Estimated read time: 5-6 minutes
SALT LAKE CITY — Houston, Cape Canaveral and ... Dugway?
Yes, one of these is most assuredly not like the others and some folks may not even know that the Defense Department's Dugway Proving Ground in Utah's west desert has become a prime landing location for returning space missions. But the places that have become synonymous with U.S. space flight and exploration may be quietly acquiring a new sibling as Utah parlays its decades of space-related activities into a more starring role in the burgeoning cosmos business.
As it turns out, there's a whole lot of technology, components and know-how with Utah roots that have ventured, or will venture, beyond the boundaries of our home planet.
Aiming to fan the flames of those endeavors in the state, along with the companion industries of aerospace, defense, cybersecurity and advanced manufacturing, is 47G, a rebrand and reorganization of the former Utah Aerospace and Defense Association that earlier this year also absorbed the Utah Advanced Materials and Manufacturing Initiative. The nonprofit organization partners with government, private industry and academia on a mission it says aims to turn Utah into "the world's premier ecosystem for aerospace, defense and cyber companies."
The combined economic footprint of Utah's space-related businesses, along with those in the aerospace, defense and advanced materials sectors, already account for 20% of the state's annual GDP, and the space segment is among the fastest growing within that combined category, according to Aaron Starks, former chief revenue officer for World Trade Center Utah and now 47G's president and CEO.
"I think and firmly believe that Utah's future will be shaped more by this industry than any other," he said.
The business of 'newspace'
Starks said "newspace" industries, a term that refers to efforts to develop low-cost access to space and/or spaceflight technologies, is helping drive growth in Utah, a state that already has a vibrant history of space-centric work going back to the dawn of the Space Age in the mid-20th century.
"Newspace is an emerging category that is really more futuristic than anything we have seen in the state before," Starks said. "We're in an accelerated growth period and it's one being driven by this evolution of space-related business and research."
I think and firmly believe that Utah's future will be shaped more by this industry than any other.
–Aaron Starks, 47G
Starks easily reels off highlights of Utah's long history of space bona fides, noting upper atmospheric research work Utah State University was doing in the 1950s turned out to be the early seeds of what would become the institution's massive Space Dynamics Lab; Utah's competition with Florida's Kennedy Space Center in the early 1970s to host the Space Shuttle program (a contest that was closer than many people realize); and the increased use of Dugway Proving Ground as a preferred destination for a growing list of both private and public space flight operations.
Starks said Utah is well situated to benefit from a global expansion of space efforts as privately funded newspace industries, along with a growing movement for NASA and other national space agencies to outsource space exploration and research mission development work to private contractors, drive the need for innovation and advancements, and attract investment interest.
"Globally, we're going to see more and more venture capital money pouring into space-connected industries," he said.
This rocket giant lives in Utah
Aerospace giant Northrop Grumman has a more than 80-year history in Utah, famously test firing its rocket engines at a facility in Promontory, not far from where the Golden Spike joined the last sections of the nation's first transcontinental railroad. The company is the biggest aerospace employer in the state and continues to bet big on the Beehive State, earlier this year announcing a massive expansion and plans to add 1,200 new positions to its Utah workforce in the coming years.
The company conducts work in a wide array of areas, including aerospace and defense systems in Utah, but its rocket power components have become the workhorses behind cutting-edge spaceflight systems, including NASA's Space Launch System rocket, which successfully powered the first flight in the U.S. space agency's Artemis program in 2022.
"Northrop Grumman's propulsion systems business in Utah manufactures (solid rocket motors) for a number of programs and customers, including rocket boosters for NASA's Space Launch System and two unique (solid rocket motors) for the Orion spacecraft's Launch Abort System," Jim Kalberer, Northrop Grumman's vice president of propulsion systems, said in an email interview. "We also manufacture GEM 63 and GEM 63XL rocket motors that provide additional boost for United Launch Alliance's Atlas V and Vulcan Centaur launch vehicles, which support a wide variety of undertakings including Amazon Kuiper and national security missions."
Kalberer notes Northrop Grumman rockets provide booster power for the United Launch Alliance's new Vulcan Centaur launch vehicle and were aboard for eight of the ULA's Atlas V launches, providing 27 boosters to date. The company also played an integral role in the success of the James Webb Space Telescope, including components that were manufactured in Utah. The Webb telescope launched into space on Christmas Day in 2021 and began sending images back to Earth about six months later. The instrument has since gathered the deepest and most detailed images ever recorded of the observable universe.
Northrop Grumman, like 47G, has sought to form partnerships and tap into expertise in Utah's colleges and universities and the company has worked with students and faculty at the University of Utah, Weber State, Utah State, BYU and Bridgerland Technical College in Logan.
