The British Are Building a Spaceport | Hacker News Reader

The British Are Building a Spaceport

bloomberg.com

36 pointsadventured32 comments

Previous discussion: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=17546006

As someone with two young children and who lives only a few hours away from the proposed site, I'm really excited at the possibility of taking them to see some launches.

I just hope that bureaucracy, Brexit or political interference don't end up with Scotland missing out on this opportunity

TBH I'd also worry about environmental concerns scuppering it.

I can't image it could have a worse environmental impact that the (fairly) nearby military firing ranges south of Cape Wrath - I don't think we are exactly short of boggy mooreland in Scotland!

It's a Site of Special Scientific Interest, part of a designated Special Landscape Area, and a blanket bog habitat of the kind that doesn't occur much outside Scotland. It is also an area of great beauty, and I find it sad that it's going to be sacrificed for the convenience of a multinational corporation.

Looking at the SNH site tt looks like part of the area is a SSSI - but a large area is not:

https://gateway.snh.gov.uk/sitelink/siteinfo.jsp?pa_code=1

A development like this might actually be good for conservation as it is likely to prevent much else being developed in the immediate area.

Spaceport construction and operation looks like a great business model! It's essentially leasing the land and providing all ancillary safety services. For which you can charge a fee per rocket launch. A market that is certain to experience explosive growth in coming decades. Florida coast alone is planning two new spaceports, as well as major upgrades to existing facilities.

"A market that is certain to experience explosive growth in coming decades."

LOL.

Old rule : if something is bad then it'll be reported as "Scottish" but if good then the headline will be "British".

Huh? I don't see too much English, or British whisky, British salmon, Lowland knits etc, but I see plenty of British cheese, wine, science, arts, etc. Some Scottish chips too, perhaps.

I'm referring to events reported in the English media. e.g if a Scottish tennis player looses it'll be reported as "Tragedy as Scottish Player Fails in Finals". Same player wins and the headline is "Joy as British Tennis Player Wins Championship".

You probably have to be Scottish to notice.

This is being funded by the UK government. Why wouldn't it be described as British?

If it was being built in East Anglia, Wales or Northern Ireland I would expect the same.

If it's being funded by the UK government, shouldn't it be "The UK is building a spaceport"?

The terms are used interchangeably.

Nothing like this would ever described as "English". Yet Scottish people sometimes complain when things aren't described as "Scottish". I don't really know why. It might have something to do with football. England have a successful national team but Scotland don't. I'm English and wish we played as Great Britain, though.

Totally with you on that. The connection between football and politics is just really unpleasant to me. Nationalist politicians understand that too which is why they tried so hard to block a "British" football team entering the Olympics.

They'd rather divide us than unite us.

I always loved the "EU" team in golf for the same reason.

Or maybe "The UK government is paying a US based company to build a spaceport in Scotland"?

Exactly.

I wouldn't object to that. I see the difference between "UK Government" and "British Government" as being academic.

Not to worry, we take our revenge with every game of football England plays by supporting the opposing team.

Hope it's more successful than "Spaceport America".... a fascinating day trip, if you're in the area, but I can't help but feel sorry for the NM taxpayers who were persuaded to contribute.

Brexit effect?

Deflection from Brexit most likely. Chance of it actually happening, I would say around 0.1%. There'll be no money for anything except airlifting vital food and medicines around once hard Brexit takes hold.

"The deals were announced at the Farnborough Air Show"

Just a coincidence of timing Farnborough is often used for this kind of announcement.

This was being looked at long before brexit. eg https://www.gov.uk/government/news/government-paves-way-for-...

Yes, this is warmed over when the Farnborough Airshow is on every couple of years. It doesn't change that the economics won't be there and we won't even be flying planes (never mind rockets) if we have a hard Brexit.

Leaving the EU with no negotiation means no flights to europe or the U.S. Overfly rights still exist because the UK signed up to Chicago Convention. There's a fair few countries where the UK will still have rights to fly to - Singapore for one, I suspect much of Africa too.

The UK is a member of the Outer Space treaty, has been since 1967, so I don't think there's a technical hurdle to launching a rocket from Brexit Britain (Assuming the fuel and rocked is already on the island).

(Of course whether we can afford to when we can't export any goods is another matter)

Your assessment is absurdly dramatic, and I make that claim without evidence until your claims have evidence.

You seem to assume there's going to be working ATC after they brexit Eurocontrol.

Why do you think this to be the case?

I think you're right that this is just pandering. You need to be near the equator to launch rockets effectively (checkout this pdf from NASA that explains how they use the Earth's rotation to gather momentum: https://www.nasa.gov/pdf/142825main_Bobsled_Launch.pdf).

So yeah, nobody is going to do any space flight from Northern anything.

> So yeah, nobody is going to do any space flight from Northern anything.

Better tell these guys: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pacific_Spaceport_Complex_%E2%...

Polar orbits.

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