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New Frontiers
Forget the package holiday. A spaceport for commercial flights is being built in the UK
Eight locations have been selected that would be suitable for the new spaceport.
DO YOU NORMALLY holiday in France or Spain? You might want to set your sights a bit higher, a lot higher actually, as the UK Government has announced eight possible locations where they plan to build the country’s first spaceport.
The spaceport, which will cater for commercial flights into space, is to open in 2018.
The eight possible locations are easily accessible from Ireland. Here are the possible locations:
- Campbeltown Airport (Scotland)
- Glasgow Prestwick Airport (Scotland)
- Llanbedr Airport (Wales)
- Newquay Cornwall Airport (England)
- Kinloss Barracks (Scotland)
- RAF Leuchars (Scotland)
- RAF Lossiemouth (Scotland)
- Stornorway Airport (Scotland)
Big business
Chief Executive of the UK Space Agency Dr David Parker unveiled the locations, saying that the new spaceport could bring great economic opportunities to the UK.
What are they looking for in a new spaceport?
A suitable location must have an existing runway which is capable of being extended to over 3000 metres in length; the ability to accommodate dedicated segregated airspace to manage space flights safely; and be a reasonable distance from densely populated areas in order to minimise impact on the uninvolved general public.
So, what can we expect from the commercial space travel? Will we need one of these?
Will we be subject to all the normal checks before travelling?
Who knows, but these are the sorts of aircrafts we will be flying on:
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