Episode 4 of NEXUS dives into the future of spaceports. Guests Scott McLaughlin of Spaceport America in New Mexico, Craig Smith of the Oklahoma Spaceport, and Karen Jones from Aerospace’s Center for Space Policy and Strategy discuss how America’s space industry is working to address demand for space launch infrastructure by developing spaceports in partnership with the communities hosting them.

McLaughlin describes how inland spaceports offer a potential solution to the bottlenecking launch demand facing coastal launch sites. “We can help support that cadence,” he said. “We can also provide some resiliency for [Pentagon] and national security missions. But we have some hills to climb, which one is going to be the technology to make sure that it’s safe enough that we can launch over people.”

Building launch infrastructure requires long-term commitment from host communities and states. Smith emphasized the patience required: “We got our spaceport license in 2006, and there was a great excitement at the beginning when there was all this optimism, and nothing happened for about a decade and a half,” he said. “Space takes time. It’s a difficult thing to do. And then looking for some ancillary business, the other things that you can do to make money in the meantime, leasing above this land or a hangar space or things of that nature that brings money in and resources in otherwise.”

Drawing on lessons from spaceports like McLaughlin’s and Smith’s, Jones outlined key principles from her paper “Spaceportopia,” a guide for organizations considering spaceport development. “We basically articulate five different suggestions for successful spaceport planning,” she said, emphasizing rigorous economic analysis, regional compatibility, ecosystem development, community transparency, and avoiding “irrational exuberance, establish realistic forecasts and expectations, and don’t set yourself up for failure.”