AP quotes Humphrey in article on tiny satellites

The Associated Press quoted Dana Humphrey, dean of the College of Engineering at the University of Maine, in the article, “Group envisions Maine’s former air bases as spaceport for tiny satellites.” The group behind the project is proposing to use the former Loring Air Force Base in northern Maine and the more coastal former Brunswick Naval Air Station to launch CubeSat nanosatellites, according to AP. The project has been awarded $50,000 from the Maine Technology Institute, and more than $88,000 from the Maine Space Grant Consortium, and is in the stages of investigation and determining the feasibility of the proposed outcomes. Currently the team is investigating the level of interest from the private sector. Humphrey, who is a member of the project’s committee, said one possible advantage is that the mission control and launch facilities are 300 miles apart. The mission control facility could be an economic development hub, while the launch facility would be far enough away that it wouldn’t encounter too much public resistance, the article states. “When it goes up in the air, you want it to go up in the air without going over a major population center, and that’s what we’ve got at Loring,” said Humphrey. The Journal TribuneThe County and The Maine Edge carried the AP article.