Las Vegas is looking to muscle in on the other 13 US states to host spaceports after a local developer initiated a fund to raise $310m to build a private facility on a 240-acre property in Clark County.
Vegas developer Rob Lauer on Tuesday began a crowdsourcing funds for his proposed Las Vegas Spaceport, which includes a 200-room casino resort. PicMii Crowdfunding took to Twitter on Wednesday to share the campaign for “a cutting-edge space center” located 15 minutes from the Strip:
The PicMii effort is to raise an escrow account that would ultimately enable the formation of a publicly traded company to build the spaceport. The Las Vegas Review Journal cites Lauer as saying the spaceport’s location is perfect because of the millions of tourists who visit Vegas for “a unique travel experience, with gamblers who don’t flinch at betting thousands.“
zero-gravity flight training and a leased hotel-casino
The envisioned spaceport would include a launching pad, runway, control tower, and flight school. The proposed revenue streams include zero-gravity flight training and a leased hotel-casino. Lauer anticipates obtaining licensing within two years and aims for the “first rockets to be launched within five to seven years with spaceplane use within 10.”
Lauer envisions 15 launches per month, transporting passengers to a novelty space hotel expected to generate significant revenue, presumably from high-rollers and celebrities, such as William Shatner, who recently took a Blue Origin spin into space.