THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Tuesday, March 5, 1996 TAG: 9603050182
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY KAREN JOLLY DAVIS, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: NORFOLK LENGTH: Medium: 87 lines
Spaceport Virginia officials, hoping to head off further cuts at Wallops Flight Facility, have a proposal for NASA:
Let us manage your sub-orbital rocket program.
The suggestion isn't as radical as it sounds. An internal study recommended that NASA keep the program but reduce its direct involvement through privatization. The Virginia Commercial Space Flight Authority is putting together a proposal to manage the sub-orbital program, and ensure Wallops' future.
``This would simply be a portion of the Virginia Spaceport concept,'' said Robert Templin, chairman of the board for the space authority. ``It's the spaceport concept that we are going to bring before NASA.''
The authority was created by the General Assembly last year to develop a launch site for Virginia's growing aerospace industry. The new board has met only four times, but in that short period, the spaceport idea has grown.
``It's more than a launch pad and tower,'' said Templin, who is also president of Virginia's Center for Innovative Technology in Herndon. He said other facets of the spaceport could include a hands-on space academy - called a Center of Excellence - for training aerospace professionals.
These proposals could bring more business to Wallops Flight Facility on the Eastern Shore. More business would make Wallops more cost-effective, giving NASA additional reason to keep the base open.
And it's essential to keep Wallops open, say spaceport officials. Without Wallops, there is no Spaceport Virginia. Wallops has land, equipment and expertise that theauthority would pay to use, but couldn't afford to replace.
Some of Wallops' activities have already been transferred to other NASA bases. Sub-orbital and balloon research, putting small rockets and balloons into the upper atmosphere, are the only programs still operating there.
It costs about $140 million a year to keep Wallops running. The maximum budget for the sub-orbital launch program is about $50 million - but not all of that goes to Wallops. Balloon research is budgeted at a maximum of $20 million.
So the cost of operating Wallops is already big, compared to NASA's use of the property. And there would be no reason to keep Wallops open at all without the sounding rocket program.
``We want to see Wallops maintained at all costs,'' said Billie Reed, newly appointed executive director of the commercial space flight authority.
Reed and Wayne Woodhams have been drafting plans to bring additional funds to Wallops. Both teach engineering management at Old Dominion University. And both staff the Center for Commercial Space Infrastructure, which came up with the spaceport idea.
In recent months, they have nailed down a $900,000 grant from the federal Economic Development Administration to help build a launch pad, tower and assembly building. They are negotiating with NASA for use of Wallops, pursuing a spaceport license from the U.S. Department of Transportation, and talking with Spaceport Alaska officials about sharing resources.
The two ODU faculty members also are seeking a contract with the Air Force to use Wallops for small-rocket testing.
Reed said he is now optimistic about getting the contract because . . . ``it's cheaper to launch from commercial ranges than it is to launch from their own.''
Launch services for mid-sized rockets. Sub-orbital program management. Space academy. Money from the Economic Development Agency and a possible contract with the Air Force. Put these pieces together, and you get the package that the spaceport authority will present to NASA officials in Washington within the next two weeks. Reed hopes to sell the concept to members of Congress from Virginia and Maryland as well.
Reed and Woodhams hope the vision of a ``center of excellence'' partnership between government, academia and industry will encourage Washington decision-makers to keep Wallops open and ready for Virginia's move into commercial space.
``The way to make Wallops viable is not to do less business, but to do more,'' said Woodhams. ILLUSTRATION: [Color Photo]
A VISION FOR A CENTER OF EXCELLENCE
HUY NGUYEN
The Virginian-Pilot
Billie Reed, new executive director of the Virginia Commercial Space
Flight Authority. He and Wayne Woodhams, professors of engineering
management at Old Dominion University, have been drafting plans to
bring more money to NASA's Wallops Flight Facility.
by CNB