Wednesday / 14 June 2006
 
Credit: SPC
USA State Space Plans Accelerating. California, New Mexico and Oklahoma have each advanced their plans for developing robust state space industries. Tomorrow, an international agreement will be signed between Andrea Seastrand (Executive Director of the California Space Authority) and Mayank Patel (representing the Farnborough Aerospace Consortium) focused on promoting mutual goals beneficial to space enterprise in California and in the United Kingdom. According to a 12 June California Space Authority release, "The ultimate goal of the agreement is to increase trade and address barriers to space enterprise commerce, to promote the rapid conversion of innovative research and development into commercial products and services, and to stimulate, develop and promote space-related entrepreneurship by conducting joint events." On Monday, the Oklahoma Space Industry Development Authority (OSIDA) was issued a launch site operator license from the FAA's Office of Commercial Space Transportation for its OSIDA-run spaceport at Clinton-Sherman Industrial Airpark near Burns Flat, making it just the sixth licensed USA spaceport and only the second private one (Mojave Airport in California received a license for its two 2004 SpaceShipOne space flights). New Mexico (NM), which expects to have its FAA license in early 2007, has begun the design process for its Southwest Regional Spaceport. UP Aerospace plans to make the NM spaceport's inaugural flight in July, and in October the X Prize Cup will be held there.