ABSTRACT
The future for commercial spaceports is wide open even as we grapple with its challenges: airspace integration of aircraft and launch vehicles, air and space traffic management, political disagreements, regulations, infrastructure needs, changing business models, risk, etc. This chapter reviews economic projections and national efforts, identifies planned developments of future spaceports, new technologies that will drive change, and then discusses our visions for the future of commercial spaceports. While the US commercial space industry is in a rapid growth period in spite of setbacks, the Russian space industry has been plagued with several launch failures, quality control issues, and supply chain management challenges leading to a decline in the number of annual launches. Landing pads never imagined even 20 years ago, are now becoming a competitive necessity in order to meet the vertical landing landscape.
