Spaceport Field Guide Version 1.0 Released

SpaceWorks Commercial, a division of SpaceWorks Engineering, Inc. (SEI), has released the Spaceport Field Guide (version 1.0). The Spaceport Field Guide (SpFG) is a Google™ Earth-compatible file developed by SpaceWorks Commercial that provides a database of worldwide launch sites and associated facilities. Together with the free Google™ Earth application available from Google™, aspiring space vehicle operators, students, and the public at large can browse the World’s spaceports on a virtual globe. This software is provided free of charge as an educational service to the community.

As part of the SpFG, SpaceWorks Commercial also introduces a new parameter for quickly and simply indicating spaceport operational capability called a Spaceport Readiness Level (SpRL). The SpRL is a quantitative parameter similar to a Technology Readiness Level (TRL) scale. It relates, on a scale from 0 to 4, how ready the spaceport is to host suborbital and orbital flights. The Spaceport Readiness Level (SpRL) serves as a quick reference to the operational status of global government and commercial spaceports. The scale ranges from a value of zero (inactive spaceport) to four (fully operational spaceport). Two SpRLs are assigned to each spaceport, one indicating the spaceport’s suborbital launch capability and one indicating its orbital launch capability.