The Planned Conversion of Airports to Spaceports in the United States (Space Policy)

 

The Planned Conversion of Airports to Spaceports in the United States

        Burleson and Kozak (2020) presented a methodology for evaluating whether an FAA-licensed airport is a suitable candidate for conversion into a dual-use airport/spaceport. They argued that there would be a need for additional spaceports in the United States, as a result of increasing demand for orbital and suborbital launches. For the purposes of their paper, the authors focused only on horizontal landing spacecraft - both vertical takeoff and horizontal takeoff. In addition to the FAA's requirements for spaceport approval, Burleson and Kozak (2020) developed their own three guidelines, namely the airport's current infrastructure, location away from major populations, and trajectory and exclusion zones. The authors identified five potential airport candidates for conversion to dual-use airport/spaceport in the United States. 

Reference:

Burleson, C. & Kozak, B. (2020). The Planned Conversion of Airports to Spaceports in the United States.     Space Policy, 52, 1-6. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.spacepol.2020.101362