Archive for April, 2009

Spaceport America and the New Mexico Space Grant Consortium will conduct the first annual education launch from Spaceport America at 8 a.m. on Saturday, May 2, 2009.

This historic SL-3 mission will utilize a SpaceLoft XL launch vehicle provided by participating sponsor UP Aerospace and will include 11 multi-sensor experiments designed and created by students from New Mexico schools.

The launch is open to the public by RSVP via coach transportation at $10 per person. No private vehicles are allowed to the launch site. Details are available on the Spaceport America website.

John Hummer, Past MVEDA Board Chairman and owner of Steinborn TCN Commercial Real Estate, was quoted in an on-line article in the Commercial Property News regarding the future growth that will be associated with the construction of Spaceport America.

According to Hummer,  “The spaceport is a strong catalyst for growth, not only in rocketry and related technologies and the tourism associated with commercial space travel, but also the commercial payloads–science experiments and commercial satellite launches. The corridor including Las Cruces, the largest nearby town, and Truth or Consequences, the closest to the spaceport, are already benefiting from interest in the spaceport.”

In the article, Hummer also mentions New Mexico State University’s Arrowhead Research Park, Virgin Galactic, UP Aerospace and Armadillo Aerospace, and the Las Cruces airport.

The entire on-line article, courtesy of the Commercial Property News,  is linked from MVEDA’s “News & Announcements” page.

Seattle-based global logistics company Expeditors International of Washington, Inc. has expanded into Santa Teresa, New Mexico. The company has leased a 86,550-square-foot facility in the Verde Corporate Real Estate’s Bi-National Park and has already hired about 30 workers.

MVEDA  President and CEO Davin Lopez said the facility will be helping to handle logistic needs for Foxconn, a Taiwan-based electronics company that is building a factory just across the border from Santa Teresa in San Jeronimo, Mexico. “It is one of our first opportunistic wins (as a result of Foxconn),” Lopez said of the addition of the Expeditors International facility.

The New Mexico Economic Development Department, along with its Office of Mexican Affairs, MVEDA and the New Mexico Partnership, worked closely with Expeditors executives during the past eight months to facilitate the project.

The Foxconn plant, which when completed will be the largest maquila in Mexico, was the subject of a November, 2008 article in Site Selection Magazine, linked from MVEDA’s “News and Announcements” page.