FINDING SPACE ASSETS EDWARDS ROLE AT ISSUE.

Byline: Jim Skeen Staff Writer

PALMDALE - The state's spaceport authority is conducting an $8.5 million, two-year study of California's space assets at military bases, including Edwards Air Force Base.

With an appropriation from the 2000 federal defense budget, the California Space and Technology Alliance is conducting the study that will be used to advise the Defense Department how best to use facilities and equipment it has in place and what improvements might be needed.

``We want to look at what we have, identify the gaps and needs, and determine how best to capitalize on the space assets,'' said Andrea Seastrand, executive director of CSTA, the state's spaceport authority.

The study will be conducted by Booz Allen and Hamilton, a consulting firm with offices in Los Angeles. The CSTA's study oversight committee will include representatives from the Governor's Office, Seastrand said.

The study will include engineering designs and architectural plans to enhance the assets of Edwards, Vandenberg Air Force Base and other Defense Department installations.

As part of the fact-finding process, the CSTA and its consultants are holding a series of public meetings throughout Southern and Central California, including one scheduled for later this month in Palmdale.

That hearing will begin at 9 a.m. Feb. 16 at the Palmdale Playhouse, 38334 10th St. E.

The meetings are expected to draw participation from aerospace companies, NASA, researchers and anyone with an interest in developing the state's space industry.

``We want everybody to feel they have an opportunity to speak,'' Seastrand said.

Edwards' history includes a number of space-related projects, including the X-15 rocket planes in the 1960s that flew to the edges of space. The base was used for shuttle landings through the 1980s and 1990s and is being considered as the possible launch site for the VentureStar, a spaceship being developed by Lockheed Martin.

The base's rocket lab, properly known as the Air Force Research Laboratory Propulsion Directorate, has tested virtually every U.S. space booster, including the rocket engines used to power the Apollo moon missions.