Paso Robles leaders are taking another step toward potentially converting part of the city’s municipal airport into a commercial spaceport. City staff are preparing a request for proposals to hire a consultant who would help complete an application for a commercial spaceport license with the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA).
City Manager Chris Huot said conversations about the idea began about four years ago, when local leaders started exploring ways to diversify the region’s economy and attract higher-paying jobs.
“The city owns an airport—a general aviation airport about 1,300 acres,” Huot said. “It's generally surrounded by farmland for the most part and the thought turned to focus on how potentially to maximize and utilize that asset.”
The proposal would transform part of the Paso Robles Municipal Airport into a horizontal launch facility—meaning aircraft would carry satellites into the upper atmosphere before releasing them. The planes would then return to the runway, similar to a traditional flight.
Huot said the concept differs from traditional vertical rocket launches, such as the one conducted at Vandenberg Space Force Base in Lompoc.
“Satellites would be deployed in unmanned airplanes that would take off like a normal airplane,” Huot said. “They're about the size of a Cessna, maybe slightly larger. [They] would take off, go up to suborbit, deploy the payload and return back to the airport. Much like a regular plane would.”
City officials say the proposed spaceport would focus heavily on aerospace research, testing and education partnerships, including collaboration with Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo.
City leaders say the project is part of a broader economic development effort to attract aerospace companies and create new opportunities for students and skilled workers in the region.
The initiative has drawn support from several local, state and federal representatives, including Jimmy Panetta, John Laird and Dawn Addis. The NASA Ames Research Center has also expressed interest in potential collaboration if the project moves forward.
If the city hires a consultant later this year, Huot said the federal licensing process could take about 12 to 18 months to complete.
If approved, Paso Robles would become the fifteenth licensed commercial spaceport in the United States.
