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Re:Spaceport Cornwall awarded licence to host UK’s first spa... by rob74 on Thursday November 17, 2022 @04:16AM (#33636603)
> [the site] had satisfied the authorities that it had the infrastructure, equipment and services for horizontal space launches.

Same as any other airport that can accomodate a 747? You can call it a "horizontal space launch" to make it sound important, but it's basically just a plane taking off?

Re:Spaceport Cornwall awarded licence to host UK’s first spa... by chinathrow on Thursday November 17, 2022 @04:29AM (#33636689)
I assume handling a rocket suitable for an air-launch needs some additional safety considerations while handled on the ground.
Re:Spaceport Cornwall awarded licence to host UK’s first spa... by dsfyu404ed on Thursday November 17, 2022 @08:40AM (#33638683)
You're trucking in an airframe, fuel, oxygen and assembling the product.

All of these things routinely get trucked around and there's already an established system of rules for doing so.

Sure, assembling and fueling the vehicle is a little different but it's not much different than the fuel truck and the oxygen truck showing up to a chemical plant on the same morning. Airports already have precedent and procedure for handling exotic fuels.

The cargo here is no more interesting or deserving of special care (and in some cases it's less) than the stuff the oil and gas industry flies around the north sea.

I'm sure "but safety" is how the bureaucrats justify the extra make-work but that's a pretty worthless justification in a world where you don't need a special site permit to load a case of explosives or hazmat onto a chopper so long as you follow the preexisting handling requirements for whatever it is you're handling.

So yeah, I see this as pointless red tape and it's doubly a nuisance seeing as commercial space flight is a fledging industry that probably should be nurtured by government rather than fought. If they were actually shooting off rockets I'd feel differently but that's not the case.

Re:Spaceport Cornwall awarded licence to host UK’s first spa... by jjk166 on Thursday November 17, 2022 @12:53PM (#33642804)
You know you have to fill out quite a bit of paperwork to demonstrate you are capable of safely handling chemicals when building and operating a chemical plant too.

An airport needs a special license to be a spaceport not because it is fundamentally harder, just because it requires a different skillset.

Re:Spaceport Cornwall awarded licence to host UK’s first spa... by Tepix on Thursday November 17, 2022 @04:58AM (#33636859)
Indeed. It's a bit of a downer.
Re:Spaceport Cornwall awarded licence to host UK’s first spa... by lloydatkinson on Thursday November 17, 2022 @06:07AM (#33637336)
The entire UK space industry has been a downer for the last 50 years.
Re:Spaceport Cornwall awarded licence to host UK’s first spa... by Oxidation on Thursday November 17, 2022 @07:51AM (#33638187)
The only country ever to gain satellite launch capability and lose it again.
Re:Spaceport Cornwall awarded licence to host UK’s first spa... by actionfromafar on Thursday November 17, 2022 @08:53AM (#33638862)
One launch. Then packed it up and left.
Re:Spaceport Cornwall awarded licence to host UK’s first spa... by KineticLensman on Thursday November 17, 2022 @07:59AM (#33638265)
> The entire UK space industry has been a downer for the last 50 years

True for launches but we have a lot of innovation in satellite design and manufacture. E.g. ion drives used in Earth orbit and for planetary missions [0] and [1]

[0] https://www.qinetiq.com/en/blogs/postcards-from-space-ion-th...

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Surrey_Satellite_Technology#Sa...

Re:Spaceport Cornwall awarded licence to host UK’s first spa... by mywacaday on Monday November 21, 2022 @05:19AM (#33690930)