Merritt Island-based All Points diversifying to satellite processing, plans to add 200 jobs
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Merritt Island-based technical services and technology company All Points Logistics LLC announced plans Monday for a major expansion that could add 200 or more people to its payroll, as it makes inroads in the space satellite payload processing sector.
All Points President and Chief Executive Officer Phil Monkress said his company is aiming to reduce the anticipated bottleneck in payload processing through its new launch support service, Space Prep.
He said Space Prep could do work for NASA, U.S. Space Force and commercial customers, particularly companies that are small to medium-sized.
"I believe that there's a tremendous opportunity for us here," Monkress said, as the company diversifies with its Space Prep division.
Monkress said All Points also hopes to break ground next year on a 100,000-square-foot payload processing facility within Brevard County for Space Prep that would cost hundreds of million dollars to build. The facility would take 12 to 18 months to construct, and its site has not yet been determined.
Space Prep will have facilities to accommodate testing of satellite antennas and solar arrays, as well as the ability to handle classified payloads.
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All Points also announced that it has added former NASA Administrator James Bridenstine to its Board of Advisers. Bridenstine — who served as NASA administrator from April 2018 to January 2021 ― also is a former member of Congress from Oklahoma, and a former Navy combat pilot. He served as senior adviser at Acorn Growth Cos., a private equity firm focusing on aerospace, defense, intelligence and space investments.
“I believe All Points has a great business model and talented management team that uniquely positions it to capitalize on key opportunities in the changing space industry," Bridenstine said. "As the industry evolves toward increased launch cadence, greater commercial usage and an increasingly contested space environment, I see Space Prep as a compelling solution for the specialized services and infrastructure essential to future space missions. I'm thrilled to be part of this team.”
Bridenstine said Space Prep will help open up the bottleneck anticipated for satellite processing, noting that "there's more demand than there is space" at current facilities focusing on payload processing.
"This is a great market opportunity," Bridenstine said during a news conference with Monkress at Space Florida's Space Life Sciences Lab near Kennedy Space Center. "Anybody who needs to launch something into space is going to need payload processing. They're all potential customers. So this is really a very big market, with lots of opportunity. There is a demand that needs to be met, and Space Prep is going to meet that demand."
Bridenstine said the current lack of payload processing facilities is "a significant challenge for the nation."
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Bridenstine said the Space Prep facility will have the versatility to handle the various requirements of different types of customers, and their various satellite shapes and sizes.
He said satellites now are "doing everything from remote sensing and imagery, and changing our lives with communication, navigation, the ability to produce food and produce energy, and do disaster relief, national security, predict weather, understand climate, and so, so, so much more."
But with that has come increased threats, including anti-satellite missiles being developed, Bridenstine said.
So there has been a trend toward constellations of many smaller satellite to reduce the vulnerability to attack by the enemy, meaning an increasing number of individual satellites that require processing, he said.
"The demand is real" for satellite processing, Dale Ketcham, Space Florida's vice president of government and community relations, said after the news conference. "We're trying to get in front of the demand."
Ketcham said Space Florida will be working with All Points on coordinating potential state financing assistance for the new venture.
All Points also could be looking to the federal government and the Economic Development Commission of Florida's Space Coast for assistance.
The new satellite processing center will have 14 processing bays and small satellite rooms, according to All Points Senior Vice President for Business Development Kevin Brown.
Other planned Space Prep facilities include a 50,000-square-foot spaceport logistics center and an operations control center.
All Points, which was founded 25 years ago, currently has more than 400 employees and more than $200 million in annual revenue, with corporate offices on Merritt Island, as well as in Huntsville, Alabama; Houston; and Reston, Virginia. It also has 11 other offices throughout the United States, most of them at military and space facilities.
It does work for a range of government agencies and departments, including NASA, the Department of Defense, the National Security Agency, the Missile Defense Agency, the Department of Homeland Security and the Department of Veterans Affairs. It also does work for commercial customers.
Among its operations are computer modeling and simulation, cybersecurity, engineering services, information technology, integrated logistics and software development.
Monkress said the ramping up of the Space Prep staff to 200 could occur in the next one to two years.
In discussing Bridenstine's addition to the All Points Board of Advisers, Monkress said: “Jim’s extensive background in the space industry, government and capital markets is perfectly aligned with our overall growth strategy. We are thrilled to have such a highly respected and experienced expert on our advisory team.”
Bridenstine currently is an independent consultant focusing on space, defense and aeronautics. He also serves on the board of directors for Viasat Inc. and the board of trustees of the Aerospace Corp. He chairs the Board of Advisers for Voyager Space.
Contact Berman at 321-242-3649 or dberman@floridatoday.com, on Twitter at @bydaveberman and on Facebook at www.facebook.com/dave.berman.54.
This article originally appeared on Florida Today: All Points plans to add 200 jobs as it diversifies into satellite processing
