Williamson, Burnet County shoot to become next hub for space industry
WilCo & Burnet Co. want to make space port
Williamson and Burnet County are partnering to launch a nonprofit geared toward developing and supporting businesses in the space industry.
WILLIAMSON COUNTY, Texas - Williamson and Burnet County have their eyes on space.
The two are partnering to launch a nonprofit geared toward developing and supporting businesses in the space industry.
The backstory:
This comes after Cedar Park’s Firefly Aerospace’s commercial Blue Ghost Lunar Lander made history.
The company celebrated lift-off in mid-January and landed on the moon in early March to collect data for NASA, intending to send humans back to the moon and, one day, Mars.
"This is super exciting for me," said Williamson County Precinct Two Commissioner Cynthia Long. "It is a very synergistic opportunity here to really leverage all the different things going on. There’s programs at the University of Texas, Texas State, and others that are looking into these industries, so the possibilities are limitless, and they reach for the stars."
Blue Ghost Lunar Lander is successful
The successful landing of a Cedar Park lunar lander is putting the pressure on efforts to build a workforce that is capable of reaching for the stars. When Firefly Aerospace relocated to Cedar Park, the focus of the company was getting small satellites into orbit
Dig deeper:
Commissioners eagerly approved the creation of the Central Texas Spaceport Development Corporation on Tuesday.
"It's amazing that what is on the moon right now was built here in Williamson County and Cedar Park," said Williamson County Commissioner Russ Boles.
The nonprofit corporation will provide grants to space companies.
"I see this being a terrific way for this exciting industry to be able to continue to grow," said Dan Fermon, the chief operating officer of Firefly Aerospace. "An industry that’s looking to grow over a trillion dollars in revenue by the time we get to 2040, and it’s on its way."
Long hopes the Central Texas Spaceport Development Corporation program will ignite an interest in Central Texas as a headquarters for space exploration.
"Think about what we’ve got already with Firefly here and then just dozens of other companies coming, and that just begins to feed itself, and we’re NASA number 2," said Long.
What's next:
Burnet County Commissioners will vote on its bylaws for the partnership at the end of the month.
Firefly Aerospace has a testing facility in Briggs.
Then, commissioners from both counties will assemble a board of directors.
The Source: Information from interviews conducted by FOX 7 Austin's Lauren Rangel