Operations and Service Infrastructure for Space Team Project - Spaceports

Mining & Minerals - Evaluations / Off-World Exploration, Mining, & Technology

Date posted: 01/09/15

A Team Project Report from the International Space University, 2012, the Executive Summary and the Final Report appear on the ISU web site at www.isunet.edu in the ISU Publications/Student Reports section. Since the beginning of the space age, the main actors in space exploration have been governmental agencies, enabling a privileged access to space, but with very restricted and rare missions. The last decade has seen the rise of space tourism, and the founding of ambitious private space mining companies, showing the beginnings of a new exploration era, that is based on a more generalized and regular access to space and which is not limited to the Earth vicinity. However, the cost of launching sufficient mass into orbit to sustain these inspiring challenges is prohibitive, and the necessary infrastructures to support these missions is still lacking. To provide easy and affordable access into orbital and deep space destinations, there is the need to create a network of spaceports via specific waypoint locations coupled with the use of natural resources, or In Situ Resource Utilization (ISRU), to provide a more economical solution. As part of the International Space University Space Studies Program 2012, the international and intercultural team of Operations and Service Infrastructure for Space -OASIS- proposes an interdisciplinary answer to the problem of economical space access and transportation. This report details the different phases of a project for developing a network of spaceports throughout the Solar System in a time-frame of 50 years. The requirements, functions, critical technologies and mission architecture of this network of spaceports are outlined in a road map of the important steps and phases. The economic and financial aspects are emphasized in order to allow a sustainable development of the network in a public-private partnership via the formation of an International Spaceport Authority -ISPA.