EL SEGUNDO, Calif., Sept. 23, 2020  – The Aerospace Corporation (Aerospace) celebrated the official groundbreaking of its new state-of-the-art research and development center with a small, socially distanced ceremony in Colorado Springs, Colo. Local government members were in attendance, along with leadership from U.S. Space Command and U.S. Space Force.

Aerospace’s facility will be the focal point for delivering technical expertise across the space enterprise to outpace threats to national security. The building’s digital engineering environment will enable high-fidelity analysis and physics-based modeling and simulations as well as development of tactics, techniques, and procedures that will provide insight into space warfighting.

“This new facility will be a gamechanger for technical and simulation capabilities for the space warfighters as they shape the future of national security space,” said Steve Isakowitz, Aerospace’s president and CEO. “As the nation’s trusted partner, Aerospace focuses on solving our government and industry partners’ most challenging problems. It is our job to help them promote and optimize the combined civil, military, and commercial exploitation of space to best serve our national interests.”

Once complete, the $100 million, three-story, 90,000-square-foot building will connect to the company’s existing building. It was designed to accommodate up to 200 employees. The first phase of construction started with ground excavation to prepare for the placement of building foundations in early October. The next phase includes execution of the building construction from mid-November until its completion in spring of 2022. Full operations are slated to begin in the summer of 2022.

“We’re pleased to grow our role as a trusted technical partner to our government partners and industry colleagues in the Greater Colorado Springs defense and space community,” said Jay Santee, Aerospace vice president for Space Systems Operations and site executive for Colorado Springs. “Our new facility will boost Aerospace’s local economic impact by 75 percent and add 200 technical jobs locally.”

In Colorado Springs, Aerospace employs approximately 240 of the nation’s leading engineers, scientists, and analysts at its current facility in the Peak Innovation Park located at the Colorado Springs Airport and at nearby customer sites. These employees primarily work for the company’s Defense Systems Group’s Strategic Space Operations division and the corporation’s national engineering technology hub, the Engineering and Technology Group.