A Look Back: Interest rekindled in Wallops Island spaceport

Years before the first payload soared into orbit, Billie Reed was convinced that the Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport on Wallops Island could be a player in the commercial space business.

In the afterglow of two successful rocket launches during the past 12-1/2 months, the prospects have never looked better for the Eastern Shore facility, known as MARS.

"They've really opened the door for us," said Reed, executive director of the Virginia Commercial Space Flight Authority and head of the spaceport. "Companies that have not paid a whole lot of attention to us in the past have come a-calling, and new people are talking to us."

The spaceport's breakthrough moment came just before dawn on Dec. 16, 2006. A Minotaur I rocket carrying experimental Air Force and NASA satellites roared into space from a launch pad built in 1998 but never before used. A few months later, on April 24, another Minotaur I left the pad with a U.S. Missile Defense Agency spacecraft aboard.

In the year ahead, at least two more launches are planned, including another Air Force satellite and a NASA mission that will feature an experimental rocket developed by a Maryland-based aerospace company.

That "fire in the sky," as Reed calls it, has rekindled the state's interest in MARS and attracted the attention of Congress.

Last winter, fired-up Virginia state lawmakers passed legislation giving commercial operators immunity from liability for human space flight. The law, the first of its kind in the nation, is designed to make the spaceport more attractive to entrepreneurs looking to offer people quick rides into space. This adventure tourism is predicted to grow into a $700 million business with 13,000 passengers by 2020, according to Futron Corp., a Bethesda, Md.-based aerospace consulting firm.

In its upcoming session in January, the General Assembly will up the ante. A local delegate plans to offer a bill to exempt revenue generated by launch activities at MARS from state taxes.

The aim of the legislation, dubbed "Zero G, Zero Tax," is to make Virginia and the spaceport more attractive to the aerospace industry, said Del. John Cosgrove, R-Chesapeake, the bill's patron.

"There has to be some incentive for people to come to Virginia, instead of staying in Florida or going to other places," said Cosgrove, a member of a new state aerospace advisory council. "I think the potential is unlimited. More and more things are becoming commercial in space - your satellites and even space travel in the future. It used to be thought of as Buck Rogers. But people are really doing that now."

Another promising prospect, Reed said, is the possibility of using MARS as a base to resupply the international space station once NASA's space shuttle program shuts down in 2010. Rockets launched from the spaceport would arc over the ocean, limiting risks to populated areas. The latitude of Wallops Island is aligned to the space station's orbit, reducing the fuel and expense to get cargo there.

A $500,000 study funded by Congress last year to examine the feasibility of using commercial operators to supply the station from MARS is nearly finished.

"It's probably going to say that, yeah, this is a highly desirable location to do that," Reed said. "There's a large recognition there has to be a lot of new infrastructure developed, but there's no showstoppers from being able to do it here."

To support larger rockets needed to lift cargo, the spaceport would need a sturdier launch pad, facilities to store liquid rocket fuel and infrastructure to move and assemble rockets. A new or improved launch pad alone could run anywhere from $20 million to $150 million, Reed said.

It's likely that companies aiming to gain government contracts to supply the station would help pay for some of the improvements, Reed said. And since the spaceport's activities are tied to the NASA Wallops Flight Facility - which provides mission control and other range services - it's possible the spaceport could get federal dollars.

Already, several companies have approached Reed about the possibility of using MARS for future missions.

During the past three months, Reed said, the spaceport has been visited twice by entrepreneur Elon Musk, whose El Segundo, Calif.-based Space Exploration Technologies has won NASA funding to develop a demonstration rocket able to ferry cargo to the space station.

Orbital Sciences Corp., a Dulles-based company that assembled the two Minotaur I rockets launched from MARS, is one of several other companies competing for similar NASA funding. The company has talked to Reed about using MARS to launch a new medium-class rocket being considered for development.

"Wallops is a place to be considered," said Barry Beneski, an Orbital spokesman. "It could supply the space station quite nicely."

After a decade spent pitching the potential of MARS, Reed said all the attention bodes well for the spaceport's growth.

"I remain optimistic," Reed said. "In our industry it takes a long time in a lot of instances to bring this stuff to fruition. People are coming and realizing we're for real. That's not money in the bank. It's not new jobs until they're here. But it's very encouraging."

Jon W. Glass, (757) 446-2318, jon.glass@pilotonline.com