1 200 Commercial Launches A Year By 2019

GEORGE NIELD, associate administrator for commercial space transportation at the Federal Aviation Administration, believes it to be possible to double the number of permit-holding private spacecraft launches every year for the rest of the decade. That exponential increase would lead to 1,280 liftoffs in 2019 - an average of 3 1/2 per day, reports SPACE.COM."WOULD THAT BE POSSIBLE?" Nield asked the audience during a presentation on Feb. 29 at the 2012 Next-Generation Suborbital Researchers Conference. "IF YOU RECOGNIZE THAT EVERY DAY IN THE UNITED STATES THERE ARE MORE THAN 30,000 FLIGHTS BY COMMERCIAL AIRLINERS, THEN MAYBE THREE OR FOUR ROCKET LAUNCHES PER DAY DOESN'T SOUND TOO UNREASONABLE."For example, Nield suggested, the federal government could offer to pay companies a fixed price per pound to launch construction materials, food and water to the moon, and rocket fuel to low-Earth orbit. In addition to laying the foundation for future lunar colonies and orbiting "gas stations," this effort could help the American private spaceflight industry get off the ground, WRITES MIKE WALL.