SPACE PROJECTS FUNDED $26 MILLION SECURED FOR 4 A.V. EFFORTS; MORE SOUGHT.

Byline: Jim Skeen Staff Writer

LANCASTER - California's effort to promote the commercial space industry helped secure $26 million for four Antelope Valley projects, including funding to refurbish two rocket-engine test stands, officials said Tuesday.

Officials of the California Space and Technology Alliance, the state's spaceport authority, said the valley scored most of the $31.5 million the federal 2001 budget allocated for space-related projects in California.

``The Antelope Valley made out like bandits,'' said Larry Gooch, a CSTA official.

The CSTA had recommended five projects for funding, including four at Edwards Air Force Base, based on the findings of a $8.5 million study examining what improvements California needs to make to remain competitive in the space industry - expected to grow to a $70 billion industry in two years.

The study, financed by the Defense Department, will examine California's space assets and determine what improvements could be made to get the most out of those resources. The study will help determine how to invest federal dollars at a time when defense budgets are shrinking.

As the study progresses, the CSTA is trying to develop a list of projects to be submitted to the California congressional delegation in early 2001 for possible inclusion into the 2002 fiscal budget. Thus far, the CSTA has a list of 66 projects that could be considered for funding.

``CSTA will not be the decision-maker on what gets funded,'' said Gooch, project manager for the study for the CSTA, speaking at a CSTA meeting in Lancaster. ``The decision-makers will be the congressional delegation who will decide what they want to sponsor.''

Part of the study is aimed at identifying what California already has in terms of space-related assets. So far, the CSTA and its consultant, Booz- Allen and Hamilton, have identified 181 ``tangible'' assets - buildings and facilities - and 169 ``intangible'' assets, primarily space-related policies and agreements.

Santa Barbara County, which has Vandenberg Air Force Base, and Kern County, which includes Edwards, have the most tangible assets. Santa Barbara County has 52 assets, and Kern County has 51.

While the study is geared toward the federal level, the CSTA expects it will glean valuable information it can use at the state and local levels of government to encourage space-related industries to come to California and to help those industries already here.

Originally, the CSTA was looking to begin submitting projects for consideration by Congress beginning with the 2002 budget, but members of the California congressional delegation pushed for a list of projects to fund in the fiscal year beginning in October.

The lion's share of next year's funding, $23.8 million, will go toward refurbishing two test stands at the rocket laboratory at Edwards. The stands are concrete and steel structures to which rocket engines are mounted for test firings.

The funding, secured in the 2001 defense appropriations bill, provides $12.6 million to refurbish test stand 1D, which was mothballed in the 1970s. The test stand will be used to test large, kerosene-fueled rocket engines.

An additional $11.2 million will go toward refurbishing test stand 2A, which was used for testing booster rockets used in the Apollo moon mission program.

It will take about 18 months to two years to complete the work, Edwards officials said.

The two other Edwards projects are studies. One, funded at approximately $500,000, is to look at developing lightweight systems to terminate the flight of unmanned aircraft during emergencies.

The other study, funded at approximately $1.7 million, will look at providing Edwards with the capability to track and receive information from spacecraft.