The Tribune

By ANNELIA NIXON

Tribune Business Reporter

anixon@tribunemedia.net

SpaceX was yesterday urged to better promote its booster rocket landings so that space tourism in The Bahamas can take off.

With Elon Musk’s venture preparing to resume Falcon 9 rocket landings near Exuma today, following approval from the Civil Aviation Authority of The Bahamas (CAAB), Ray Lightbourn, principal of Exuma Water Sports, said he is willing to conduct boat tours of the landing sites but not enough advertising is put into the event.

He added: “The last time they landed so far that it really wasn't worth doing it. It's hard to find where they land. And so if you don't know where they’re landing exactly, then you can't take anybody. They don't like to advertise it for some reason.

“I would do it, but from the first time they weren't telling people exactly where it was, so the only people that saw it were the people that happened to be right in the area. So I can't really take people until they give us exactly where they landed. I don't know why it was the big secret in the first place.”

Mr Lightbourn said if SpaceX is only planning to have a few landings per year, it will not help drive The Bahamas’ entry into the space tourism sector. He added that tourists will also need to be advised well in advance when landings are happening. This, he said, would allow tour operators to open up booking availabilities for customers, especially those who secure tours years in advance. 

“If they just have two or three rockets a year, that’s not going to be much,” Mr Lightbourn said. “And then, also, we have to know, at least a month in advance, to book it. Otherwise, we’d rather just book regular tours. Some people book two years in advance.

“So, I can’t see it being that popular now. Some people, they get married, and they want to make sure everything's right. Or they have plans for a family reunion, things like that. If they had three a year, and we knew maybe four months in advance, or three months, we could probably arrange something.”

The exact location of the landings, Mr Lightbourn said, will also help tour operators determine how much to charge customers and how much fuel they would need for their boats.

“And we have to know exactly where they're doing it so we know how much to charge people,” he said. “Because if they're doing it, like way up by Black Point or something, that's going to be a lot more than if they were doing it in a Great Exuma.

“So it's a lot of problems. What happens if they delay the launch - if they have it planned and then it's bad weather that day, and then they have it the next day, or two days later? That messes everything up. 

“The more I think about it, the more I don't think it'll work unless they have an exact same place every time. That's the only way it could possibly work. But even then, if they cancel it, then we got to refund everybody and then we lose all the gas.”

Following last year’s SpaceX landing, Kat Dubowitz, assistant general manager of Cape Eleuthera Resort and Marina, in a Tribune Business article reported that it led to a boost for the hotel, especially in the marina.

However, she shared the same sentiments as Mr Lightbourn, adding: “I don't think it was advertised a lot, and I don't think people realise actually how great the viewing was going to be. But if they plan on using the same spot for their barges ,and the way that they can launch the rockets from Florida, it's definitely something that we will advertise for future SpaceX missions with The Bahamas, obviously.”