AREA IN RUNNING TO GET SPACEPORT.

Byline: Charles F. Bostwick Daily News Staff Writer

Lancaster officials said they came away from a company briefing optimistic that the Antelope Valley has what Lockheed Martin wants in a spaceport for the VentureStar plane.

Already an aerospace manufacturing center, the Antelope Valley has predominantly clear weather, expanses of open ground and skies clear of airline traffic that could hinder space launches, officials said.

``I think Lancaster/Palmdale/Antelope Valley is well-suited for a reusable launch vehicle,'' said Lancaster Mayor Frank Roberts.

About 150 officials from 16 states attended the briefing Wednesday. Construction, launch operations and spacecraft maintenance work could employ 2,300 people for at least one VentureStar spaceport and possibly more, company officials said.

Lockheed Martin plans to issue a formal request for proposals'' this year and make final site selection late next year.

``Interest in developing a spaceport has been great,'' said Jerry Rising, Lockheed Martin Skunk Works vice president for the X-33 and the VentureStar. ``We think this program will revolutionize the way we think of, access and use space, and we are delighted to find such strong interest across the country.''

Company officials said basic requirements for a spaceport are a 15,000-foot runway; 3,000 to 4,000 acres, preferably flat and clear, where heavy loads would not get mired; buildings for space-vehicle processing; and accessibility from public roads and rail-line spurs.

Lockheed Martin officials said more than one spaceport probably will be needed to meet the requirements of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, satellite companies and others willing to pay for space flights.

Palmdale Mayor Jim Ledford, one of the local officials who attended the briefing at the Antelope Valley Country Club, said he expects a lot of competition to gain a spaceport.

``I think a lot of people are looking at making a pitch,'' Ledford said.

Lancaster City Manager James Gilley, who also attended, said the briefing made him optimistic that the Antelope Valley will be picked as a launch site.

``For the first time we heard Lockheed Martin is looking at multiple sites,'' Gilley said. ``If that is the case, then our odds went up tremendously.''

Local officials say they expect the site decision to hinge on how much financial help the company can count on from state or local governments.

Gilley said he expects Lockheed Martin will be looking for cost reductions from any community where a spaceport is located.

Lockheed Martin officials said in January that they intended to build the $4.5 billion VentureStar in Palmdale, where 700 workers already are at work on the X-33, a similar but smaller craft that will not go into orbit but will test technologies for use on the VentureStar.

The X-33 is expected to be flight-tested in 1999, blasting off from a launch site under construction at Edwards Air Force Base and landing like an airplane as far away as Montana.

Lockheed Martin wants to begin routine flights of VentureStar in 2004.

Because the wedge-shape, wingless, unmanned VentureStar will fly into space without dropping external tanks or rocket boosters along the way, operators will have more flexibility in deciding where to launch it.

Because the VentureStar won't need to drop debris into unoccupied ocean, its ports will not be limited to coastal spots like Kennedy Space Center in Florida or Vandenberg Air Force Base in California.

Edwards Air Force Base already meets some of the VentureStar requirements. The base has a 15,000-foot concrete runway and more than 60 miles of marked and maintained runways on Rogers and Rosamond dry lake beds. The base covers 301,000 acres, with only a fraction of it developed.

Edwards has another big advantage: about 345 days of good flying weather each year.

Lancaster officials said the Air Force has not yet decided whether to allow VentureStar launchings and landings at Edwards. But if the Air Force allows it, Roberts said, he expects VentureStar will land on a new runway built especially for it, not on the main base runway.

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PHOTO Lockheed Martin plans at least one spaceport for its proposed VentureStar, shown in a computer visualization.