Beal satellite launch site team checking Waini area
By Gitanjali Singh
Three officials of Beal Aerospace Inc of Texas yesterday flew into the Waini area with a government team to investigate the possibility of setting up a satellite launch site here. Wade Gates, Mark McLeod, and David Spoede, directors for Corporate Affairs, Special Projects and of Government Relations respectively arrived in Guyana late Monday night, accompanied by an engineer, to further the firm's renewed interest in Guyana as a possible site for its commercial launch operation. The team made a slide presentation to Cabinet yesterday morning outlining what Beal Aerospace is about and what it would need for an investment before flying with Director of Go-Invest, Deochand Narain, over the Waini area. Prime Minister Sam Hinds indicated that the team was to fly over the Waini area yesterday, overnight at Kwebanna and then boat down to the area today for a closer look at a favourable launch site. Cabinet, Hinds said, was impressed by the firm's presentation, but he noted that there are a series of steps which have to be taken before a definitive decision is taken by Beal Aerospace on whether it will be investing here. "We are still in very very early discussions with the government [on a concession]," Gates told media personnel yesterday morning before briefing Cabinet. However, Narain said the government will do whatever possible to win this investment. Gates confirmed that his company is looking for an area with a five-mile uninhabited radius and the location must be near open seas to the north and east for the launch operations. This, he said, is for maximum public safety. He said his team will be visiting specific sites here to see whether they meet the company's specific requirements. The area will have to be paved for a launch pad, fuel storage, control building and an airstrip. What the engineer accompanying the team is to determine is how long, if a stretch along the 80-mile Waini River is selected and drained, will it take before the operations can get going. Beal Aerospace had already received the green light from the Anguillan government for a 49-year lease on the uninhabited 90-acre Sombrero Island, some 35 miles off shore, for a launching site. However, the British government has not yet given the nod for the project and an environmental impact assessment of the satellite operations has not been favourable, according to reports. Sombrero Island is the nesting ground for Caribbean seabirds including the masked booby and reports indicate that the assessment has found that a satellite operation will be detrimental to their existence. Britain's Royal Society for the Protection of Birds is reported to be among those opposed to Beal Aerospace's operation on the island which is dotted by lighthouses. Many Anguillans are reported to be fascinated by the possibilities such an investment offer for that British-dependent territory. But historians feel that Sombrero is a ready-made museum and should not be touched. Beal Aerospace wants to build a spaceport for a three-stage, 223- foot rocket similar to the European Space Agency's Ariane 5. But given that most spacesports around the world are booked, Beal Aerospace turned to this part of the world for a launch site in 1997. Gates confirmed yesterday that the company plans to have 12 space shots a year and to have its first launch late next year or early 2001. The company is looking at mapping, conventional and communication satellites but is more focused on commercial launching in the US$50 billion commercial space industry. Between 1995 to 1998, 50 commercial satellites were launched in the US in a market which charges between US$75 million and US$125 million at a time. "We are developing the vehicle (satellite - BA-2). We are now doing the necessary research and engine testing on that vehicle," Gates said yesterday. "The last piece of business," he added, "is finding the right launch site." However, he noted the importance of political stability for its investment in Guyana, which if it is done, will be a long-term investment. And he highlighted as benefits for Guyana, hundreds of construction and long-term jobs, tourism, international media coverage and heightened international travel. Guyana is closer to the equator than Sombrero Island and launch costs are expected to be lower. It would however require a heavier initial capital outlay, and an accommodation with users of the Waini on the timing of launches. Beal Aerospace returned to Guyana in late April to pursue its interest in setting up a satellite launch site here.
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