/7. nomic activity in the United States. The industry, whether a huge aerospace com- Commercial interests have, of course, been pany that’s worked in the field for years or one involved in the federal space program from day of the startups backed by the deep pockets of one. NASA needed the companies to develop billionaires, still needs the same things NASA systems, and in many cases those companies es- has built up over 60 years. For some companies tablished operations close to NASA centers to it makes sense to tap into what’s already avail- be near the customer. That’s one reason NASA able through NASA. centers are economic engines. But in the new age, NASA might wind up be- Finding new uses ing simply one customer. Space flight companies It was big news when a NASA facility at Ken- are cropping up in multiple places nationwide, nedy Space Center that faced an uncertain future Gulf Coast Aerospace Corridor 2013-2014 – 41 Chapter III - Space activities with the end of the Space Shuttle program got a NonNon----federalfederal spaceports new lease on life when Boeing decided to use it to build the company’s CST-100. Space Florida, • California Spaceport at Vandenberg Air Force an aerospace economic development agency, Base* took over the Space Shuttle Main Engine Proc- • Spaceport Florida at Cape Canaveral Air Force essing Facility and Processing Control Center Station and is leasing it to Boeing to build its Crew • Cecil Field Spaceport, Jacksonville, Fla. Space Transportation spacecraft. • Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport at Wallops A writer in a Time magazine story likened the Flight Facility in Virginia lease to an aristocrat selling off parts of the fam- • Mojave Air and Space Port in California ily estate. But Florida officials saw it as a chance • Kodiak Launch Complex on Kodiak Island, Alaska to attract the commercial space flight industry.

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