Aerospace initiative geared to launch more jobs
GEORGETOWN — Williamson County officials are taking not one small step but a big leap into the space race.
County Commissioners recently approved creating the Central Texas Spaceport Development Corp. to promote infrastructure construction and research development in the area.
Officials described the Space Development Corp., or SDC, as a partnership with Burnet County to form a nonprofit entity focusing on infrastructure and development in the fields of specialized launch and landing facilities for spacecraft, rockets and satellites.
Precinct 2 Commissioner Cynthia Long — who was raised in Houston, home to the storied NASA’s Johnson Space Center — seemed particularly enthusiastic about the partnership.
“As a space geek who grew up in Houston with the NASA
“
I see this as a terrific way for this exciting industry to grow.”
— Dan Fermon, chief operating officer for Firefly space program, this is super exciting today,” Long said. “This is an exciting opportunity to help further space exploration initiatives in Williamson and Burnet counties.”
The Central Texas SDC ultimately will be governed by a sevenmember board, according to a county advisory. The new nonprofit is the sixth SDC in Texas and the first in the state’s central region.
Space exploration already hits close to home in Williamson County, home to Cedar Park-based Firefly Aerospace.
The company most recently landed a robotic spacecraft on the surface of the moon as part of its Blue Ghost Mission 1, becoming the first commercial enterprise to achieve the accomplishment.
Firefly’s Chief Operating Officer Dan Fermon addressed commissioners to convey his support of the measure. He viewed development of a manufacturingspaceport designation for the county a springboard for further expansion of the aerospace industry regionally. “I see this as a terrific way for this exciting industry to grow — an industry that is looking to grow to over $1 trillion in revenue by the time we get to 2040, and it’s well on its way,” Fermon said.
Founded eight years ago in Cedar Park, Firefly now employs more than 700 people across Texas, California, Florida, Washington and Washington, D.C. The company also has a testing facility on a 200acre tract in Briggs. Arthur Jackson, chief economic development officer for Cedar Park, agreed with the economic implications connected to the nonprofit creation. He broke it down into four main aspects to illustrate the potential gains in creating the SDC.
“The first one is infrastructure development,” he noted. “This will allow us to build and maintain launch pads, control centers and testing facilities.”
In terms of economic development: “This will help us attract space companies, investors in talent to create an aerospace industry hub,” he said.
Jackson mentioned two other key aspects: partnerships/funding and innovation workforce development.
“Partnerships in funding help us secure state and federal grants, private investment and partnerships with commercial space firms,” he
said.
In terms of the latter, he said, “This allows us to have greater collaboration with our research universities (and) institutions to advance space technologies.”
He also invoked the idea of economic diversification.
“This will help us reduce reliance on traditional industries and establish Williamson and Burnet counties as leaders in the commercial space sector and also (foster) innovation and technological advancements,” he said. “This is really a desire to create more jobs for Americans and create more American companies.”
