A state Senate committee last month approved legislation to create the Wisconsin Aerospace Authority, which would be authorized to issue up to $100 million of bonds to help fund a launch facility for small commercial spacecraft, similar to that recently announced for New Mexico.
The draft legislation passed through a Senate committee and the Joint Committee on Finance, and it now will be considered by the full Senate, according to local reports. The nine-member authority board, which would be appointed by the governor and legislative leaders, could issue bonds and secure the right of eminent domain for the project.
Wisconsin is among several states that have considered building a facility for commercial spacecraft. New Mexico recently was chosen as the headquarters for Virgin Galactic, a division of Virgin Atlantic Airlines, which will operate the Southwest Regional Spaceport.
Some Wisconsin lawmakers hope that their state will be the north-central regional spaceport, according to local reports.
The current legislation would authorize the aerospace authority to issue revenue bonds. However, the legislation may also act as a catalyst for federal funds to review the possibility for building the Spaceport Sheboygan, as the bill describes it.
The proposed site in Sheboygan would be ideal, according to some lawmakers, because of its proximity to Lake Michigan and a block of restricted airspace once used as an anti-aircraft training range.
"We actually have a window into space from the Sheboygan lakefront," Sen. Joe Leibham, R-Sheboygan, the principal sponsor of SB 352, was quoted as saying in local press accounts late last year.
"I think everybody realizes this is a new economic frontier for Wisconsin," he said. "When the future has arrived ... we want to be ready to meet the economic opportunity."
