Industry leaders, advocates participate in workshop with commissioners

By Jenet Krol

Krol@hometownnewsol.com

In response to the proposed 2010 NASA budget, announced by President Barack Obama, Brevard County Commissioners held a workshop to decide the best course of action to help the more than 9,000 aerospace workers who will be unemployed by next year.

Though the president's budget adds $6 billion over five years to NASA's budget and extends the operation of the International Space Station into 2010, the cancellation of the Constellation Program and with no defined future exploration destination, the gap between manned space flights, which was once believed to last five years, is now indefinite.

United Space Alliance, NASA's prime contractor for space shuttle launches, is expecting to layoff 4,500 workers, said Mark Nappi, vice president of launch and recovery systems.

"We are beyond the status quo," said Mr. Nappi. "Our only hope is to lessen the impact to this community. We are in competition with other states (for future commercial launches) and we do stand a chance of losing Florida as a spaceport if we are not aggressive."

With the new budget investing millions into the development of commercial launch capabilities, making Florida attractive to new businesses was the main concern of the commission and local aerospace industries.

Five commercial industries are currently developing launch vehicles, including Sierra Nevada, of Nevada, Lockheed Martin of Colorado, Space X of California, Boeing of Texas and Orbital Sciences Corporation of Virginia.

"We're hoping to build that hardware here in Florida," said Lee Solid, a space consultant for Space Florida and the Economic Development Commission.

Manufacturing liquid oxygen and hydrogen, which are used as propellants, was another segment of the industry that Florida should look at attracting, said Marshall Heard, a consultant with Space Florida.

"We truck it all in now," said Mr. Heard.

Updating Kennedy Space Center's life sciences laboratory with new technologies will attract research and development companies, said Mario Busacca, of the NASA office of center planning and development.

As the largest of the country's space centers, KSC is available for expansion and has room for new, high-tech buildings, he said.

Launch complex 39, which was being developed for launching the Ares rockets, could become available for commercial launches, he said.

"We are attractive because we have five nodes of transportation," said Mr. Busacca. "We can be accessed by rail, roads, sea air and we are the only space center that can go anywhere in the universe, into space."

At the Feb. 23rd Brevard County Commission meeting, Kennedy Space Center director Robert Cabana told commissioners he is optimistic about certain opportunities in the president's budget for NASA.

For example, it provides $15 billion over five years for the "total utilization of the International Space Station as a research laboratory," Mr. Cabana said.

The station's life has been extended to 2020, and "I want KSC to lead the research on the space station," he said.

Mr. Cabana also sounded hopeful about research opportunities at the space center's future Exploration Park, and said an upcoming summit with the Department of Defense and other agencies and groups could help attract employers to Cape Canaveral.

He also said "commercialization is the future for low-Earth orbit.

"Yes, it's going to be a hard transition, and we'll have many people out of work," said Mr. Cabana, who added that he did not know how many jobs would be lost when the space shuttle program ends.

While the U.S. likely will have to rely on Russians to take American astronauts to the space station after the shuttle program ends, "hopefully, by 2016, (American astronauts) will be launching from here at the Cape," Mr. Cabana said.

"Our ultimate destination is Mars, to explore beyond low-Earth orbit," he said. "I want to ensure the Kennedy Space Center is in a position to support that."

The tourism development council of Brevard County expects a loss of $4.6 million in sales tax and $1 million in resort tax when the shuttle launches cease, said Rob Varley, director.

"To mitigate that loss we are partnering with KSC to promote rocket launches. There are 15-20 a year in Brevard County, and they are just as cool as the shuttle," he said.

Mr. Howard Haug, chief operating officer of Space Florida charged the commission with supporting the Space Transition Revitalization Act proposed by Gov. Charlie Crist, which provides for long-term investment in aerospace related industries to attract next-generation commercial space opportunities.

The STAR act would provide $3 million for small and medium aerospace development support services, $12.5 million for space infrastructure projects and tax credit incentives for aerospace industries relocating to Florida.

- Staff writer Tony Judnich contributed to this report.