There is one bit of data I learned at Westercon that truly was depressing.
In the Mohave desert right now, a new industry is being born. Passenger Spaceflight. In the Mohave you will find companies like Virgin Galactic and Xcor racing to establish the first safe, reliable, passenger service to space. Both companies are looking forward to at first sub-orbital hops, but much more could be had further down the road.
This is truly the American spirit. Bold visionary people, taking enormous risks as they build something new from the ground up.
When asked about regular operations and where the Lynx spacecraft would launch from, a member of Xcor told us that due to the business climate it all likelihood the company would move from California. The government climate makes it too difficult form the new industry to be born here. They can get their R&D done here, just as Rutan has with Spaceship One, but it looks like New Mexico is ahead of the nation in the race to make it an industry.
That is truly a shame.
Some have been contrasting California vs Texas, not just as case for business models, but also culturally and politically.
http://corner.nationalreview.com/post/?q=N2E2MDIwNDM0ZjcxYjA3OWNiZTA0Zjk0OWY3NWMxZDY=
http://www.governor.state.tx.us/news/press-release/13886/
http://abcnews.go.com/Business/story?id=87122&page=1
The Mohave desert where they are doing the research and development is just like New Mexico but closer to major urban centers. There’s vehicles will be taking off from an airport runway and returning to same, no need for low density populations. It’s a whole new industry they may someday lead to massive businesses — like the aircraft industry did – and the government/regulatory climate in California is making sure it will not be centered here.
Why shouldn’t it be in New Mexico? It is not densely populated, so theoretically there will be fewer people to annoy with noise. Also, a crash in the desert will only harm those in the vehicle. Still tragic, but better than landing on LA.