Florida nears launch deal with Blue Origin
Space Florida is in the final stages of negotiations expected to earn Blue Origin's commitment to build rockets in Brevard County and launch them from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station.
The agency's board today gave its approval for staff to finalize the terms of financing and lease agreements with the private space company founded by Amazon.com CEO and billionaire Jeff Bezos, which aims to lower the cost of launching people to orbit.
The board meeting's discussion referred to the deal only by its code name of Project Panther, which FLORIDA TODAY sources have previously confirmed involves Blue Origin.
Space Florida President and CEO Frank DiBello said he expected more details to be made public "in the next month or so."
Howard Haug, Space Florida's treasurer and chief investment officer, said the deal represented more than $200 million of investment and several hundred jobs.
The funding will include $18 million combined from the Florida Department of Transportation, which supports aerospace infrastructure, and from the North Brevard Economic Development Zone.
FLORIDA TODAY earlier this year reported that the deal envisioned Blue Origin flying orbital missions from Cape Canaveral's Launch Complex 36. A manufacturing facility would be built in Exploration Park, the research and development park located just outside Kennedy Space Center's south gate.
Blue Origin is currently developing the New Shepard vehicle for suborbital flights of space tourists and science experiments launching from the company's private launch site in West Texas.
While developing a larger orbital rocket that would launch from Florida, the company also is developing an engine that United Launch Alliance hopes will power a new rocket slated to replace the Atlas V and its Russian-made engine.
In other action today, Space Florida's board today unanimously approved a compensation plan that could earn its top executives bonuses as high as half of their annual salaries.
DiBello said the plan would ensure that the state-funded aerospace economic development agency and spaceport authority can recruit and retain the aerospace and finance industry talent it needs to succeed.
The four-person executive team led by DiBello, whose salaries range from $155,000 to $267,000, could earn performance bonuses of 30 percent to 50 percent, depending on their pay grade.
All roughly 35 employees would be eligible for at least a 5 percent bonus.
The plan will take effect during the next budget year that starts July 1, 2016.
Any bonuses would come from non-appropriated funds, depending on their availability each year, and employees' ability to meet performance metrics that have not yet been defined. Space Florida's board each year will review and approve the amount of money that may be available for bonuses.
Contact Dean at 321-242-3668 or jdean@floridatoday.com. And follow on Twitter at @flatoday_jdean and on Facebook at facebook.com/jamesdeanspace.