Spaceport America partners with Borderplex Alliance to expand regional presence

To build upon its footprint across the region, Spaceport America recently entered an agreement with El Paso-based economic development company Borderplex Alliance.

The two organizations signed an agreement last week at the Spaceport America headquarters in Las Cruces. According to a draft copy of the memorandum of understanding between the two, the agreement seeks to "establish a framework for collaboration between Borderplex and Spaceport to jointly promote and support economic development initiatives, increase job opportunities, attract investment, and enhance the aerospace cluster of industries within the El Paso region."

Spaceport America is part of a broader cluster of aerospace companies and organizations that include Sandia National Laborites and Los Alamos National Laboratories in northern New Mexico and White Sands Missile Range, White Sands Test Facility and Spaceport New Mexico in southern New Mexico.

While the most notable tenant at Spaceport America in Sierra County is Virgin Galactic, Spaceport Director Scott McLaughlin said recruitment of other customers in the aerospace industry willing to expand or relocate to the region is ongoing.

"The primary thing is to get the door open in terms of communicating and a willingness to work together," McLaughlin said. "We go out to trade shows and are recruiting customers on a regular basis."

Why partner with Borderplex Alliance?

Spaceport America has agreements with economic development organizations in place throughout the state, but increasing its footprint required looking outside of New Mexico.

Borderplex Alliance branches out into El Paso, Las Cruces and Ciudad Juarez.

"The fact of the matter is that Spaceport America is the only spaceport in the region," said Borderplex Alliance CEO Jon Barela. "Technically they are in Sierra County, but we have extended our region for these purposes. Of the 14 commercial spaceports that have been licensed, nothing compares to what they have and their capabilities. We just have to get the word out."

While Spaceport America continues to seek talent and companies in the industry, the space economy as a whole grew to $469 billion in 2021 and will continue to grow, according to a Space Foundation report cited during a presentation.

The challenge will be bringing assets together across two states and an international border.

"You look at our region and we compete favorably for any metro area in North America when you combine our education assets and engineering graduates," Barela said. "That is a perfect example of what we need to do in the future as far as promoting our region."

What does the agreement between Spaceport America and Borderplex Alliance entail?

McLaughlin envisions a Space Valley that will ultimately encompass the I-25 corridor from Santa Fe all the way to Las Cruces and along I-10 to El Paso and into Chihuahua, Mexico.

"Signing this MOU is partially just to get us to talk more thoroughly about the needs, site selection, handing off customers," McLaughlin said. "We are going to talk to people who maybe don't want to be at the spaceport, but maybe could be somewhere in the region. Anyway we can build up the Space Valley is what we are trying to do."

The agreement is for a term of three years, but can be terminated within 90 days or extended if both sides agree to it in writing. It also calls for the formation of a joint working group to ensure effective collaboration.

The agreement calls for both sides to cooperate in three areas:

• Promotion of the aerospace sector - The two sides will jointly develop marketing strategies to enhance the spaceport's visibility as a location destination for domestic and foreign aerospace customers.

• Business attraction and support - The two sides will identify and pursue opportunities to attract aerospace businesses to the region through marketing, participation in industry events such as trade shows and providing incentives and support to potential investors.

• Research and development - The agreement calls for the two sides to support opportunities for joint research and development opportunities and technology transfer within the industry.

"Very often when companies come to El Paso and our organization is hosting for a site visit, they talk about UTEP," Barela said. "They don't think about New Mexico State. They don't realize it's only a half hour up I-10. They certainly don't realize the engineering capabilities from the universities in Ciduad Juarez."

Jason Groves can be reached at 575-541-5459 or jgroves@lcsun-news.com. Follow him on X, formerly Twitter, @jpgroves.

This article originally appeared on Las Cruces Sun-News: Spaceport America partners with Borderplex Alliance to grow space industry