Dark horse makes bold claims in space race

A rocket startup that was an also-ran in the $10 million X Prize private-spaceflight competition says it is gearing up to beat the prize-winning team to market with a low-cost suborbital space tourism operation, launching from Cape Canaveral, Fla.

Aera Corp. says it intends to take on paying passengers by the end of next year — but it’s not yet clear whether the company will be able to stick to that timetable.

The claims seem bold — particularly considering that aerospace designer Burt Rutan, whose SpaceShipOne rocket plane won the X Prize last year, isn't expected to have Virgin Galactic's fleet of "SpaceShipTwo" passenger spaceships ready for commercial service before 2007 at the earliest.

With backing from software billionaire Paul Allen, Rutan and his Scaled Composites team flight-tested SpaceShipOne and its White Knight carrier airplane for more than two years before last autumn's prize-winning spaceflight. In contrast, Aera, which was known as American Astronautics during the X Prize race, hasn't yet launched a single test vehicle.

"Most of the testing that's been done has been computer-based modeling," said Lewis Reynolds, Aera's president and chief operating officer. "We have done very little in the way of testing actual physical components for the spacecraft, but we'll be doing more of that as time goes forward."

Air Force deal
The company is getting its paperwork in order for future flights, however. On Monday, Aera announced that it has signed a five-year launch support agreement with the U.S. Air Force, governing its access to Cape Canaveral Air Station in Florida.

“As we do with all launch customers, we'll be providing oversight to ensure flight and public safety attention is maintained,” said Rick Blucker, chief of plans and programs for the 45th Space Wing at Patrick Air Force Base and Cape Canaveral.

Maj. Adriane Craig, a spokeswoman for the 45th Space Wing, said the agreement did not yet guarantee that Aera would launch from Cape Canaveral.

"This is a first step that lays out the rules and responsibilities for each of the parties," she told MSNBC.com. "It's a building-block approach. The next step is for the company to come back with a list of what they need."

Reynolds told MSNBC.com that his company has had discussions with the Federal Aviation Administration as well as the Air Force, and that Aera intended to apply for an FAA launch license within 30 days.

Currently, Aera has a research-and-development facility in Temecula, Calif., a couple of hours' drive southeast of Rutan's headquarters in Mojave. Reynolds said his timetable called for securing a manufacturing facility for Aera's seven-seat spaceship, the Altairis, by the end of April, with an assembly line starting up two months afterward.

"We hope to have a vehicle flying in the fall of 2006, and we hope to have our first paying customer before the end of 2006," he said.

MORE FROM THE NEW SPACE RACE

The New Space Race Section Front

What’s next for X? Students reveal swanky space hotel concept Cosmic Log: Scientists go suborbital Soviet-era spaceships to do commercial flights Arab investment boosts spaceship venture Spaceship launcher's debut watched by crowd Cosmic Log: The 5-year-old space age Circus founder making leap to space Virgin Galactic completes initial rocket tests Moon rover targets Apollo 11 landing site The New Space Race Section Front   Add The New Space Race headlines to your news reader: