As Shuttle Era Ends, Entrepreneurship Is On The Rise
Colorado executives attending this week's National Space
Symposium say the state's companies and entrepreneurs are the best
positioned to help the U.S. become the global leader in the space
exploration race, given the state's qualified workforce, top
contractors, and Department of Defense and NASA research
activities.
"Colorado ranks first in the U.S. for its high concentration of
private aerospace jobs, and our aerospace industry is a crucial
driver of Colorado's economic growth," said Tom Clark, executive
vice president of the Metro Denver Economic Development
Corporation. "Colorado is the nation's third largest aerospace
economy in total private aerospace employment and is fourth in
securing NASA contracts. Over the past five years, aerospace jobs
in the state grew by 6.5 percent compared to two percent
nationwide."
Colorado claims a strong concentration of space-related military
commands, eight major aerospace contractors, higher-education
programs and more than 400 companies that develop unmanned
spacecraft, instrumentation, remote sensing, ground control and
navigation services, and launch vehicles for NASA and other
agencies.
Sierra Nevada's Dream Chaser Orbital Space System is being
designed to carry astronauts and cargo to the International Space
Station to space by 2014. "Our Dream Chaser venture is a true
Colorado project with major elements being run, managed and built
here in the state," said Mark Sirangelo, head of Sierra Nevada
Space Systems. "We are significantly assisted in this effort by key
Colorado partners such as United Launch Alliance, Adam Works and
the University of Colorado."
Sierra Nevada is currently competing with seven other aerospace
companies to receive a portion of the second round of $200 million
in funding from NASA's Commercial Crew Development (CCDev) program.
Last year, the company received $20 million of the $50 million
provided by NASA, the largest amount given out in the first round
of CCDev funding.
Lockheed Martin is the prime contractor for NASA's Orion crew
exploration vehicle program, which is designed to fly human crews
to the International Space Station, the moon, asteroids and
eventually, to Mars. In March, that company unveiled a new
state-of-the-art Space Operations Simulation Center (SOSC) in
Denver. This 41,000 square foot facility will be used to test and
validate vehicles, equipment and software for future human
spaceflight programs to ensure safe, affordable and sustainable
space exploration.
"In the last few years, we have significantly expanded our
operations in Colorado both in facilities and number of people,"
Sirangelo said. "We believe that Colorado has all the essential
elements to enable business success; business orientated federal,
state and local government, a strong university system, a great
lifestyle and healthy living environment to attract and keep
people, and a growing base of suppliers and technical support
companies."
Late last year, NASA announced that it would partner with the
Colorado Association for Manufacturing and Technology (CAMT) to
create the nation's first manufacturing park designed to accelerate
commercialization of new space and cleantech technologies. It is
the first technology transfer collaboration outside one of the
space agency's own flight centers and research campuses. The
five-year pact commits NASA's name and one scientist to the
manufacturing park, which could result in as many as 10,000
high-tech jobs in a Metro Denver.
"With the free exchange of ideas among our research universities
and national entities such as the Aerospace and Clean Energy
Manufacturing and Innovation Park (ACE), our state is a hub for
innovation and entrepreneurship," said Clark.