Feature: Houston spaceport development is looking up

Houston airport officials are stepping up efforts to lure new aerospace tenants to Ellington Airport, the site of the ninth licensed spaceport in the United States.

Last June, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) granted a launch site license to the airport, allowing Ellington to be used as launch site for reusable launch vehicles. Last year, the Houston Airport System spent 6.9 million U.S. dollars to purchase a 53,000-square-foot office building that will house new spaceport tenants.

The building, located near NASA's Neutral Buoyancy Laboratory, had been solely occupied by Boeing until the company relocated part of its operations on July 31. Boeing now operates from a six-story building to serve the aerospace and defense sectors.

Now, Houston aerospace officials are turning up the volume on efforts to land new tenants that will help usher in Houston's ascent into all things space.

"We are developing infrastructure of the future and we're just getting it started," said Arturo Machuca, general manager of Ellington Airport and Houston Spaceport. "We still have plenty of good challenges in development ahead of us."

The spaceport's first aerospace tenant, Intuitive Machines, moved into the mega-office complex on August 11 where it is building unmanned aerial systems, or drones, for commercial use.

"It's a great opportunity and experience for us," said Health Mooney, director of production facilities management at Intuitive Machines. "We're the first ones (tenants) here. This is a burgeoning industry and this place will only grow and we want to be a part of it."

Spaceport officials are working to include more aerospace entities into the fold.

"We have ongoing conversations with other companies, including the Russian engineering company Progresstech," Machuca said. "They want to set up an operations facility that would be used to serve their U.S. based clientele."

Houston officials also have letters of intent from Sierra Nevada Corporation, which plans to transport cargo to the International Space Station, and from Catapult Satellite Applications to lease space at the office complex.

Houston officials are also in talks with the Japanese Government Space Industry and South Korean airport officials who have expressed interest in partnering.

Another potential tenant is California-based SpaceX, which designs, manufacturers and launches advanced rockets and spacecraft, Machuca said.

"We haven't had conversations with them (SpaceX) as of yet," he said. "They could come, but not now. Currently they've been taking off from the Kennedy Space Center. Eventually they want to build a launch site in South Texas."

Ellington's spaceport will be a hub for a new generation of space planes that will take off horizontally from Ellington, and once over the Gulf of Mexico will ascend into the lower reaches of space.

"The possibilities are limited only by our imaginations," said Michael Wagoner, an inspector with the Houston Airport System. "A lot of what we're looking at is the same thing we had with the space shuttle, which is that you can take off from this airport and you can land at this airport. We're open to all possibilities."

Bob Mitchell, president of the Bay Area Houston Economic Partnership, said that development of the Houston Spaceport is moving smoothly.

"We're working on a number of agreements that work perfectly into the commercial space model we're trying to create," he said. "We have three confidential projects that are close to decision, and if we land even one of them we are on our way to achieve our goal. It will drive the future innovation and technology for this region and for America." Endit