Science

Georgia’s Space Industry Gets Ready To Blast Off

April 14th, 2017

The space industry in Georgia is about to take off.

This week’s Atlanta Business Chronicle reports an Arizona-based aerospace company will test launch a sub-orbital rocket as soon as this summer from a 400-acre site on the Georgia coast that could become the Peach State’s first commercial spaceport.

Vector Space Systems over time could invest up to $100 million in commercial rocket launches and an assembly plant in Camden County, south of Savannah, Ga., and near Jekyll and Cumberland islands. Vector expects Camden County to become its East Coast hub, where it could over time employ up to 200 people.

Vector’s 50-foot rockets cost 100 times less than conventional spacecraft and are used to launch small satellites for weather tracking, earth imagery and telecommunications.

Spaceport Camden could create more than 1,200 jobs and help grow Georgia’s share of the more than $300 billion global space industry.

Urvaksh Karkaria covers technology for Atlanta Business Chronicle. Dave Williams covers government for Atlanta Business Chronicle.