Commentary: Supporters of Spaceport America, who envision the development of a thriving commercial space industry in New Mexico, have formed a new organization to support and promote those opportunities to the public, elected officials, policy makers and the media.
The founders of AMBASSADORS FOR SPACEPORT AMERICA, Tom Hutchinson of Las Cruces and Dale Dekker of Albuquerque, hope to create a broad and diverse support community for Spaceport America that is informed and educated about the opportunities that space commercial development offers to the State. Business leaders from throughout the state got together to discuss the emerging personal and commercial spaceflight Industry and the huge opportunity that New Mexico, with its state-of-the-art facility, has to become an industry leader.
“We all shared the vision that Spaceport could anchor an economic hub based on the aerospace and commercial space industry, which would generate a job creation and business recruitment engine for the State,” Hutchinson said.
Dekker believes that commercial space development is rapidly growing and is expected to become a major sector of the world economy. “New Mexico is uniquely positioned, with our national labs, the Air Force Research Labs, White Sands Missile Range, and our top-ranked research universities to contribute to the technological advancement of space commercialization,” he said. “The State could become a global center of space technology innovation. We formed the Ambassadors to promote Spaceport America as a hub around which the State can develop a strong presence in this rapidly growing industry."
The group that created SPACEPORT AMBASSADORS were inspired by a shift in momentum regarding activity at Spaceport America, as well as a new awareness in the national and international business community that space commercial development is a huge and growing sector of the economy. Dekker cites the October 2017 Bank of America/Merrill Lynch report “To Infinity and Beyond” on that growth trend. “Clearly market availability and Spaceport’s preparedness for new business was an indicator that it was time to re-energize the support, advocacy, and awareness effort in the State, particularly from the private sector; so we formed the Ambassadors group to do just that,” he added.
A major focus of Ambassadors will be the tourism and hospitality industry. According to Hutchinson, “Spaceport America already is a major generator of tourism and that will grow as activity at Spaceport increases.” Ambassadors also envision Spaceport as a great educational asset, and will support and encourage educators to utilize the Zoom program to excite the children on science and technology. Additionally, Ambassadors will support the research and testing programs offered by Spaceport to our university students.
The Ambassadors are also supporting SPACEPORT DAY AT THE LEGISLATURE on January 29 at the State Capitol. Spaceport America will be showcasing some of its broad range of customers, vendors and other users at a Media Conference in the Rotunda at 1pm that day.
To learn more about AMBASSADORS FOR SPACEPORT AMERICA or to join us, please go to www.spaceportambassadors.com.