Introduction
Spaceports are the dream of all space fellas out there. A Spaceport is a facility whose main focus is to provide the infrastructure and services for making suborbital and orbital flights. They could be private or commercial.
We are used to going to the airport for our commercial flights. Some people have access to private flights as well whether the aircraft is rented or bought. In the end, all of those flights are jets that take us from an airport in one city to another. The great deal would be to do that but instead of city to city, city to space station or planet.
There is another thing to make clear: Not all launch locations are spaceports. Some launch pads (like NASA, SpaceX, or Roscosmos facilities) are often called spaceports but they are not, they are just launch pads and mission control rooms. So spaceports like Spaceport America or a Space Station could be spaceports. Well, a space station could have a spaceport but just having a couple of hatches does not make the space station a spaceport. They are more than a bunch of launch pads and towers.
Services
As I mentioned before, a spaceport is more than just a launch pad. That will offer sub-orbital and orbital flights but what else could they have?
I am going to make some sections about services I think would be a must, cool, and worthwhile.
Digital ID
Yeah, Digital National ID has a lot of concerns but in this case is different. Instead of buying the boarding pass each time and filling all your data you would use an ID. Those IDs would act as when you use your Ryanair account, the same account for different aircraft and airports, but with spaceports and orbital flights. As not all the flights would be provided by the same companies, the same ID will apply to all your different flights so you would not have to worry about accounts or contracts.
Space Tourism
The key would be using spaceports for space tourism, as we do with airports. This will open a new door to regular people, but yeah, at the beginning it would be so expensive. We hope this will be a thing and everyone can afford one flight at least but it seems far away.
Multiple destinations would be available like the Moon, Mars, and Space Stations.
Observation Decks
In some airports, at least in China as I saw, there is an observation deck so you can enjoy the airplanes flying by, taking off, and landing. Imagine you are in a Space Station and there is a huge window where you can take a look at all the traffic going in and out. That would be one of the most beautiful things to look at at that moment.
For an Earth SpacePort, it would be a huge window as well on a higher floor or on the roof of the main building.
Education and Entertainment
This is related to the observation decks. Being able to take great photos of the vehicles and launches opens up an opportunity to provide education and entertainment to kids and adults, from photography to physics and engineering. Some rooms and workshops with VR/AR experiences for professionals and astronauts giving lessons and talks.
Lounges and Amenities
And, what would those services be without a proper lounge and bars? They would still behave as an airport so toilets, bars, restaurants and cafeterias, and even sleep pods may be a great idea.
We got used to seeing those Duty Free stores but we don’t know the legislation of other planets and galaxies, which I will write on another post, maybe… So basic needs like food, non-alcoholic drinks, and souvenirs will be available there.
I mentioned sleeping pods but who knows if hotels will be a thing inside or nearby spaceports.
Medical Emergencies
Health and safety are really important, right? And even more around aircraft, tons of fuel, fire, and vehicles. Now, in addition to safeguards, security checkpoints, and all that, health services like injured transportation are a must.
Let’s put it this way: There are people injured on a space station or a planet base and they need urgent medical care. A rocket or SSTO [1] Vehicle will serve them and take them to a safe place or back to the spaceport where the vehicle was launched.
Commonly, astronauts have at least a basic medical care knowledge or there is a doctor onboard but a service specialized in healthcare will be so useful and necessary.
Cargo Transportation
And last but not least, cargo transportation. By this, I mean rocket launches with some cargo for a mission or just as a package delivery. This would be so expensive so the best way to point it would be to fill the whole vehicle with a lot of packages from multiple senders. We have this kind of launch but with supplies to the ISS [2] or other stations like the Tiangong, the Chinese one. Also, some payloads are launched into orbit but not regular boxes like mail or things you buy on Amazon.
Design
Another nice topic is the design. Architecture is evolving these days into a more minimalistic and functional design but if we talk about space is all about indirect lighting and industrialish white tones.
Airports are not really that ugly in my opinion, they are huge, clean tones, and sharp. But, all the space nerds like me would like a more sci-fi aesthetic like the Spaceports on “Star Citizen” the most immersive space game by Cloud Imperium Games (CIG).
First, achieving nice aesthetics takes time and money so probably the first spaceports will have to invest tons of it or start bare until they earn more money from people and companies using their services.
I would like to cover the aesthetics of what used to be called “Futuristic Design” on a separate post so I’m not going to make too much detail on this one. But, some elements are the key to making spaceports really cool:
- Glass! Lots of huge windows and glass railings.
- Indirect lighting. Indirect lighting using LED strips and low lights will be huge. Also, white and cold light tones for the main areas, warm tones for the services like toilets and bars, and special colors like red or blue for private or reserved areas like staff rooms and security posts.
- Greenery. Plants and grass provide a sense of calm and peace to the nearby people. Space travel may make people anxious and stressed at the beginning or first flight but with some pieces of greenery that may help a little.
- Water. Waterfalls or water fountains in the decor will add a luxurious touch to the interior. Waterfalls are common at reception and entrances of some hotels or high-class apartments.
With those components, the design of a spaceport will be gorgeous.
The following picture is the design of the outside of the Spaceport in Crusader, Stanton on Star Citizen:
When they will become a thing?
Well, now the bad news… As far as I know, there is only one commercial Spaceport, Spaceport America in New Mexico. The previous images are from that spaceport. I think we still have some years to make this a thing. But hey, we are currently on another space career. SpaceX and NASA, for instance, have plans to make life multi-planetary and they are competing to bring humans to Mars and the Moon. This is great news, this will probably make the spaceports a reality sooner than before.
Blue Origin has the Coral Reef plan, which is making an orbital hotel on Earth. Maybe they will start building a nice spaceport instead of using their launch pads from Shepard Blue and New Glen. But that will take some time.
Anyways, we are in the golden space age again, and technology is evolving as crazily as ever before. Spaceports will be here, it’s just a matter of time.
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Glossary
[1] SSTO: Single Stage To Orbit. A vehicle that does not have any stage separation. It acts as a plane, for instance.
[2] ISS: Stands for International Space Station.