I agree with your statements about airport architecture. The current configurations take up way too much space and entail a massive amount of their own infrastructure to run. Have you seen the radial airport by Grimshaw?

http://www.core.form-ula.com/2009/06/17/next-generation-airport-grimshaw-architects/

Apparently, a radial organization allows for a much more efficient use of space, facilitating access and movement. Reminds me of the Coloseum.

Here’s another Foster project that does NOT do that.

http://www.archdaily.com/1339/beijing-airport-foster-partners/

Furthermore, Ferdinand Magellan was on a commercial expedition to find a western route to Indonesia, an important destination in the spice trade. His circumnavigation was accidental, a happy result of the failure of his initial project.

That said, my opinion is mostly about the architecture and not the politics.

Terry Glenn Phipps

One thing I particularly like is the symbology of the structure. This is an important branding exercise for a nascent industry and the form seems to call up all of the right cues from Roswell, X-Files, Saarinen, D.T.E.S.S., and even Buck Rogers. Tom Wolfe made a very important point in his great book “the Right Stuff” with the phrase “no bucks, no Buck Rogers”. Space tourism is a romantic proposition that absolutely requires appropriate architecture to attract interest and capital.

In the end, of course, this isn’t really a spaceport at all. The infrastructure is no different from an airport. This is a small airport.

This makes the technological experimentation that Foster has undertaken here even more important. The platform to spaceplane distance looks very short here, a feature that is sorely lacking in most modern airports. The use of efficient systems is very appropriate for the site and the New Mexico climate. There look to be significant gains to be made here for general aviation owing to clients who are predisposed to experimentation.

Of course, it is no surprise to hear the same old tired arguments that have dogged exploration throughout history (Magellan and Pigafetta must have heard them too). There are always going to be those who prefer to sit at home and solve XYZ problem first. Thankfully, that sentiment has never prevailed.

Terry Glenn Phipps

I wonder how much they contaminate with the fuel for the spaceships, a hell lot a might say.