After SpaceX's Falcon 9 rocket failed last week at about 28 miles up, several scientists made sure to clarify that technically the rocket didn't explode - there simply isn't enough oxygen at that height for anything to combust. As Houston celebrates Ellington Airport's new designation as a commercial spaceport, we wonder whether there will be similar clarifications about the future of the aerospace industry in Houston.
After all, the term "spaceport" does not mean what many folks may think. Don't expect to see any powerful rockets lifting off in the distance as you drive down Interstate 45. Instead, Ellington will more likely be host to suborbital space planes or serve as a landing site for space shuttles, such as the Sierra Nevada Corporation's Dream Chaser. Even then, there will be plenty of logistical questions about how these ships will interact with normal traffic out of the nearby Hobby Airport, or whether the Federal Aviation Administration will allow unpowered landings - gliding back to Earth - at a runway in the middle of a city. There's a reason why most spaceports are far from populated areas.
The United States already has nine other federal designated spaceports, and there's not nearly enough business to keep them all busy, so we'll keep our expectations measured for the time being. However, there is reason to hope. Unlike other spaceports, Ellington Spaceport won't be built from scratch, either in infrastructure or industry. Houston is already home to plenty of NASA contractors and several companies have already expressed interest in the site. In fact, there are grass shoots of a growing private space industry all across our state, from XCOR's testing site in Midland to SpaceX's orbital launch facility near Boca Chica Beach. Who knows, that Brownsville-area beach could even end up serving as man's first launchpad to Mars.
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SpaceX founder Elon Musk has said that he hopes to die on the red planet. Until then, we're glad that Ellington is working to make sure that the space industry lives in Texas.
