SpaceNews recently reported on the damage assessment of the Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport following the October 28th failure of an Orbital Antares rocket just after liftoff.
According to Dale Nash, executive director of the Virginia Commercial Space Flight Authority, while the damage assessment is still ongoing, it is anticipated that the final cost estimate will not exceed $20 million. Both Virginia senators indicated that they are working to determine if federal funding sources could be tapped to help pay for the repairs.
Nash also was "optimistic" that the repairs could be completed prior to the next Antares launch, currently targeted for early 2016.
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Damage to Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport less than US$20M
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(Score: 3, Interesting) by Ellis D. Tripp on Saturday November 29 2014, @03:33AM
A private company conducting a private launch from a privatized former federal facility screws the pooch to the tune of $20M in damages, and the Senators are figuring out a way for US taxpayers to bail them out.
Privatize the profits, socialize the costs--Crony Capitalism in action again....
"Society is like stew. If you don't keep it stirred up, you end up with a lot of scum on the top!"--Edward Abbey
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday November 29 2014, @04:01AM
Bzzzzzzt. Nice try. Thanks for playing.
The federal facility is still there [nasa.gov] and doing quite well. The spaceport leases the land from NASA and shares facilities set up via the same process [nasa.gov] NASA has been using since 1958. The primary mission of your so-called "private launch" was to resupply the ISS, which I think you'll agree is something NASA is interested in (unless you were going to go the next step and say that the ISS is a private-only venture as well?).
Waa waa waa. Crony capitalism. Oligarchy. Blah blah. Your whiny little diatribes (and here by "you" I do mean you, but also some other specific broken records around here) would actually carry more weight if you limited your arguments and observations to places where they actually apply. Foisting them into every thread, topic, and conversation leads the rest of us to tune you out with all your wolf crying.
(Score: 2) by sudo rm -rf on Saturday November 29 2014, @08:43AM
Oh, come on, read the last paragraph of the article:
So the damage done to private property is paid by a private company while the damage done to public property is (probably) paid by the public. This is a classic example of crony capitalism and has nothing to do with the fact that Orbital was contracted by NASA.
(Score: 1) by khallow on Saturday November 29 2014, @07:00PM
This is a classic example of crony capitalism and has nothing to do with the fact that Orbital was contracted by NASA.
Unless, of course, the cost breakdown was part of the contract.
(Score: 2) by sudo rm -rf on Saturday November 29 2014, @09:36PM
My thoughts, after submitting. :)