OKC-based Rocketplane Global Inc. still on track for eventual launch

Journal Record, The (Oklahoma City), Dec 26, 2007 by Kelley Chambers

Rocketplane Global Inc. has seen more downs than ups since its inception six years ago, but the company is still slated to eventually send people into space. The project, at the Oklahoma Spaceport at the Clinton-Sherman Air Force Base in Burns Flat, has received support from the state of Oklahoma as well as NASA, although as of yet the company has not sent a reusable vehicle into space on flights more than 60 miles above Earth.

Rocketplane is currently shooting for a launch in 2010.

Founded in 2001, the project touted the ability to eventually send civilian travelers into space on suborbital flights for those willing to pay a price nearing several hundred thousand dollars for a trip. Rocketplane opened its Oklahoma City office in 2004. The company is led by CEO George French.

Subsequent tax credits by the Oklahoma Tax Commission is 2004 amounted to $18 million in transferable credits. In addition NASA committed to more than $200 million with several strings attached.

So far, Rocketplane has not lived up to its requirements set forth by NASA. In addition, the company sold its state tax credits in an effort to fund its suborbital spacecraft. Financial problems have also led to cutbacks and layoffs at the company.

Nevertheless, private spaceflight efforts across the board got a shot in the arm in 2004 when a privately funded project won the $10 million X Ansari competition to send suborbital spacecraft into flight.

But despite setbacks, the company recently rolled out major engineering changes to its Rocketplane XP suborbital vehicle. David Faulkner, the program manager, leads the development of the Rocketplane XP suborbital space vehicle.

Faulkner said while working on the project for the last three years his team has logged more than 200,000 man-hours devoted to engineering between Rocketplane employees and its subcontractors. The result of their work and modifications were released in October. "It's quite a better looking plane than it was before," Faulkner said. "We've gone away from the Learjet fuselage concept that we originally started off with and just through analysis and wind tunnel testing and other things we've been able to head ourselves in a better direction."

The capacity of the craft has also been increased to hold five rather than three passengers.

With the move away from the Learjet design the new airframe will allow weight savings and more flexibility for packaging the vehicle systems.

A new tail has been added to the designs, called a T-Tail, which is lighter and provides greater aerodynamic control of the craft as well as improving safety.

The afterburning engines and landing gear have also been tweaked to increase the thrust by 66 percent with an increase in weight of only 10 percent.

In addition, the Rocketplane team has brought in interior designer Frank Nuovo, known for his design work for Nokia and BMW Design Works to design the interior of the craft.

Faulkner said the main focus now will be securing private financing to finish the project.

The company did not disclose how much in private funds it needs to raise, but Faulkner said the amount needed is well within industry norms.

"It matches very well with an aerospace project trying to develop a new prototype vehicle about our size," he said.

Bill Khourie, executive director of the Oklahoma Space Industry Development Authority, said in the FAA's Commercial Space Exploration Office's 24-year history it has only issued six launch site operators licenses, one of those to the Oklahoma project.

And despite setbacks, Khourie said he absolutely believes the project will come to fruition.

"We have the airspace and we have the infrastructure and those are the two critical elements for success in this industry," he said. "We're developing a foundation for the future of a new mode of space transportation."

Khourie said while NASA operates under a vision focused on deep space, the moon and Mars, it is the private sector that is looking more closely at suborbital and secondary orbital-type flights, which could ultimately benefit government projects.

"This could fill a void that could supplement not only NASA but the Department of Defense," he said.

In remarks at the Washington Business Space Roundtable in Washington, D.C., earlier this month, Patricia Grace Smith, associate administrator of the FAA's Office of Commercial Space Transportation, talked about space as a business and how the initiatives have advanced in recent years.

Smith said spaceflight is changing and with that change and expansion future space vehicles will not all be owned by the government.

"The fact is there is a private industry out there building the next epoch of transportation," Smith said at the roundtable. "There are no parallels. Nothing compares. The new civilian spaceflight business is altogether different from predecessor carriers."

Smith went on to discuss how private entities interested in one day offering space flight recognize that the business of space is a diverse world with the potential for serious profit potential in the future and should invite further private investment.