Virgin unveils space plans for New Mexico

Alan Boyle Science editor • Profile • E-mail

Virgin Galactic on Tuesday began lifting the veil on its vision to send tourists on flights from the desert to the black sky of space — starting out from California's Mojave Desert as early as 2008, then shifting its base of operations to a $225 million spaceport near New Mexico's White Sands Missile Range by 2010.

During a London news conference, Virgin officials said the company would lease facilities at New Mexico's Southwest Regional Spaceport for a 20-year term, with annual payments of $1 million for the first five years. After that time, the payments would be "scaled to the success" of the operation, Virgin Galactic spokeswoman Jackie McQuillan told MSNBC.com.

"Without doubt there will be other space tourist businesses using the New Mexico spaceport," McQuillan said. Several other space companies — including another British-based rocket firm, Starchaser Industries — already have announced plans to launch from the future spaceport at Upham, N.M., 45 miles (72 kilometers) north of Las Cruces.

Work has not yet begun on the 27-square-mile site, but New Mexico officials have laid out the timeline for the obtaining of a federal spaceport license during 2006, the start of construction in 2007 and completion in late 2009 or early 2010.

New Mexico's financing plan, as well as various designs for the spaceport, are to be revealed at a Santa Fe news briefing on Wednesday, with New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson and Virgin Group chairman Richard Branson in attendance.

Closely watched
Virgin Galactic is the most closely watched player in the infant suborbital tourist industry — partly because of Branson's high-profile backing, and partly because the company's fleet of five spaceships will use the technology pioneered last year by the SpaceShipOne rocket plane, the first privately developed craft to reach the fringe of outer space.

Like SpaceShipOne, Virgin's rocket plane would be brought to high altitude by a carrier airplane, then dropped into the air for launch to heights greater than 62 miles (100 kilometers). Passengers would experience a few minutes of weightlessness, see a curving Earth beneath a black sky, and feel several G's of acceleration. The flight would serve as the climax of a $200,000 tour package.

Virgin says more than 38,000 people from 126 countries already have registered their interest in buying a ticket, and up to 100 "Founders" have committed to paying the full $200,000 fare upfront for the first available seats.

In a company statement, Virgin Galactic President Will Whitehorn said several factors made the New Mexico site "an ideal operations base": steady climate, wide-open airspace, low population density, high altitude and stunning scenery.

"Our team was highly impressed by the professionalism and the competitive pitch the state and its advisers developed," Whitehorn said. "We look forward to working together to make the 'Final Frontier' a reality for tens of thousands of pioneering space tourists."

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