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ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. NewSpace New Mexico announced the launch Thursday of a new innovation hub in Albuquerque to help grow the state’s space industry.
The hub, called the “Unite and Ignite Space,” is housed in an 8,700-square-foot facility near the Albuquerque International Sunport.
Casey Anglada DeRaad
It will provide co-working areas, access to resources, meeting spaces, and networking working events to facilitate new connections and collaborations among space-related companies, government agencies and private entities, NewSpace NM founder and CEO Casey Anglada DeRaad told participants at Thursday’s event.
“It’s not just about physical spaces,” DeRaad said. “It’s about programs that are going to help companies get the resources they need.”
SEAKR dealt next phase of Blackjack Pit Boss space programme
DARPA – the US Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency – has awarded a $60.4m contract to SEAKR Engineering, for Phase Two and Phase Three of the Blackjack Pit Boss programme.
The company – a specialist in electronics for space applications – is based in Centennial, Colorado, which is where the work will be carried out.
There is an estimated completion date of March 2022, states the US Department of Defense.
Blackjack
Back in October 2019, SEAKR was first awarded a DARPA Pit Boss contract supporting the Blackjack Proliferated Low Earth Orbit Demonstration Programme.
This aims to integrate commercial satellite technologies into a constellation of “affordable, small, secure, and resilient military satellites”. The idea is to replace existing costly and monolithic systems – in geosynchronous orbit – that are vulnerable targets and would take years to replace if degraded or destroyed.