The U.S. Air Force and SpaceX launch the Deep Space Climate Observatory (DSCOVR) aboard a Falcon 9 rocket from Space Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida. The mission, a partnership between NOAA, NASA, and the U.S. Air Force, will place the DSCOVR space weather satellite in orbit approximately one million miles from earth, where it will provide early warning of approaching solar storms. Credit: Paul Hennessy/Polaris/Newscom
NASA’s John F. Kennedy Space Center, is a hub of activity for project cargo of this ilk. After all, Kennedy Space Center on Cape Canaveral has been NASA’s primary launch center for nearly a halfcentury. Alberto Cabrera, Canaveral Port Authority’s senior director of cargo sales, sees aerospace cargo playing a growing role in the project cargo Alberto Cabrera arena. “I don’t see it replacing oil and Canaveral Port Authority gas,” he said, “but I honestly believe it is a segment coming to life right now. With the advances in technology, you’re seeing a lot more of these things going up.”
SPACE RACE REIGNITED
BY PAUL SCOTT ABBOTT
S
pace is the final frontier, so tells us the title sequence for the original Star Trek TV series. And that appellation could well be applicable to the role of space in the project cargo business.
While spacecraft components and related cargoes may be generations away from transcending oil and gas heavy-lifts as the leading provider of project cargo, moves of such out-of-this-world shipments are already a source for payloads and paychecks via sea and air. Not surprisingly, Port Canaveral, on Central Florida’s Atlantic Coast near
A December 2015 research report from Goldman Sachs cited the reigniting of the space race as one of seven emerging themes for 2016, with the investment firm’s senior equity research analyst for aerospace and defense, Noah Poponak, commenting that “Space is becoming smaller, closer and cheaper, reinventing an industry that has stagnated for decades and making room for new applications, technologies and competitors.” Poponak said the number of satellites in orbit grew to 1,261 in 2014 from 986 in 2011, while the cost of a space launch in 2015 was 11 times less than in 2010. Dramatic further cost reductions, including those facilitated by reusable rockets, are on the horizon. Not only are space programs financed www.breakbulk.com BREAKBULK MAGAZINE 33