Houston First Corp, which manages city-owned properties for Houston, Texas, yesterday said it had contacted the government over the feasibility of introducing a spaceport to Taiwan.
The US has been developing spaceport technology and seeking opportunities to commercialize it and build an industry.
The Houston Spaceport at Ellington Airport is a federally licensed commercial facility for launching and landing suborbital vehicles. It is also a hub for commercial aerospace and aviation companies, as well as a science park for academic, government and private research and development, with tenants such as NASA and Axiom Space.
Photo courtesy of Houston Airport System
Houston First said it contacted Taiwan because it is indispensable to research and development for US companies.
Suborbital commercial spaceflight can reduce the 13-to-16-hour flight from Houston to Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport to two-and-a-half hours, it said, adding that it had exchanged ideas about spaceport applications with government agencies in charge of technology and the American Institute in Taiwan.
The government is still reviewing the information and no plans for a spaceport have been initiated, it said.
Suborbital flight from a spaceport involves an aircraft taking off from a runway carrying a spacecraft, which would detach to fly to an altitude that is considered space, a Houston City Government official said.
The spacecraft would then adjust toward its destination before re-entering the atmosphere in freefall and flying to land at the destination airport, they said.
A spaceport requires appropriate airport facilities, an air traffic control system, aircraft manufacturing capabilities and logistical support, they said.
That includes sufficient weight-bearing capacity of airport runways and space-based communications, the official said.
Based on current technology, spacecraft are launched to conduct experiments and would first be used to transport goods, as the problem of significant drag force on people riding in such a craft must be resolved to carry passengers, they said.
A source with knowledge of the matter said that other US authorities have informally explored the idea with the Taiwan Space Agency at international events.
Given the launch and landing speeds, cargo delivery is more feasible than transporting passengers without training, they said.
Although the cost of suborbital flight would initially be high, it could be lowered if a common and reusable vehicle is developed, the source said.
Earlier this year, the National Science and Technology Council announced it had chosen Jiupeng Village (九棚) in Pingtung County’s Manjhou Township (滿州) as Taiwan’s national space mission launch site.
Although the site’s current operations focus on launching spacecraft, it has the potential to be expanded into a spaceport, the source said.
US climber Alex Honnold is to attempt to scale Taipei 101 without a rope and harness in a live Netflix special on Jan. 24, the streaming platform announced on Wednesday. Accounting for the time difference, the two-hour broadcast of Honnold’s climb, called Skyscraper Live, is to air on Jan. 23 in the US, Netflix said in a statement. Honnold, 40, was the first person ever to free solo climb the 900m El Capitan rock formation in Yosemite National Park — a feat that was recorded and later made into the 2018 documentary film Free Solo. Netflix previewed Skyscraper Live in October, after videos
Starting on Jan. 1, YouBike riders must have insurance to use the service, and a six-month trial of NT$5 coupons under certain conditions would be implemented to balance bike shortages, a joint statement from transportation departments across Taipei, New Taipei City and Taoyuan announced yesterday. The rental bike system operator said that coupons would be offered to riders to rent bikes from full stations, for riders who take out an electric-assisted bike from a full station, and for riders who return a bike to an empty station. All riders with YouBike accounts are automatically eligible for the program, and each membership account
NUMBERS IMBALANCE: More than 4 million Taiwanese have visited China this year, while only about half a million Chinese have visited here Beijing has yet to respond to Taiwan’s requests for negotiation over matters related to the recovery of cross-strait tourism, the Tourism Administration said yesterday. Taiwan’s tourism authority issued the statement after Chinese-language daily the China Times reported yesterday that the government’s policy of banning group tours to China does not stop Taiwanese from visiting the country. As of October, more than 4.2 million had traveled to China this year, exceeding last year. Beijing estimated the number of Taiwanese tourists in China could reach 4.5 million this year. By contrast, only 500,000 Chinese tourists are expected in Taiwan, the report said. The report
Temperatures are forecast to drop steadily as a continental cold air mass moves across Taiwan, with some areas also likely to see heavy rainfall, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. From today through early tomorrow, a cold air mass would keep temperatures low across central and northern Taiwan, and the eastern half of Taiwan proper, with isolated brief showers forecast along Keelung’s north coast, Taipei and New Taipei City’s mountainous areas and eastern Taiwan, it said. Lows of 11°C to 15°C are forecast in central and northern Taiwan, Yilan County, and the outlying Kinmen and Lienchiang (Matsu) counties, and 14°C to 17°C
RSS