The Midland International Air and Spaceport Business Park is approximately 52 total acres of land with over 20 contiguous buildable acres with potential apron access to Midland International Air & Space Port runways for businesses with direct air service needs. The Midland International Air & Space Port is the world’s first and only commercial FAA part 139 with scheduled carrier air service to be co-located with an FAA certified spaceport.
Midland’s Space Port Business Park boasts a state of the art, 16,000 square foot R&D facility – the Midland Altitude Chamber Complex (MACC) – with two one-of-a-kind human rated, acrylic hypobaric chambers capable of simulating rapid decompression scenarios up to 200,000 feet of altitude. One of the chambers is a two-man chamber while the other is capable of housing an entire aircraft cockpit, or up to 10 astronauts. Time is available on the chambers on a negotiated hourly rate or as part of a direct lease of the MACC facility.
In November 2018, Midland’s Space Port Business Park was selected by AST and Science (AST) as their new global headquarters, with R&D and manufacturing planned for up to 100,000 micosatellites per year. AST will invest over $30 million in real and personal property and create over 160 full time jobs at the facility. The new plant will be one of the largest “New Space” manufacturing facilities in the United States, and will design, build, integrate, manage, and launch satellite platforms into low-Earth orbits (LEO) in a fully integrated aeronautical and space operation. Abel Avellan, Chairman and CEO of AST, noted that the co-location of the high-volume manufacturing and direct airside access for the horizontal launch capability, using carrier aircraft at the Midland Space Port, will be an important element in the company’s planned rapid LEO satellite deployments. The company’s patented modular construction process will dramatically reduce the cost and weight of the LEO satellites, while providing unprecedented levels of power and performance.
Midland’s Space Port Business Park is in site selection conversations with multiple space and aerospace companies involved in satellite data gathering, electronics, composite components, maintenance, supply chains feeding satellite manufacturers, rocket launcher, and engine manufacturers. As part of this conversation, Midland’s Space Port is hosting an annual workshop focused on the development of the high-speed aerospace transportation industry. The first workshop took place in 2018 and was attended by over thirty of the nation’s leading engineers and scientists who are engaged in the area of supersonic and hypersonic flight. This year’s workshop promises the same high-value content with even more attendees from key organizations in the industry. For more information, visit https://www.highspeedflight.com/
