Potential sites for Britain's spaceport unveiled - Polidicks

[IMG]http://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/340/media/images/76211000/gif/_76211478_20140711_space_ports_map.gif[/IMG] [url]http://bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-scotland-politics-28276525[/url] [quote]Scotland could host the UK's first dedicated base for spaceplanes, according to new government plans. Ministers want to establish the UK spaceport by 2018 - the first of its kind outside of the US. Eight aerodromes have been shortlisted and Scotland has six of the potential locations. The Scottish government said only independence would lead to a greater development of the country's space industry.[/quote]

Retake all of Ireland and make it a huge space station hub

[quote] The Scottish government said only independence would lead to a greater development of the country's space industry.[/quote] Say that again once you've bankrupted yourself paying for the Scotland/Britain split

[QUOTE=fruxodaily;45375260]Retake all of Ireland and make it a huge space station hub[/QUOTE] Irishmen and Spaceships?! Are you asking for a disaster? :v:

[QUOTE=Pvt. Martin;45375319]Irishmen and Spaceships?! Are you asking for a disaster? :v:[/QUOTE] Beamsh meh up sh-shcotty (hic) ...Now tha fuck did i put dat bastard raddi-o-activ shample?

[QUOTE=Pvt. Martin;45375319]Irishmen and Spaceships?! Are you asking for a disaster? :v:[/QUOTE] Screen doors on command module.

[QUOTE=Pvt. Martin;45375319]Irishmen and Spaceships?! Are you asking for a disaster? :v:[/QUOTE] no we'd kill them all or ship them somewhere else first obviously

[quote]The Scottish government said only independence would lead to a greater development of the country's space industry.[/quote] Well then, I guess that narrows it down to Newquay Cornwall Airport and Llanbedr Airport for the sites of British spaceports.

Wouldn't the site be better if it were located further south, at least if you wanted equatorial orbit. Scotland doesn't seem ideal there.

[QUOTE=ben1066;45375554]Wouldn't the site be better if it were located further south, at least if you wanted equatorial orbit. Scotland doesn't seem ideal there.[/QUOTE] i was also wondering why all the sites are all in scottland when the lower latitudes are better for launches to LEO and Geostationary orbit

I can't imagine a more unfitting place for a spaceport than Campbeltown and Stornoway.

Just let the irish practice on Kerbal Space Program

So why not on Ascension?

[QUOTE=booster;45375795]So why not on Ascension?[/QUOTE] Because this is for spaceplanes, not rockets, so they'd be building off existing runways. Hopefully Ascension / Saint Helena get the UK's first 'proper' spaceport.

Would be fun to see it being based at RAF Leuchars. It would be literally a bus ride away from where I am at uni.

[QUOTE=BLUchameleon;45375850]Because this is for spaceplanes, not rockets, so they'd be building off existing runways. Hopefully Ascension / Saint Helena get the UK's first 'proper' spaceport.[/QUOTE] Aah that explains a lot. So will Virgin Galactics pay for anything?

Wouldn't it be cool if it was sleek and gleaming space port with a huge tarmac with dozens of starships strewn about with technicians installing hyper drives and colonists boarding ships for a trip to distant regions of the galaxy? [IMG]http://www.facepunch.com/fp/ratings/rainbow.png[/IMG] But it will probably just be a crappy concrete launchpad with a steel lattice tower next to it.

[QUOTE=BLUchameleon;45375850]Because this is for spaceplanes, not rockets, so they'd be building off existing runways. Hopefully Ascension / Saint Helena get the UK's first 'proper' spaceport.[/QUOTE] that sounds a lot like putting all their eggs in one basket, skylon has been a huge gamble and even though they are making progress, rocketry will still be superior to spaceplanes

[QUOTE=cqbcat;45378453]Wouldn't it be cool if it was sleek and gleaming space port with a huge tarmac with dozens of starships strewn about with technicians installing hyper drives and colonists boarding ships for a trip to distant regions of the galaxy? [IMG]http://www.facepunch.com/fp/ratings/rainbow.png[/IMG] But it will probably just be a crappy concrete launchpad with a steel lattice tower next to it.[/QUOTE] This is what ours looks like. [url]http://spaceportamerica.com/[/url] [editline]13th July 2014[/editline] [QUOTE=Sableye;45378502]that sounds a lot like putting all their eggs in one basket, skylon has been a huge gamble and even though they are making progress, rocketry will still be superior to spaceplanes[/QUOTE] These are more for things like Virgin Galactic really. They want to be doing A to B suborbital commuter flights in the coming decades.

Are we sure it's just space planes? It says they want to launch satellites

[QUOTE=ironman17;45375548]Well then, I guess that narrows it down to Newquay Cornwall Airport and Llanbedr Airport for the sites of British spaceports.[/QUOTE] Since the RAF handed Newquay (formerly [URL="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RAF_St_Mawgan"]RAF St Mawgan[/URL]) the airfield has had a lot of mod cons added and has had a lot of money plowed into maintaining its operational capacity. I would put money on that being a serious contender, as Llanbedr - as amazingly situated as it is just outside of the Snowdonia National Park, is too close to RAF Valley and too neglected to be a real contender I reckon. [editline]13th July 2014[/editline] [QUOTE=Sableye;45375584]i was also wondering why all the sites are all in scottland when the lower latitudes are better for launches to LEO and Geostationary orbit[/QUOTE] Southern UK has a lot of airspace restrictions which make it very tricky to deploy any type of new airfield. There is a very intricate organization of airways crisscrossing all the way up to Manchester, with much of that airspace just being unsuitable for any sort of non-subsonic, commercial flight. The London TMA is one of the most heavily congested airspace sectors in the world, so having a new and unproven type of air travel operating nearby is going to be ambitious. Scotland has a lot of unused, uncontrolled airspace and I think that's why the government would want to build there, as opposed to on the TMAs doorstep.

Pave the Falklands.

From an orbits point of view, Britain is such a shitty place for a spaceport. They're limited to launching into inclinations of greater than ~67 degrees. On top of that, any inclination from 90-180 degrees is extra shitty because now you're counteracting the earth's rotation. Britain is limited to launching only to the north and west. (Since South and East there's a bunch of European countries that will get pissed when you fly rockets over them). IMO it's going to end up in either Stornoway Airport, Kinloss Baracks, or RAF Lossiemouth. The third of which is already an Air Force base which is usually preferable. The lower launch sites open up a wider inclination range, but end up flying over land, which is a pretty big 'no-no'.

Falklands spaceport it is then!

and....nowhere near i live ffs. at least its not another product of London.

As someone from Campbeltown, I can safely say that there is not a singular aspect of the town that would not be made indefinitely cooler by space travel.

[QUOTE=FunnyBunny;45381112]From an orbits point of view, Britain is such a shitty place for a spaceport. They're limited to launching into inclinations of greater than ~67 degrees. On top of that, any inclination from 90-180 degrees is extra shitty because now you're counteracting the earth's rotation. Britain is limited to launching only to the north and west. (Since South and East there's a bunch of European countries that will get pissed when you fly rockets over them). IMO it's going to end up in either Stornoway Airport, Kinloss Baracks, or RAF Lossiemouth. The third of which is already an Air Force base which is usually preferable. The lower launch sites open up a wider inclination range, but end up flying over land, which is a pretty big 'no-no'.[/QUOTE] Also the weather.

I really hope for it to be down in south england, great place to put industry. more industry = more power electronics being thrown away = more scrap yards to make friends with and buy all the stuff at cheap prices! :)

I find it so weird that Britain doesn't have one yet. I literally live 5 miles from one, Cecil Field is now a spaceport, among other things. Good luck on finding a good area to have one. Think the reason Cecil got picked is because one of the Runways is 12,504ft, or 3,811m.