In the news today:
July 6, 2006 - Starchaser Industries announces plans for flagship development in southern New Mexico
Las Cruces, NM - Starchaser Industries Inc., the first private space company to establish a New Mexico presence in response to the development of the Southwest Regional Spaceport, is pleased to announce plans to develop a 120-acre site approximately seventeen miles west of the City of Las Cruces in southern New Mexico.
The ten-year $100 million project, which will be privately financed, is expected to create up to 300 permanent positions, from service industry to high tech, high salary aerospace jobs with an emphasis on training local people. Phased development of the site will include rocket manufacturing and astronaut training facilities, retail outlets, office accommodations, restaurants and exhibition areas as well as a space-themed hotel with conference facilities. The Rocket City complex will span more than a mile of interstate frontage associated with the north side of exit 116 on Interstate 10.
Starchaser's Rocket City, located roughly 50 miles due south and well within striking distance of the Southwest Regional Spaceport, will be a high-tech theme park with an emphasis on science education and a 22nd century space age experience. Exhibitions and hands-on experiences will be themed toward personal and contemporary spaceflight while celebrating New Mexico's rich and varied space heritage.
Rocket City will provide unprecedented "behind the scene tours" of a working rocket assembly and manufacturing plant. Visitors will be able to purchase advance tickets for rides into space aboard Starchaser's Thunderstar rocketship, while having the opportunity to become familiar with the technology used to make spaceflight possible.
As a major tourist destination, Rocket City will attract throngs of visitors to the area and will compliment other New Mexico space initiatives. The development will offer many opportunities to create local, regional and national partnerships and will provide a focus for those wishing to invest in space tourism without necessarily having to put their money into rocket development.
This is exactly what New Mexico is hoping for. Not rides for passengers, but throngs of visitors.
Lets review:
Retail outlets;
Restaurants and exhibition areas;
Space-themed hotel;
High tech theme park;
Science education;
A celebration of New Mexico's space heritage; and
"Behind the scenes" tours.
Taken all together, the development is seeking to become a major tourist destination, not for suborbital passengers but land-lubber tourists with an interest in space.
Will this plan succeed, financially? Hard to say.
However, this is exactly what the New Mexico state legislature is looking for with any funding it provides to that regional spaceport.
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