Lack of local investment means Singapore may lose out to UAE in spaceport deal
PLANS for Singapore to be home to the world’s first commercial spaceport in 2009 have been grounded for now — because of a death of local investment.
Instead, the United Arab Emirates (UAE) will lay claim to the honour.
Singapore will have to wait at least “another year or two” to get a spaceport after a similar facility opens in the emirate of Ras Al Khaimah, which is an hour’s drive from Dubai — the Republic’s main rival in its aim of attracting the rich.
Even then, the Singapore project is “not a done deal”, Space Adventures’ president and chief executive officer Eric Anderson told reporters on the sidelines of the Forbes Conference yesterday.
“We have a plan; we don’t have financing. We are still looking for local financial partners,” Mr Anderson said.
In February last year, Space Adventures — a Virginia-based adventure tourism firm —announced, to much fanfare, plans to build the spaceports in the UAE and Singapore at the cost of US$265 million ($404 million) and US$130 million respectively.
At the time of the announcement, the UAE spaceport had already received clearance from the emirate’s rulers and the UAE Department of Civil Aviation. Ras Al Khaimah’s Crown Prince Sheikh Saud Bin Saqr Al Qasimi also pledged US$30 million to the project.
For Singapore, the negotiations between Space Adventures and the authorities began in 2003 through the Singapore Tourism Board.
Spaceport Singapore — a consortium comprising firms Octtane, Batey, Lyon Capital, DP Architects, ST Medical and KPMG Corporate Finance — was set up with the target of being the first commercial spaceport. Space Adventures agreed to commit US$10 million to the venture.
Upon completion, the spaceport — which is to be located on two hectares of land adjacent to Changi airport — is also slated to offer a wide range of space and high-altitude experiences for those hankering after a taste of astronaut training.
The sub-orbital flights themselves, which cost about $100,000 per person, will take passengers on a parabolic flight some 100km above the Earth.
However, to date, the Civil Aviation Authority of Singapore (CAAS) has not granted the approval. It was “studying the regulatory requirements ... to ensure that these activities can be carried out safely”, said a CAAS spokesman, who added that local investment was not a requirement.
But Mr Anderson told TODAY that as far as he was aware, regulatory approval was “not an issue” at this point.
He declined to give a definite time frame as to when the UAE and Singapore spaceports would be completed, but confirmed that suborbital flights would not be launched from Singapore by 2009 — although the building of the training centre at Changi would be on track for completion.
While he remained “absolutely” confident that the project could take off here, Mr Anderson said his firm was also looking at other Asian locations for its spaceport,
including China, Japan and Korea.
Mr Anderson added: “The first of these spaceports that will get the first vehicles will be in the Middle East. It will take another year or two to build the vehicles required (for the next spaceport).
“Singapore remains a possibility. We are trying to get it done as soon as possible.” Maintaining that there was “significant investor interest”, the consortium’s managing director Michael Lyon, founder of Lyon Capital, told TODAY by email that they have not given up hope of pipping the UAE.
Said Mr Lyon: “We are still seeking to complete fundraising. Singapore can be first if funding can be quickly completed.”
Octtane’s founder Nick Marrett said that so far, two thirds of the “over US$100 million” needed has been raised, and the consortium feels more confident now as compared to a year ago, since there are “commitments on the table”.
He said: “We are looking to raise the final third. Ideally, it should come from local investors but we are speaking to overseas investors as well. The bottom line is, the spaceport which gets the funding first will launch first.”
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