Jeff Bezos, the billionaire owner of Amazon.com, is funding a space start up with offices in Texas, and what is likely to become a spaceport in west Texas. Bezos is apparently building a rocket ship that takes off and lands vertically, unlike the space plane designed by Bert Rutan for Virgin Galactic.
What is different about Bezos' plan is that the entrepreneur is looking ahead to colonies in space, where Richard Branscom's Virgin Galactic is focused primarily on space tourism. But the two are complementary, as space tourists need someplace to go, and honeymoons on a space station fitted out like a luxurious hotel are likely to be popular. And hotels need big staffs that have to live nearby.
Texas is the winner; west Texas is dry, dusty, and barely fit for cattle raising. A new high tech space business will bring good paying engineering and support jobs to the region. And there is more synergy--check the map. West Texas is just a short hop from the New Mexico spaceport. Development of the next Silicon Valley may already be underway.