science

New Mexico Spaceport Authority

New Mexico Spaceport Authority is a science topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand New Mexico Spaceport Authority rather than just read about it. In short: The New Mexico Spaceport Authority (NMSA) is a non-governmental panel, appointed by the governor of New Mexico, whose members represent the public sector in the development and construction of Spaceport America, the world's first purpose-built commercial spaceport. Two-thirds of the $212 million used to build the spaceport was paid by the State of New Mexico with the rest provided by bonds backed by Doña Ana County…

Key takeaways

New Mexico Spaceport Authority belongs to science; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect New Mexico Spaceport Authority to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of New Mexico Spaceport Authority from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

The New Mexico Spaceport Authority (NMSA) is a non-governmental panel, appointed by the governor of New Mexico, whose members represent the public sector in the development and construction of Spaceport America, the world's first purpose-built commercial spaceport. Two-thirds of the $212 million used to build the spaceport was paid by the State of New Mexico with the rest provided by bonds backed by Doña Ana County and Sierra County, which will be partially repaid by locally generated gross receipts tax revenues. NMSA operates the spaceport, whose anchor tenant is Virgin Galactic, a component of the Virgin Group of global companies operated by Sir Richard Branson.

Operational status In February 2011, the governor of New Mexico appointed Christine Anderson as executive director of the Spaceport Authority. In April 2011, the Authority announced that its budget for fiscal year 2012 had been reduced by 57 percent. In March 2012, the Authority announced that it had completed what it called Phase I of the Virgin/Spaceport America construction project. This Phase I included a 10,000-foot runway, a terminal hangar, and a domed Space Operations Center. Phase II, the visitor center and actual liftoff pad, remained unbuilt as of March 2012.

Current Events The current status of Virgin Galactic, the sole prospective tenant of the New Mexico Spaceport and its Authority, has led members of the New Mexico legislature to question the feasibility of the spaceport. The spaceport has attempted to diversify its revenue, bringing in additional tenants such as SpaceX and SpinLaunch, opening a tourist center, hosting an annual rocket competition, and serving as a backdrop for commercials. After the VSS Enterprise crash on October 31, 2014, Virgin Galactic indefinitely postponed its planned operational startup date in New Mexico. In November 2014, Anderson requested that the legislature consider creating an supplemental emergency fund to enable the spaceport to maintain its operations, and told lawmakers that the Authority will try to rent out the spaceport for "video shoots or concerts." Anderson stepped down as executive director in 2016, and was replaced by aerospace professional Dan Hicks. Hicks was CEO of the spaceport until July 2020, when he was placed on administrative leave following a whistleblower complaint from the spaceport CFO. Hicks was fired in October, and the New Mexico Office of the State Auditor released a report concluding that Hicks had violated state law. In March 2021, Scott McLaughlin was chosen as the new head of New Mexico Spaceport Authority.

See also California Space Authority Oklahoma Space Industry Development Authority Space Florida Virginia Commercial Space Flight Authority

References

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with New Mexico Spaceport Authority

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what New Mexico Spaceport Authority claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In science, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to New Mexico Spaceport Authority before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about New Mexico Spaceport Authority ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of New Mexico Spaceport Authority

In research: New Mexico Spaceport Authority appears in science research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses New Mexico Spaceport Authority in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: New Mexico Spaceport Authority is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics Aerospace business development agencies, State agencies of New Mexico, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for New Mexico Spaceport Authority outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study New Mexico Spaceport Authority in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what New Mexico Spaceport Authority means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain New Mexico Spaceport Authority out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is New Mexico Spaceport Authority in simple terms?

Why does New Mexico Spaceport Authority matter?

Because it connects several science ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study New Mexico Spaceport Authority?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on New Mexico Spaceport Authority.