Apr. 7—Midland Development Corp. got some encouraging news as it delves further into developing an aerospace industry out of Midland International Airport.
A recently-completed study commissioned by the MDC and prepared by Kimley Horn on the feasibility of a high-speed airspace corridor out of Midland International found such a corridor is feasible.
An initial study conducted in February 2020 investigated the extension of existing Part 420 licensed flight corridors at the spaceport and one of the recommendations from that study was to refine a preferred corridor option. The just-released study focused on one option identified in the first study as a high-speed airspace corridor capable of accommodating a variety of high-speed missions to include subsonic, supersonic, hypersonic and point-to-point suborbital missions.
The study "looked at possible air space for a corridor and its possible use for testing, given commercial and military use," explained Sara Harris, MDC executive director. There are times and space available, she said, but there remains questions to be answered.
Now, Harris told the Reporter-Telegram in a telephone interview, the MDC will be seeking funding for the next phase, which will include defining how authorization from Federal Aviation Administration stakeholders and the military would be received.
Harris said the MDC will be looking for grants to fund this next study, which she said will initially cost about $500,000.
"This has national implications for research, so it should be supported by other organizations besides the city of Midland," she stated.
The MDC will be looking at federal funding in particular, Harris said, because President Biden's just-released budget contains potential funds.
With several aerospace companies having already set up shop in the Spaceport Business Park near Midland International and more looking at the area, Harris said it is a very exciting field and one that has a lot of far-reaching implications.
In its recommendations at the end of the study, Kimley Horn recommended the MDC continue working with stakeholders, from original equipment manufacturers to the military to FAA stakeholders "to continue the conversation for mission and airspace planning as commercial space operations continue to develop into the future and at Midland International specifically."
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