new $100 million space research facility set for construction in colorado springs

Plans have been announced for the construction of a high-technology center designed to serve the needs of the U.S. Space Command in the growing Colorado Springs Airport Business Park.

The building will belong to the El Segundo, California-based Aerospace Corporation, the nationally-known nonprofit organization that conducts a variety of federally-funded research at four centers, three of which are located in the West.

In a statement, Steve Isakowitz, chief executive officer with Aerospace, said the new center will further the company’s “commitment to supporting our many partners in the Colorado Springs region in advancing our nation’s security in space.”

The new structure, with at least 90,000 square feet of workspace, will go up adjacent to Aerospace’s current location at 7250 Getting Heights, and will be especially designed to support procedures, tactics development, and both testing and evaluation.

Aerospace opened its Getting Heights facility in 2007.   
                      
The enhanced operations of the Colorado Springs location, added Isakowitz, “will be critical in helping our government partners tackle critical problems and shape future concepts for space warfighting.”

Work on the new center, which will nearly double Aerospace’s facility footprint in Colorado Springs, is expected to begin this summer with a spring 2022 completion date.

The Aerospace Corporation was founded in 1960 and regularly provides input, guidance, and advice to the Air Force Space and Missile Systems Center and the National Reconnaissance Office, among other federal agencies.
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Aerospace’s other major research facilities are located in El Segundo and Chantilly, Virginia.

By Garry Boulard

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