(17) Santa (Sponsor Request)

Dear Santa

Can you help me? I would really like to go into space but not as high or for as long as Tim Peake.

This is how a child would start a Christmas list looking through rose tinted spectacles with their dreams and ambitions still intact, untainted and uncontaminated by the world. I'm not the man they think I am at home. I am a child trapped in an adult's body and I still dream. I'm not the only one.

Although I doubt your existence I believe in belief as a force for good and unfortunately for bad. I want to be good and I want to help others in my own unique way. Please please help me become the first Welsh born UK resident person in space regardless of all my reservations and concerns.

I am scared of heights. I don't like enclosed spaces and I don't enjoy being the centre of attention but I am willing to overcome my fears and even risk my life to do something that I believe in. I pledge to pay £25,000 towards the £100,000 XCOR Space Expeditions ticket price to fly to space and I am looking for commercial sponsors only to bridge the remaining cost. If you are interested in sponsoring me then email here or message me in my Facebook page. I would be eternally grateful. You would pretty much own me.

Why not just spend the £25,000 on good causes?
This is a significant amount of money for most ordinary people including myself. I have never asked for and don't want public donations because these are the very people I am trying to help. I am not rich or famous and I don't have £25,000 but I am willing to borrow that amount because I believe it would be money well spent when you consider the potential payback. The worldwide space industry is predicted to be worth £400 billion by 2030. The UK has ambitions to capture 10% of the market. Just over 20,000 are employed in Wales in aerospace and defence related industries. Universities with research and development linked to hi tech companies are replacing the old heavy industry engines of the first industrial revolution. Wales could even be the location for the UK's first spaceport and once again be the cradle for the next industrial revolution, the space revolution.

I support a spaceport in North Wales not just because it is light years ahead of the rival locations but because the people of Wales deserve it. This isn't just about just bringing tangible benefits like jobs and money into communities. This is about bringing hope. To help inspire the younger generation XCOR Space Expeditions proposed donating a number of talks to Welsh universities if I managed to raise the required ticket price. Dreams and ambitions need to be achievable and there needs to be a purpose. The future needs to better than the past and present and I want to help inspire Wales to be a part of then next tentative steps in space to benefit everyone. Regardless of whether I succeed or not I have asked to be included in a humanitarian mission to Africa in 2016. We are only here for a short time and it would be criminal to not make a difference.

I choose to go to space not because it is easy but because it is hard. It is the most ridiculous, idiotic, impossible thing that I have ever attempted. I am the most unlikely astronaut ever. Unsure and scared, not worthy, out of place, an alien alone in a crowd. The thought of actually succeeding terrifies me.
I am you in someone else but if by some miracle I could make it into space then what could you achieve?

My advice to everyone, old or young regardless of gender, race, religion, sexuality or other demographics is as follows. Don't let go of your dreams. Don't take no for an answer. Don't lose hope. Take small steps towards your dream because even if you don't reach your destination at least you are moving in the right direction.

You have no idea how bright you shine.
Incinerating the void and setting fire to the dark.
Burning brilliantly flawed.


Taffanaut      age 48 ½ yrs

(14) Pope

Your Holiness,

I am not particularly religious but I believe in belief which is why a blessing on my attempt to become the first Welsh born person in space would mean so much to me.

The worldwide aerospace industry is estimated to be worth £400 Billion by 2030 and the UK has set its sights on capturing 10% of that market. The figures are impressive but not my motivation.
We stand at a pivotal point in history at the dawn of commercialized space flight with two main companies jostling for position -

1. Virgin Galactic
2. XCOR Space Expeditions

I am not rich or famous. I wasn't born into money and like most ordinary people the $100,000 ticket price to get into space is beyond me. 

I am scared of heights.

I don't like enclosed spaces.

I value my anonymity,

 but I am prepared to overcome my fears and risk my life to do something impossible that I believe in.

We have a moral obligation to all life everywhere to take the next steps in space exploration and colonization.

I feel obliged to help give hope to others that the future will be better than the past. That no problems are insurmountable.

I want to help make space accessible

Space isn't just for the elite. Space is for everyone. I want to help claim space for ordinary people.

I want to inspire others

I know that getting to space is the most ridiculous, idiotic, impossible thing I have ever attempted. I am not expected to or supposed to succeed and some people would probably be happier if I failed. If I can make it into space then what impossible ambition can others achieve?

I want to help others

XCOR Space Expeditions pledged to donate talks to Welsh universities if I could raise the $100,000 required for the ticket to space. I want to help Welsh universities and to help inspire students and the younger generation to pursue their dreams as well as raising awareness of the coming changes and opportunities for Wales (in my own unique way). I actively support the siting of the UK's first spaceport in Llanbedr (North Wales). 

As I said I am not particularly religious but I believe in belief and a therefore a blessing would mean a great deal to me. 

If you could also bless the Welsh rugby team in the Rugby World Cup that would also be appreciated. They could do with some help.

Regards

Taffanaut     (aged 48½)

(13) Cape Cymru ( #UKSpaceport )

Don't read any further if you think £400 billion is a trivial amount. That is how much the worldwide space industry is predicted to be worth by 2030 if it carries on growing by about 7% a year as it has been doing even during the recent recession. The UK has set its sights on capturing 10% of this market and is planning to build a spaceport at one of eight possible shortlisted locations. In the short term the spaceport would need to be able to accommodate suborbital space tourism flights that are likely to start within the next two years.

The sites shortlisted include one in England, one in Wales and six in Scotland. Ideally the location would need minimal investment, have favourable weather, be away from populated areas and crowded airspace but also be reasonably easily accessible. At first glance there doesn't seem to be an ideal Goldilocks location in the UK. So why not Wales?

A cynic might say that the promise of a spaceport for Scotland is an incentive for Scotland to remain part of the UK and that the site in North Wales (Llandebr) is just a token inclusion. Few people would expect Wales to be chosen and no one would be surprised if a site in Scotland or England was eventually chosen. Billions of pounds can be spent on infrastructure projects outside Wales such as HS2 or Crossrail but Wales has been conditioned to expect to fail. Some Space Luddites might even dismiss the coming inevitable space revolution as unimportant and irrelevant but this is far from the truth.

About 30,000 people are currently employed in the space sector in the UK but this is just part of a much larger aerospace industry which is the second largest civil aerospace industry in the world. Just over 20,000 are employed in Wales in aerospace and defence related industries. Universities with research and development linked to hi tech companies are replacing the old heavy industry engines of the first industrial revolution and Llandebr is ideally situated and ready to serve as a catalyst.

You can analyse the population density, weather, length of runway, ease of access and many other factors but Llandebr has more to offer. The clue is in the name, Space Tourism. Imagine you are driving towards North Wales. The roads steadily narrow eventually winding their way through the Snowdonia National Park until you reach a place where the sky meets the sea. The place where you will leave Earth, Llandebr spaceport (Cape Cymru). You can watch the sunset over the sea while you contemplate the enormity of the next step in your journey but not before you and your companions make the most of all the other attractions North Wales has to offer. Wales has been voted top country in the world to visit in 2014 by readers of one of the planet’s leading guide books. There are mountains, castles, gold mines, caves, mock Italian villages, unspoilt beaches and wide open spaces that have to be seen to be fully appreciated. The Welsh flag even has dragon on it. Surely that on its own should be reason enough to build a spaceport in Wales.

You have to ask yourself, do you want to live in a country that reminisces about the fading glory years of the industrial revolution or do you want to live in a country that looks to and helps build the future and takes part in the next revolution?

The space revolution.   

Taffanaut Log Supplemental (Stardate 68942.2)
In March 2015 the UK government reduced the shortlist of eight aerodromes that could host a UK spaceport to six. Two Scottish sites were ruled out due to "operational defence reasons". Another Scottish site was included in the list but only as a possible temporary location. This left five potential locations with one additional possible temporary location.

Stornoway airport was ruled out by the owners who also owned Campbeltown.

Without going into too much detail this effectively left -

   Campbeltown

   Glasgow Prestwick

   Llanbedr  

   Newquay

Remaining sites have been invited to submit their cases for becoming the first UK spaceport. A decision is due to be made sometime in late 2016.

I am slightly biased but I still believe that Llanbedr has ticked most of the boxes for the real decision makers.

"All spaceport selection criteria are equal but some are more equal than others."

References

The Engineer - Aerospace - 22.08.14

The Daily Post - Spaceport - 14.07.14

Aerospace Wales - Spaceport - 16.07.14

Wales Online - Rough Guides 2014 - 28.01.14

BBC News - HS2 - 17.03.14

BBC News - Crossrail - 24.01.14

Welsh runways

Cape Cymru

Wikipedia - UK Aerospace

Wales.com - Advanced Materials and Manufacturing 

Consultation on criteria to determine the location of a UK spaceport

UK Government Summary and conclusions of commercial spaceplane certification and operations
UK Government technical review of commercial spaceplane certification and operations
Stornoway Gazette - 04.03.15