The City of Albuquerque has now officially joined the very future-oriented New Mexico Space Valley Coalition, a group that includes Central New Mexico Community College and the Spaceport Authority, among others, and is dedicated to the idea of turning the state into a thriving regional hub for the nation’s space industry.
That coalition recently scored a significant victory in securing $500,000 in federal Economic Development Administration funds in the first round of what is a national competition.
If the plans become reality, New Mexico could ultimately be on the receiving end of up to $100 million in funding designed to build, among other things, a multi-use Space Valley Center in downtown Albuquerque.
As proposed, that facility would house a 750-person conference space, labs and offices, all designed to focus on the growing and potentially limitless industry of space innovation and technology.
“This is a proposal to center that next step forward in our downtown core and forge even stronger links to the state’s broader space ecosystem,” Albuquerque Mayor Tim Keller remarked in a statement upon the announcement that the City has now become a part of the Space Valley Coalition.
The coalition additionally includes the New Mexico Trade Alliance and the Albuquerque-based group New Space New Mexico.
The Economic Development Administration funding is coming through a program called the Build Back Better Regional Challenge. That program, in turn, is a part of the American Rescue Plan, which was passed in early 2021 as a means to counteract the Covid 19 economic fallout.
Besides the downtown multi-use center, the Space Valley Coalition has also proposed the building of a rocket assembly building, which would go up on the Spaceport America campus; and the expansion of the non-profit Q Station, an aerospace technology collaborative space that was opened in Albuquerque’s Nob Hill last spring.
Plans currently call for the Space Valley Coalition to submit its Phase 2 proposal to the Economic Development Administration by no later than March 15.
In announcing the first round of finalists for the Build Back Better Challenge late last year, Gina Raimondo, the Secretary of Commerce, remarked that the program’s aim is to “supercharge local economies and increase American competitiveness around the globe.”
By Garry Boulard
