by Jack Kennedy

Earlier this month, news of a proposed Virginia tax incentive for sending cremated remains into space went viral around the globe. Stories appeared in Germany, the Arab Emirates, Australia and throughout the United States. Most mocked the idea.

All missed the underlying storyline of opportunity to boost primary satellite payloads at a significantly lower cost than exists today. There is more to the story of the state tax credit than meets the eye.

If Virginia’s Legislature were to adopt a tax credit to seed the Virginia market for launching cremated human remains into low earth orbit, the buyers of mortuary space science would defray costs associated with carrying the primary satellite payloads to orbit. In many cases, the primary payloads of rockets lofting from Wallops Island are scholarly and scientific, involving students learning engineering and science skills.

In other words, Virginia high school, college and university students would have a better chance of lofting miniaturized satellite research experiments to space from Wallops Island at a more reasonable cost if coupled with a secondary commercial payload defraying the costs of the booster rocket. A small satellite (MicroSatellite or NanoSat) is typically less than 1,000 pounds with technology advancing to place them in low earth orbit at a significantly lower cost than the typical NASA suborbital sounding rocket.

Universities throughout the United States today are participating in various NanoSat space launches as a secondary payload. One such program is the University NanoSat Program administered by the United States Air Force. A similar program is underway among Kentucky universities under the moniker “Kentucky Space.”

While Virginia’s universities have yet to take a networked leadership position in building and flying NanoSats to low earth orbit, the time is right for them to make it so. The University of Virginia, Virginia Tech, Old Dominion University, James Madison University, George Mason University and others need to have such a discussion.

For example, Thomas Jefferson High School students have built a 10-centimeter cube satellite that weighs less than 1.2 kilograms. The Fairfax County students plan to place their space satellite into orbit from Cape Canaveral, Florida in 2012 after having it tested this month at Virginia headquartered Orbital Sciences Corporation.

High profile efforts like the Apollo program have come and gone. The space shuttle has been retired after 30-years of service. Government-sponsored launch programs are in demise. The entrepreneurial market for space access is emerging with a more diverse cast of actors.

Small, entrepreneurial rocket-launch firms are building markets and driving down costs. Unique and unusual means to generate cash flow will sustain business and provide access to space for the next generation of earth and space science researchers.

Virginia can seed lower cost university and high school space science experiments by boosting the economics of an underlying secondary satellite payload – human cremated ashes. Orbital Sciences Corporation, a Northern Virginia firm, first entered this unusual market when it flew human cremated remains as a secondary payload aboard a Pegasus air launch rocket in 2002.

The proposed tax credit exclusively for Virginians has a sunset provision after a few years. The chances of taxpayer costs exceeding more than a hundred thousand dollars would be slim. The opportunities created for science and engineering education may be significant, however.

Del. Terry Kilgore’s bill is already a success in generating worldwide media attention to Virginia’s emerging commercial spaceport and the tourist opportunities along the Eastern Shore. More Virginians will learn of their spaceport as well. Given serious effort, it may launch new science and innovation making the primary NanoSat payloads a more viable proposition.

If journalists resist the temptation to make the space burial legislation the butt of sarcasm, Virginia may continue as an innovative space policy leader. Building a capital nexus between student-driven NanoSat primary payload launches and the underlying secondary payload of cremated remains will provide a unique pathway to build a more dynamic Virginia space access market.

This column responds to a story, “HB19: Fly (What’s Left of) Me to the Moon,” posted by Groveton last week. The author, Jack Kennedy, is an attorney and former member of the state legislature. He holds a MS in Space Policy from the University of North Dakota. Contact him at Jack@JackKennedy.net.