Big ideas continue to be talked about in regard to the Oklahoma air and Space Port in Burns Flat with the possibilities one day expected to breach the horizon.
Topics were exchanged earlier this month as the Oklahoma Space Industry Development Authority (OSIDA) held its normal meeting at Burns Flat due to the space port being a point of discussion.
According to OSIDA Executive Director Craig Smith, in 2006, Clinton-Sherman Industrial Airpark became the first inland airport to be licensed as a space port by the Federal Aviation Administration.
“Our license is for horizontal takeoff and landing to suborbital,” Smith said. “We are looking at conducting a study to determine if inland vertical launch might someday be possible.”
Smith explained that in the past, “When a rocket took off vertically, they could drop their boosters off into the ocean. Now you’ve got private players in the space commerce community and some of these have the capability to bring their boosters back down to where they took off from, rather than just dropping them in the ocean and fishing them out of there.
“So, is there a possibility to be able to do something like that from Oklahoma? That’s a question that would benefit not only the state of Oklahoma and be able to attract space business, but it would benefit our commercial space partners, in particular the Space Force and the Department of Defense. Is that possible from Oklahoma? We don’t know (so) let’s ask the question and provide that information to the FAA and the Department of Defense.”
Smith admitted even under the best possible conditions, this would be something far down the road but says this could bring new industries to Oklahoma.
“Maybe it’s rocket engine testing, maybe it’s fuel testing, and maybe it’s some other kinds of development testing that can take place out here,” he said.
“Let’s be able to focus on what we can do out here. Let’s ask the question: what may be possible? The (OSIDA)’s gonna ask more questions and find out and fine tune the proposal so we can get the answers. It’s an exciting opportunity to be able to ask that question and to get those answers.
We hope to be able to utilize it … to say here’s the business and industry that we can attract. These are things that do make sense to do in Oklahoma.”
When discussing work currently being done in Burns Flat, Smith explained, “We’re doing some development out there, some improvements.
We’ve razed some old buildings that the repurposed Air Force Base operated in the ’50s and ’60s and there’s a lot of old dilapidated buildings that we’ve had razed and removed getting ready for development. We just kicked off phase one of a runway repair and improvement project.”
Smith explained that this first phase is estimated to cost $3.5-$4 million and that there are several phases to follow at a similar price point.