Rocket firm tests launch site
TWO representatives from the American firm planning to put down a rocket launch base in the northwest region were due here last night to begin geophysical surveys of the prospective site, sources said yesterday. The Chronicle understands Beal Aerospace of Texas has engaged the services of Guyanese Charles Ceres to do the geophysical surveys as it moves nearer to closing an agreement on establishing the spaceport here. The decision by Beal to test the soil at the site was a "major positive signal" that the company was closer to committing itself to base the satellite launch pad in Guyana, the sources said. "The geophysical surveys are actually taking the investment one step closer to reality; so far it has been all talk and visits but this is a big step forward", an official explained. The geophysical surveys, which are expensive, will include testing the soil at the proposed site to determine the pressure it can bear and will involve the use of drilling rigs, the Chronicle was told. Representatives of the Guyana Government and Beal are reportedly closer to agreeing on required legal documents for the proposed deal, the sources said. The site identified in the Waini district is regarded as an ideal location for a spaceport - a commercial rocket launching facility which Prime Minister Sam Hinds says will provide "a quantum leap for Guyana into the new millennium". The Financial Times newspaper of London says the investment could make Guyana a player in the US$50bn a year commercial space industry. Beal Aerospace, founded in 1997 to design and launch rockets, plans to launch its first payload in 2001, but may have to do so from shared facilities at Cape Canaveral in Florida. Over the past two years Beal Aerospace has been studying the Caribbean region for a location for its commercial rocket launching facility, the Financial Times said. "Guyana does offer all the conditions we are seeking," Mr. Wade Gates, Beal director of corporate affairs told the newspaper. "These include a remote location, sparsely inhabited, and which is open to the ocean to the north and the east. It should also be as close as possible to the equator." Beal Aerospace plans to launch satellites for private companies. The basic civil works, which include control buildings, fuel storage, a launch pad and a 10,500ft runway, will cost about US$50M. Beal Aerospace studied Guyana after being frustrated in its earlier efforts to locate its facility on Sombrero Island in the north-east Caribbean. The venture will need U.S. government approval of Guyana as a country to which missile technology can be exported.
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