Posts Tagged ‘Pat Hynes’

Article courtesy of the Las Cruces Bulletin

By Todd G. Dickson

Part of the state’s spaceport deal with Virgin Galactic is that the company set up its headquarters in New Mexico, and Las Cruces appears to be that place.

Carolyn Wincer, Virgin Galactic’s head of travel and tourism, told the City Council Monday, Oct. 3, that the company will soon be opening an office in Las Cruces as the base of its operations in New Mexico.  A location has been picked, but Virgin isn’t releasing it yet.

Virgin is ramping up its preparations for when the company begins flying tourists into suborbital space 70 miles above Earth’s surface, perhaps even as soon as next year. The company is currently testing the carrier flyer and spaceship, which is launched in mid-air.

Wincer said more than 70 flight tests have made of Virgin’s first spaceliner, including 16 solo glide flights of SpaceShipTwo, a six-passenger version of the two-seater that was the first piloted rocket vehicle to reach suborbital space in 2004. The hybrid rocket engine that will be propelling the passengers and pilots is going through a series of tests, which Wincer said she wasn’t allowed to say much about for proprietary reasons.

Some 500 experienced test pilots have applied to fly for Virgin Galactic, she said. Meanwhile, more than 500 potential passengers have put down deposits for the $200,000 tickets, totaling close to $16 million, she said.

British business magnate Richard Branson is investing more than $200 million into development of the Virgin Galactic fleet, while the total start-up budget for Spaceport America is $209 million. Located 45 miles north of Las Cruces, Spaceport America has a two mile runway ready for the flights and work is near completion on the Hangar Terminal Facility that will house Virgin Galactic’s fleet of spaceliners.

Wincer said Virgin has already hired more than 100 people, many of them Americans, because large-scale rocketry falls under the International Traffic in Arms Regulations passed after the 9/11 attacks.

As work continues to make sure the spaceliner is safe for its passengers – with Branson and his family to take the first non-test flight – the company is now focusing on preparing the on-ground experiences, said Wincer, who has worked for Branson’s resorts in the past.

Virgin plans to fly at least twice a day with each passenger arriving two days before their flight. Those passengers also are expected to bring family, friends and others during their visit, she said.  Virgin is currently assessing what kind of “tourism infrastructure” is available, she said, and talking to its future passengers about what kind of experiences they would like to have during their stays.

Wayne Savage, who chairs the Greater Las Cruces Chamber of Commerce’s Commercial Space Committee, said his group is working on issues, such as supporting the tourism experience, but even more critical is trying to make the city a central location for providing supply chain services and other support of the spaceport operations and the companies like Virgin Galactic.

“The good news is that our spaceport is quickly becoming a functioning reality,” Savage said. Operational contracts have recently been awarded to companies that have done work with White Sands Missile Range, he said.

The next day, Pat Hynes, director of the New Mexico Space Grant Consortium, talked about the upcoming International Symposium for Personal and Commercial Spaceflight (ISPCS) to the Mesilla Valley Economic Development Alliance (MVEDA). More than 500 people – including those key players in developing the private space industry – are expected to attend ISPCS Wednesday and Thursday, Oct. 19-20, at the New Mexico Farm & Ranch Heritage Museum, 4100 Dripping Springs Road.

Hynes told those attending the MVEDA luncheon Tuesday, Oct. 4, at the Hotel Encanto de Las Cruces, that there are a number of opportunities for local businesses to make connections at ISPCS.

 Prior to the conference, there will be a Growing Community Partnership Luncheon Tuesday, Oct. 18, at the Commercial Space Exhibit Hall, which will be located inside the museum. The $50 luncheon includes a talk by Allan Lockheed, son of the aviation pioneer who created what is now Lockheed Martin. Hynes said Lockheed will talk about how the space industry will coalesce around Spaceport America – an industry that is currently supported by $60 billion just in government spending. Though a “heavy business conference” attracting attendees from all over the world, ISPCS also will hold panels on creating the supply chain support, Hynes said.

So important is the question of establishing reliable sources of materials, equipment and facilities near Spaceport America that Virgin Galactic also is holding a supply chain meeting the day before ISPCS, Hynes said. “The supply chain is an indicator of the growth of the industry,” she said.

Because ISPCS has become the main annual gathering for those trying to open up this new industry, Hynes said she makes a point to expose them to local and New Mexico products, from its chile to its wines.

One in-state resource that the conference will look at is a center for gliding at Moriarty. Many of the spaceport’s vehicles will glide in for landings, such as Virgin Galactic, she said. Also, research has been conducted at Spaceport America’s sounding rocket launch facilities on winged rocket boosters that glide back to the ground for potential reuse, instead of simply falling away.

The two-day ISPCS costs $649 with discounted rates for active military – $329 – and students – $150. Last year, ISPCS brought in more than $1 million of local economic activity, Hynes said. “That’s a lot of economic impact for this area and this year’s conference will be three times that,” she said.  The proceeds from the conference pay for launches from Spaceport America of student experiments, which Hynes said is very expensive.

The good news is that our spaceport is quickly becoming a functioning reality.

Space Week in New Mexico

Release courtesy of the New Mexico Space Grant Consortium

New Mexico Space Grant Consortium will host the fifth annual FREE ISPCS Public Forum (previously named the Leonard R. Sugerman Public Forum) on Tuesday, October 19^th, 1:30-3:00 at the Pan American Center on the campus of New Mexico State University in Las Cruces, New Mexico.   Discover how the future of commercial spaceflight will impact our community.  The mayor of Titusville Florida will present on what happened when NASA came to town.  Local mayors will discuss what preparations they are making as Spaceport America becomes operational. Speakers include:

• John Hummer, moderator, CCIM, Owner/Broker, Steinborn TCN Commercial Real Estate
• Mayor Tulley from Titusville Florida
• Las Cruces Mayor Miyagishima
• Truth or Consequences Mayor Montgomery
• Hatch Mayor Nordyke

You are welcome to also attend the public forum 12:00 – 1:15 focused for university students and faculty.  Speakers include:

• Pat Hynes, New Mexico Space Grant Consortium Director
• Clay Anderson, NASA Astronaut, STS-117, STS-131, ISS
• George Whitesides, Chief Executive Officer, Virgin Galactic
• Aaron Prescott, Commercial Division Director, Spaceport America
• Mark Severance, International Space Station Laboratory, Education Projects Manager
• Doug Weathers, NMSU student, Student Launch Program
• Ivan Ferrell, NMSU student, Microgravity Program
• Selene Virk, NMSU student, Transcriptomic Profile of the Inner Ear Vestibular Organs

Come join us as we discuss preparing for this exciting industry in southern New Mexico!

On Wednesday and Thursday, October 20-21 the International Symposium for Personal and Commercial Spaceflight will be held at the New Mexico Farm and Ranch Heritage Museum.  For more information or to register for the symposium go to http://www.ispcs.com

Article courtesy of the Las Cruces Bulletin

By Todd G. Dickson

A flyover by Virgin Galactic’s spaceliner and the presence of aerospace’s more ambitious space entrepreneurs are just a couple of the highlights of this year’s International Symposium for Personal and Commercial Spaceflight next month.

Photo courtesy of Virgin Galactic

More than 400 aerospace leaders – company executives, government officials and researchers – are expected to attend this year’s conference to be held Wednesday, Oct. 20, and Thursday, Oct. 21, at the New Mexico Farm & Ranch Heritage Museum, 4100 Dripping Springs Road.

Flanking the conference will be the free public forum from 9:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. Tuesday, Oct. 19, at the Pan American Center on the New Mexico State University campus, and, after the conference, Virgin Galactic’s “mothership” Eve carrying the six-passenger rocket ship Enterprise is scheduled to fly over Spaceport America’s recently completed two-mile-long runway in the desert between Las Cruces and Truth or Consequences.

British billionaire Richard Branson, who is developing Virgin Galactic’s fleet to fly out of the New Mexico spaceport, described the flight as historic because it will be the first long-distance “capture-carry” flight of the spaceliner, making Oct. 22 a “momentous” day for commercial space.

“The new runway at Spaceport America will be finished, and the exterior fabric of our own facility at the spaceport will largely be complete,” Branson said. “It will be an honor to be present on that day, and I can safely say it will be one of the most exciting days in the history of Virgin.”

Based on the X PRIZE-winning system created by aviation genius Burt Rutan, Virgin’s double-hulled, jet-powered “mothership” will carry the Enterprise into the sky for a high-elevation, mid-air launch that will take its passengers to suborbital space.

Many of Virgin Galactic’s top executives will be at the conference, and Branson will deliver a taped message to school children at the public forum – but he isn’t the only one investing big money into privately funded commercial space development.

As in past years, the roster of panelists and speakers include many of the top players in the new industry of commercial space. The latest to agree to participate is Robert Bigelow, who has spent the last 10 years conducting research and development into a new generation of expandable space habitats. A Las Vegas, Nev., native, he made his fortune in real estate, banking and finance and is now gambling it on Bigelow Aerospace to create these expandable space habitats that can survive safely in orbit.

In 2006 and 2007, Bigelow launched its orbiting prototypes Genesis I and Genesis II with the goal to provide more room than the International Space Station at a fraction of the cost.

Other symposium participants include: Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist and author Neil Sheehan, whose latest book “A Fiery Peace in a Cold War” tells the story of the U.S. intercontinental ballistic missile program; Jeff Greason, CEO of XCOR Aerospace; Debra Fracktor Lepore, president of DFL Space; Lee Rand, Sun Mountain Capital partner; George Nield, commercial space transportation associate administrator for the Federal Aviation Administration; Lori Garver, NASA deputy administrator; and Clay Mowry, Arianespace president. Many others in organizations supporting commercial space development will participate in the two days of the conference.

Pat Hynes, executive director of the New Mexico Space Grant Consortium at the NMSU campus, which organizes the symposium, said the start of the symposium will begin with reviewing the origins of space exploration, but then quickly go into in-depth discussions about issues and obstacles facing the new industry, such as skepticism about the ability of the private sector to reach orbital space and the difficulty in finding investors. The symposium will also explore opportunities the new commercial space vehicles have in microgravity manufacturing, research and education.

The symposium brings the leaders of the industry here at a time when many in the local business community are trying to find a way to have the activities at the spaceport translate into more jobs and opportunities, Hynes said. The symposium provides an opportunity for networking that can lead to local ventures, such as the Hatch solar plant.

The free public forum on Tuesday, Oct. 19, will be divided into three segments. The morning session will be primarily educational, but will give people an opportunity to hear from a real astronaut, Virgin Galactic CEO George Whitesides, and one of Virgin Galactic’s customers. The lunch hour forum will include Whitesides, Hynes, another astronaut and students. The afternoon segment will include the mayors of Las Cruces, Hatch and T or C, as well as the mayor of Titusville, Fla., which grew with the NASA program.

Article courtesy of Las Cruces Sun-News

By Brook Stockberger

LAS CRUCES – If you’ve been following the news about Spaceport America, you know that construction has been well under way. The mythical-sounding place where humans can pay to take a ride into space – and, less mythical but probably more common, where companies can launch payloads – broke ground in June 2009.

“It’s chugging along,” said Rick Homans, director of New Mexico Spaceport Authority, of the $200-million project. “Pretty much all the construction is on track.”

The nearly two-mile runway is about 95 percent completed; the three-story, 110,000-square-foot terminal hangar facility has started to take shape; and the white dome of the airfield rescue fire facility flanks the larger hanger. Anchor tenant Virgin Galactic continues to test its craft in the Mojave Desert.

“We’re looking to be operations-ready in 2011,” said Spaceport spokesman Dave Wilson. “It’ll be ready for Virgin, but we don’t know when Virgin will be ready.”

So while the work continues, something just as big and important looms.

“We’re going full swing into the parallel track of moving from a construction site to an operating spaceport,” Homans said. “The construction phase has been so all-consuming for the last 18 months, it’s hard to think there’s a whole bunch of additional work to do that has greater complexity to it than the actual construction itself.”

Obviously, if you pay top dollar to go into space, you want to return safely.

“You start thinking of the day on the horizon when we’re a (full functioning) launch facility, we have to have a spaceport staff, contractors, equipment, everything operating seamlessly, flawlessly,” Homans said. “But most importantly, we have to have anticipated and drilled and trained for every potential problem or emergency or unexpected occurrence that could happen, and that takes a lot of planning.”

Recently, New Mexico State University’s Space Grant Consortium was selected as the Federal Aviation Administration’s Center of Excellence for Commercial Space Transportation, which enables NMSU to serve as the hub of a minimum $5 million, five-year research coalition addressing key challenges in the development of the commercial space industry. Homans said the center is expected to provide input for the shaping of regulations and operating procedures and practices for this new industry.

“The FAA COE role is still to be determined,” said Pat Hynes, director of the space grant consortium. “The FAA is the organization that will make the determination on what they want the COE to do.”

Either way, the fact that the spaceport is now a going concern has stirred up excitement.

“No question, from a client standpoint, there are a lot more inquires,” said Jim Hayhoe, who operates Spaceport America Consultants. “There will be a lot of specific supply chain needs for Virgin Galactic.”

Chicago-based David Houle, a writer and strategist who travels the world talking about the future and global trends, visited Spaceport America for the first time Friday.

“This is large and breathtaking,” Houle said.

He said he understands why some people were dubious as to whether such a fantastical sounding facility would ever actually take root. He said it is easier to not get your hopes up about such a groundbreaking venture, but, a visit to the spaceport would put those doubts aside.

“People live in their times,” Houle said. “Some people used to say, ‘Man will never fly.’”

Even with all of the advanced technology to be put in place, Wilson said one of the important projects has been the road, currently dirt, that runs south out of the location. It connects the spaceport with I-25 and cuts travel time from Las Cruces to less than an hour.

“This is critical,” Wilson said. “It’s important for the workers who will come from Dona Ana County to have a shorter commute.”

Brook Stockberger can be reached at (575) 541-5457.

Release courtesy of New Mexico Space Grant Consortium

The New Mexico Space Grant Consortium (NMSGC) is planning to webcast the Second Annual Education Launch live from Spaceport America on Tuesday, May 4. The UP Aerospace SL-4 rocket is scheduled to launch at 6 a.m. MDT, and will be seen live on the Internet at the NMSGC website (www.launchnm.com/the_launch.php) via Ustream, a leading live interactive broadcast platform.

NMSGC is hosting the Second Annual Education Launch from Spaceport America. This program provides New Mexico students the opportunity to design and launch scientific experiments into space. Dr. Pat Hynes, Director of the NMSGC, said, “By making the launch available via webcast, we hope to share our experiences and inspire the imaginations of young scientists all over the world. We want to build awareness of the applied learning and workforce development that is going on right now in New Mexico.”

The New Mexico Space Grant Consortium is a member of the congressionally funded National Space Grant College and Fellowship Program that is administered by NASA and sponsored by New Mexico State University. The program promotes and inspires lifelong learning in areas of science, technology, engineering and mathematics as it pertains to space-related activities. The consortium supports a wide range of projects and scholarship opportunities, including the Student Launch Program. New Mexico students build multi-sensor electronic experiments that use the environment of sub-orbital space to further their hands-on scientific and engineering experience.

For additional information, visit www.spacegrant.nmsu.edu or contact Aaron Perez, Program Coordinator at aaperez@nmsu.edu or call 575-646-6414