THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Monday, August 7, 1995 TAG: 9508070036
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B2 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY JAMES SCHULTZ, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Long : 111 lines
Like its 19th century, horse-drawn namesake that opened the western United States to settlers, the Conestoga rocket that awaits a launch either Friday or Saturday from a Wallops Island beach carries with it pioneering hopes.
Advocates believe a successful launch by the rocket's parent company, EER Systems Inc., will herald a new space age in Virginia.
Investors and companies could rev up their activity not only in the northern part of the state - the current hub for commercial space activity - but also near NASA's Wallops Flight Facility, bringing high-wage jobs and an expanded tax base to the Eastern Shore.
Virginia ``is the nation's small satellite capital,'' said Michael W. Miller, president and CEO of Spatial Positioning Systems Inc. in Reston. ``It's emerging as a center for remote sensing (satellites). It's got just about everything.''
Miller's is one of a dozen small satellite and rocket companies that call Virginia home. Most are in Fairfax County, within shouting distance of national legislators in Washington, and a freeway ride from Dulles International Airport and thus air travel to any point on the globe.
In Hampton Roads, other high-tech businesses either have spun off from or exist to support the aerospace research at NASA Langley Research Center.
With the formation of the Virginia Commercial Space Flight Authority this year, and the appointment by Gov. George F. Allen of the authority's board in July, Wallops Island and the Eastern Shore are poised to become a space business center as well.
``It looks like the satellite-building and launch industry is ready for a ramping up,'' said Ray Stanley, a senior NASA Wallops official. ``It is logical to assume that some of the operational activity will be at Wallops. We think we're capable of accommodating that activity.''
For the foreseeable future, space business will happen almost exclusively in low-Earth orbit, several hundred miles above the ground. The emphasis will be on small rockets and miniature payloads.
Constellations of small communications satellites are on the drawing boards of several companies, with the eventual promise of instantaneous, personal communications from any spot on the globe.
Remote sensing devices are likewise being developed. Derived from Cold War, spy-in-the-sky technology, such satellites would provide detailed pictures of vegetation, topography and geology to map makers, agricultural and urban planners, border patrols, environmental monitors and resource managers.
Getting small has to do with cost. To send hundreds of pounds of payload aloft can cost millions or, at minimum, hundreds of thousands of dollars.
Each launch of the space shuttle, for example, costs at least $300 million. Critics contend that hidden costs - of ground crews, administrative support and the like - boost the real shuttle operational cost three times, to almost $1 billion.
So the prospects of space tourism, extensive space-based manufacturing, orbital power stations and bases on the moon or Mars are ``pretty far in the future,'' according to David Thompson, chairman of the board, CEO and president of Orbital Sciences Corp. in Fairfax County.
``There's no new fundamental application that has emerged,'' he said. ``We're seeing continued growth and evolution of commercial and remote sensing, but not much else. From my standpoint, that's plenty to keep us busy.''
Orbital Sciences appears to be one of Virginia's space success stories. With 2,000 employees and estimated 1995 revenues of $300 million, it is the state's largest home-grown aerospace company.
The firm was founded in 1982 by Thompson and two fellow Harvard MBA graduates, Bruce Ferguson and Scott Webster. Originally nursed by $1.8 million in start-up venture capital, the company has gone through a decade-plus growth spurt, most of it fueled by government contracts.
Orbital Sciences has designed, built and flown two types of rockets: Pegasus, launched from an airplane; and Taurus, launched from the ground. One of its subsidiaries is developing a series of small satellites that would be flown on the Pegasus and would provide message and data communications services anywhere on the globe.
On June 22, Orbital engineers were forced to destroy a Pegasus booster in flight 65 miles off the coast of Monterey, Calif. Instruments on board reported a malfunction. The craft, carrying an Air Force payload into low-Earth orbit, was a complete loss.
Thompson said that, despite the setback, Orbital is determined to put Pegasus back into action. Setbacks happen, Thompson said, even for an established company.
And that's what makes entering the space business so hard for would-be entrepreneurs.
``It's very, very difficult to do a bootstrap operation, because of the capital required to get a product through a preliminary design,'' Thompson said. ``While government policy is positive, government budgets have been reduced. That's made it tough for a new company with a great idea to develop and produce a product.''
Should the so-called ``small-sat'' business take off, Wallops Island could be a big winner. Experience - the facility has launched about 15,000 rockets in its 50-year history - is one major advantage. Two others are low administrative overhead and relatively quick flights to the midlatitude orbits under which most of the world's population lives.
``We think Wallops will be a strong magnet in attracting companies specializing in small and medium satellite payloads,'' said John Jerke, industry director for aerospace and transportation for the state's Center for Innovative Technology, located in Herndon. ``In addition to the launch pads, Wallops has one of the finest airports in Virginia. People will be able to get in and out quickly.''
Technicians and engineers from Conestoga manufacturer EER and NASA are braving an extended heat wave and possible rain from the remnants of Hurricane Erin to make the weekend launch window. Additional testing of the spacecraft also was cited in the third launch delay.
``I think Virginia has a large stake in this launch activity, both orbital and suborbital,'' said Ray Stanley of NASA Wallops. ``It is time to hurry, though. If we're not careful, the users will have to look to foreign sources.'' by CNB