I started thinking about Spaceport America and a rumor I had heard about Elon Musk's plans for launching numerous satellites that would theoretically make the stars no longer visible (I thought it was a stretch). I wanted to know what his future plans were here in New Mexico through SpaceX. I found absolutely nothing as far as current plans, BUT I did find out that the Spaceport was a deal between the then NM governor and Virgin Galactic back in 2006. The construction project cost $220 million that was paid for with public funds from the nearby counties in hopes of building the local economies. I honestly don't know what I make of the deal but this article from the Atlantic was pretty spicy in terms of seeing the Spaceport as a tourist feature and not a space enterprise.
https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2018/03/new-mexicos-sad-bet-on-space-exploration/554243/
Hi Andy! Thanks for sharing this, it started to make me think about how many if not most of the space enterprises are money making machines and are kind of being presented as a luxury destination or opportunity instead of just space research and knowledge for the public. While it would be really cool to visit space, I have a feeling this will be reserved for the elite and other mega-rich individuals. This is sad because it creates another amazing opportunity barred by class, and it could easily turn dystopic if we never improve our carbon footprint here on Earth, the rich might just up and leave us with the problems they mostly caused. Sorry for the rant, but thank you for the link!
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