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Southeast Asia's space race chases wins in tourism, communications

A new space race is heating up in Southeast Asia, with Thailand and Vietnam pursuing business opportunities in communications satellites and space tourism.

Thailand's Geo-Informatics and Space Technology Development Agency (GISTDA) plans to launch an industrial satellite from India in August that it jointly developed with the U.K. The project marks the first time Thailand has played a central role in the development of a satellite. Going forward, the country aims to design and manufacture satellites domestically, and plans to launch two or three home-made or jointly developed satellites within the next five years.

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ABS Announces First-Ever International Guidance For Offshore Spaceports

For mariners, as with Capt. Kirk and the crew of the starship Enterprise, space, it seems, is the final frontier, now that the American Bureau of Shipping (ABS) has released guidance for building and classing offshore spaceports. ABS announced the new guiding document, “Requirements for Building and Classing Offshore Spaceports,” during the Offshore Technology Conference (OTC), held in Houston May 1–4. The guidance is “based on service experience with industry leading aerospace rocket launch and recovery companies to guide the burgeoning maritime aspects of the space flight industry in the safe design and construction of offshore assets,” according to the announcement from ABS.

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Growing Commercial Launch Demand at Government Spaceports

The U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) in April proposed new legislative authorities that would allow it to begin charging commercial launch providers additional costs for the use of its spaceports to help the U.S. Space Force finance operations to keep pace with surging commercial demand for its facilities. The increasing commercial demand for the spaceports at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, Florida, and Vandenberg Space Force Base, California, is putting “tremendous demand on our infrastructure” for things such as roads, power stations and grids, launch pad services, the manpower needed to secure a safety zone during a launch event, the related administrative burdens, and commodities like nitrogen, helium and liquid hydrogen, Col. Jim Horne, deputy director of Assured Access to Space for Space Systems Command, told Defense Daily.

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Japanese space agency to launch from Shetland in major boost to Britain

The Japanese space agency wants to launch from Britain, the science minister George Freeman has said. Britain licensed its first spaceport in Cornwall last November and is due to begin vertical space launches this year from Shetland. The first horizontal launch from Spaceport Cornwall in January ended in failure when Virgin Orbit suffered a fueling issue which prevented it gaining enough height to release its payload of satellites. But Mr Freeman said there were several companies and even space agencies keen to use the British sites, including Jaxa, which is the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency.

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NEW Weekly Jargonbusters: A Quick Guide for Spaceport Related Lingo!

Term: Permeability (noun):

The measure of diffusion or "leakage" of gas through a fabric. The permeability determines the rate of descent

Term: Rangehead (noun):

The part of a launch site where the pads are located.

Spaceport Locations Map

We will be updating the map below weekly to keep track of the news regarding upcoming or previously established spaceport sites. If you notice any spaceports that are missing, send an email and let us know! Click here for more details.

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