funding secured for construction of new mexico airship facility

A company with plans to produce airships in New Mexico is receiving up to $5 million in support for the construction of a new manufacturing facility.

The New Mexico Economic Development Department has announced that that support will come in the form of Local Economic Development Act funding.

The company, Sceye, Incorporated, has been conducting airship research at both the Roswell International Air Center as well as the Moriarty Municipal Airport.

Where exactly the new production facility will be built hasn’t yet been announced, but in a statement, Alicia Keyes, the state’s Economic Development director, lauded Sceye as the sort of company that “will drive economic development in the state for years to come.”

To date, Sceye has invested more than $50 million in the development of a stratospheric airship capable of ascending to heights of 65,000 feet and being used for such varied tasks as monitoring methane emissions and providing broadband coverage to rural parts of the state.

Founded by Mikkel Vestergaard, a leader in global public health companies, Sceye became a company in early 2017 with the goal of developing a lighter than air, remote-controlled airship carrying cameras and communications equipment.

The potential for such airships is thought to be additionally unlimited because, unlike satellites, they can operate closer to the earth’s surface in any pre-determined location.

In a statement, Vestergaard particularly emphasized the airship’s potential in providing broadband technology for areas of the state currently without it, noting: “There is a massive gap between the connected and unconnected.”

The company wants to build at least five airships between now and late 2022.
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Just over 3 years ago, Sceye received funding support of some $2 million from the State of New Mexico when its facilities at the Roswell airport were significantly damaged as the result of a windstorm.

By Garry Boulard

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