14 DAY TRIAL // Under an agreement signed recently by representatives from Mojave, California-based company Masten Space Systems and Space Florida, the private space business will be allowed to conduct demonstration launches from a launch pad in Cape Canaveral.
The company is currently developing a reusable suborbital spacecraft concept, but has had until now no place to launch it from. A launch pad at the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station (CCAFS) has been made available under the terms of the new agreement.
Launch Complex 36 will allow Masten to launch its spacecraft as soon as it's ready, officials from Space Florida are quoted as saying. The agreement was announced on November 22, Space reports.
The organization has been created to support the space industry through the promotion of research, investment, exploration and commerce in the state. Its foundations were set through the 2006 Space Florida Act.
The ultimate goal of Space Florida is to attract and help foster the development of a solid and sustainable aerospace industry in the state, officials say.
“We are thrilled to have Masten looking at Florida's Space Coast. We view companies like Masten as the catalysts for innovation in our state's aerospace economy,” said Frank DiBello, the president of Space Florida.
“There is significant potential for their launch vehicles to provide a valuable platform for commercial research and development, and we look forward to working with them to explore that potential here in Florida,” he went on to say during the announcement.
“We have been looking at Florida as a launch option for some time now,” added the chief executive officer of Masten, and the company's founder, David Masten.
“We are excited to begin the process of determining if Launch Complex 36 is a good location for our flight operations, and hope to attempt a demonstration launch sometime in 2011,” the official said in a statement.
Masten plans to conduct affordable suborbital flights, and have its rocket fly multiple sorties each day. The spacecraft the company is working on lands and takes off vertically.
The company is one of the few private space enterprises to receive funding from NASA for testing their spacecraft and rocket designs. It also won a NASA contest to build mock lunar landers.
“We've had interest from many researchers, scientists, and engineers,” says the director of business development at the company, Colin Ake.
“We look forward to conducting regular flight operations in the near future, including using suborbital flights as a quality assurance 'checkout' for experiments bound for the International Space Station,” he concludes.