Las Vegas company wants to build a spaceport in the desert
A Las Vegas-based company wants to build a spaceport and casino-hotel on 240 acres near Sin City's border with Pahrump.
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission has approved the sale of stock to the public starting next week to fund construction costs, estimated at $310 million, Spaceport Las Vegas reports.
“I am 100 percent confident that the technology is about to be able to create a space plane that can go into space, go to a space hotel, go to the moon or go to Mars and then come back and land like an airplane. “That will happen within 10 years. ” said Rob Lauer, CEO of Spaceport Las Vegas.
The $310 million price tag would cover a runway and control tower as well as a new casino resort. Plans for the resort include a 200-room hotel, a restaurant, an observation deck, a passenger terminal and a 20,000-square-meter games area.
Lauer said his company will not operate the casino hotel but will lease it to a local gaming company. (Laul said it's too early to start those conversations.)
Lauer is a commercial real estate developer whose team includes advisers such as retired U.S. Air Force Brigadier General Robert Novotny and former Colorado Spaceport Director Dave Ruppel. Lauer said he hopes to raise $310 million entirely through equity financing. He said he also plans to apply for aerospace tax credits from the Nevada Governor's Office of Economic Development and eventually take his company public in about a year.
“Many casino people have been working for years to diversify the Las Vegas economy,” Lauer said. "Well, this spaceport diversifies our economy by creating a space industry here, providing high-paying jobs like engineers and pilots, while increasing tourism and casino revenue."
There are currently 14 similar spaceports licensed by the FAA, but only two are privately owned, and guess who. (One of them owns SpaceX, and the other owns a little company called Amazon.)
However, Lauer believes that by Las Vegas time, advances in technology will bring the cost down to $30,000 to $50,000 per seat, not that of Elon Musk's SpaceX or Jeff Bezos. Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin average-cost-per-ride spaceport is about to go online.
Why Vegas?
Lauer said the main reason for building a spaceport in Las Vegas is the city's 39 million annual visitors.
“It only takes 15 minutes by helicopter to get to these places,” he said. "How many people fly to Las Vegas and spend $100,000 on a poker game? Las Vegas casinos can offer our rides as an incentive to their top paying customers."
Lauer's company will not build the spaceplane itself, but will work with one of 37 companies currently seeking approval from the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA).
The complex, planned for construction in Clark County, 10 miles southeast of Pahrump and 32 miles west of Las Vegas, will also include a ground school where civilians will receive flight familiarization training.
"A Gulfstream jet will carry civilians aloft and undergo zero-gravity training before flying into space," Lauer said.
There are also plans for a rocket assembly building, a private jet airport, about 40 hangars to provide office space for companies working on site, and a STEM school to train future rocket scientists.
"We have a ten-year plan to establish space tourism here," Raul said.
The company's shares will be available for purchase beginning Tuesday, June 27, at 7 a.m. PST via the company's website at lasvegasspacesport.org.
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Source: www.casino.org
