Before an open vista of sky and plain, I walked into the terminal at Front Range Airport with Karl Dakin, local businessman and Director of the Sullivan Chair for Free Enterprise at Regis University.

With a spaceport license pending, Front Range Airport will soon become Spaceport Colorado. Larger than LAX, it has the massive acreage of a remote facility, yet it’s only minutes from the international airport in Denver, Colorado, home to the second largest aerospace economy in the country.

Karl and I had a novel idea: In a town bristling with aerospace manufacturers, why not kick-start the economic development of this future spaceport by initiating manufacture now of an affordable 245mpge (miles per gallon equivalent) four-seater, electric car. See “Edison2 vehicle info” for more information.

The terminal had vaulted ceilings, high glass walls and a panoramic view. We met for lunch with Dennis Heap, the airport director, his assistant and John Strom, a successful developer and spaceport advocate. Karl gave them an overview, and when they saw Edison2’s futuristic car, their enthusiasm soared. Not only did it offer decades-distant fuel efficiency today, it embraced the same principles as the aerospace industry — low weight, low aerodynamic drag, and an obsession with safety.

Spaceport Colorado will become a licensed spaceport; It has a 20 acre, shovel-ready site destined for aerospace research, education and manufacturing.

Edison2’s vehicle has four years of rigorous testing behind it; They’ve done the heavy-lift, the long-haul R&D and are well into build and test of their final consumer prototype.

It is time to stand up an industry: Spaceport Colorado, Edison2, and Colorado’s Aerospace economy. Spaceport Colorado will be the leading economic development project for the state. The first technology and services consortium out of the gate will be positioned to lead Colorado in private industry’s inevitable, and global, race to space.