Archive for August, 2010

Release courtesy of New Mexico Space Grant Consortium

LAS CRUCES, NM – When Dr. Pat Hynes was recently notified that the New Mexico Space Grant Consortium at New Mexico State University (NMSU) was selected by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) as a 2010 Center of Excellence for Commercial Space Transportation, she predicted that this would help make New Mexico the magnet for commercial space in the nation and the world. At a press conference held August 19 at NMSU, Dr. Hynes noted that this highly competitive process for the $10 million dollar funding was an important win for New Mexico because it also marks the first time the federal government has made a major investment in the commercial space industry, and it was made in New Mexico.

“Robert Goddard and NMSU’s Physical Sciences Laboratory were pioneers in the space industry along with White Sands Missile Range, leadership in space research is our heritage at NMSU and in New Mexico” Dr. Hynes said. “As we begin the age of Spaceflight for Mankind, the State of New Mexico is once again leading the effort.”

The FAA has created the Center of Excellence (COE) program in partnership with the Office of Commercial Space Transportation (AST) to help identify solutions of existing and anticipated space transportation issues. By teaming with the nation’s top academic research institutions, the COE will help ensure the protection of the public, property, and the national security and foreign policy interests of the United States during commercial launch or reentry activities. NMSU will be the lead institution for the FAA, working with the following core university partners: New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology; Florida Institute of Technology; Florida Center for Advanced Aero-Propulsion; Stanford University; University of Colorado – Boulder; and the University of Texas – Medical Branch.

Initial funding for the COE is $2 million for the start-up phase, with and additional $4 million in agency funds over the first five years of operation, which will be matched by the partners to total $10 million in initial funding. Center Operations Cooperative Agreements will be issued to all seven research universities. Research funding will come from government contracts in addition to the operating funds in the form of IDIQ contracts.

Dr. Hynes explained what the COE will do for the FAA. “We will work on research for improved spaceport operations systems, and to find ways to improve airspace integration, for example.” She explains that vehicles traveling to space will transverse through present commercial air space, so changes to the air traffic control process will allow for frequent travel to and from space. “We will also characterize the business of commercial space, and define the related markets we expect it will create.” In addition, the COE will provide education services for all organizations involved in commercial space transportation.

Dr. Hynes is also the Director of the New Mexico Space Grant Consortium which is a member of the congressionally funded National Space Grant College and Fellowship Program. This program is administered by NASA. The statewide consortium supports a wide range of space related research and education projects, including the Student Launch Program which provides annual access to space from Spaceport America for student experiments.

City makes modest job gain despite the downturn economy

Article courtesy of the Las Cruces Bulletin

By Gabriel Vasquez

Leaving Las Cruces, the economy goes from bad to worse.

That was the message delivered by three economics professors at New Mexico State University during a televised economic update forum organized by the Greater Las Cruces Chamber of Commerce Wednesday, Aug. 11, at KRWG-TV studios.

“As you go from local, to state and to the national (economy), it gets worse,” said NMSU economics professor Chris Erickson. “The bad news is that we have a weak economy, the good news is that it could be a lot worse and we’re not as bad as the average for the nation.”

After 12 consecutive months of job loss, Las Cruces made modest employment gain in May and June, the latest numbers available, Erickson said.

The Las Cruces economy bottomed out in September 2009, after which it gradually decreased its negative employment growth for seven months before finally adding jobs.

“We’re in the process of recovery at this point,” Erickson said. “The fact we’re gaining jobs in Las Cruces is good news.”

And paradoxically, New Mexico has experienced growth in personal income during the recession, despite the decline in employment.

“That includes pay raises, profits and payments from the federal government,” Erickson said. “We continue to see weak, but positive growth in that area.”

Las Cruces’ southern New Mexico neighbors – Grant, Lincoln, Luna, and Otero counties – remain in the red, with negative employment growth since June 2009. The hardest hit is Grant County, whose employment rate dipped 6.2 percent in one year, mostly driven by problems in the mining industry which will not likely recover, Erickson said.

Nationally, the unemployment rate held steady at 9.5 percent in July and lost 131,000 jobs despite earlier job gains this year. Private industry gained 71,000 jobs during that month, but 143,000 government jobs were eliminated as the U.S. Census wrapped up its decennial count, according to statistics from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

“For the first few months of this year we had some rather good gains in employment, but the last two months have been in decline again,” said NMSU economics professor Jim Peach. “We are looking at something like 2014 before we will once again have the number of jobs we were having before the beginning of the recession.”

The cause of the recession, the national housing market, remains sluggish.

“We have not yet recovered,” Peach said. “On housing prices, we’re a little bit up from where we were a year ago but still way behind. If you look at housing starts and new houses sold, those numbers are not very encouraging.”

Peach predicted an increase in foreclosures for the remainder of the year.

“Housing is simply not fixed,” he said.

The credit market is just as bad, if not worse, as banks continue to pad their reserves and limit lending opportunities.

“Traditionally, banks, collectively in the U.S., would have $3, $4 or $5 billion in excess reserves,” Peach said. “Since late 2008, we’ve been at nearly $1 trillion dollars in excess reserves … 250 times what we normally have in the banking system.”

NMSU business professor Ken Martin said the stock market has experienced turbulent highs and lows since April, largely brought on by the Greek sovereign debt crisis and the May 6 “flash crash.”

“Investors thought Greece was going to default on its debt,” Martin said. “Since then, the European Central Bank stepped in with a rescue plan led by Germany.

“European banks underwent a stress test and most banks passed with flying colors. This went a long way to stabilizing those markets.”

The May 6 flash crash involved U.S. corporate stocks and was followed by an immediate rebound that recorded the second largest point swing in history and the largest one-day point decline, according to the Dow Jones.

“Liquidity evaporated from high-frequency traders and some stocks lost a tremendous amount of value,” Martin said. “This had the effect of really scaring off a lot of individual investors.”

Erickson said the local economy will continue to outperform its neighbors, as well as the state and national economy because of its diverse base of employment and the recent influx of troops from Fort Bliss.

“We have the advantage of having Fort Bliss in our backyard,” he said. “The very rapid increase in troop levels at Fort Bliss has resulted in a pretty major stimulus to the Paso del Norte region, which includes Las Cruces.”

Erickson said the military base has added at least 1 percent to local economic growth the past five years.

Peach offered a long-term solution to resume economic growth and increase job growth at a faster pace.

“I think we need to do an awful lot on infrastructure and transportation,” he said. “We need massive public works projects such as the interstate highway system proposed by Eisenhower in the ’50s.

“We need bold programs that will spur technological advancement and employment growth.”

Release courtesy of Spaceport America

Las Cruces, NM – Spaceport America and the New Mexico Spaceport Authority (NMSA) congratulate Dr. Pat Hynes and the New Mexico Space Grant Consortium at New Mexico State University (NMSU) for being selected as the Federal Aviation Administration’s (FAA) Center of Excellence for Commercial Space Transportation (COE-CST). Winning the nationwide competition to host the COE-CST now enables NMSU to serve as the hub of a minimum $5 million, five-year research coalition addressing key challenges in the development of the commercial space industry.

“It’s a great day not only for education in the state of New Mexico, but also for the emerging commercial space industry and the role that Spaceport America will have in its continuing growth,” said Spaceport America Executive Director Rick Homans. “This COE-CST reaffirms and cements New Mexico’s leadership in the vanguard of commercial space.” Homans said the Center would likely facilitate development of launch vehicle systems, technologies and operations research for Spaceport America. “We commend Dr. Pat Hynes and her team, and are excited to work with her innovative consortium from New Mexico, Florida, Texas, Colorado and California, as well as companies like Virgin Galactic, SpaceX and other members of the NMSU COE-CST industry advisory board.”

In addition, NMSA Chairman of the Board Ben Woods said, “Today’s announcement means the New Mexico Space Grant Consortium at NMSU will be at the center of development for industry enabling technologies such as space launch operations and traffic management, space commerce and commercial human spaceflight for launch facilities like Spaceport America here in New Mexico.”

More information on the COE-CST announcement can be found on the FAA website: http://www.faa.gov/news/press_releases/news_story.cfm?newsId=11737.

Spaceport America has been providing commercial launch services since 2006. The spaceport is the world’s first purpose-built commercial spaceport and is now undergoing construction near Truth or Consequences, New Mexico. This state-of-the-art launch facility is expected to become fully operational in 2011. Officials at Spaceport America have been working closely with leading aerospace firms such as Virgin Galactic, Lockheed Martin, Moog-FTS, and UP Aerospace to develop commercial spaceflight at the new facility. The economic impact of launches, tourism and new construction at the Spaceport is already delivering on its promise to the people of New Mexico.

Article courtesy to the Las Cruces Bulletin

By Gabriel Vasquez

Not many people know about the West Mesa Industrial Park, a 1,820-acre development located on Interstate 10, eight miles west of Las Cruces. It is home to several companies specializing in light and general manufacturing, and more are coming.

Most recently, Alaska Structures (AKS), a company in Las Cruces for more than 10 years, has expanded from its South Main Street facility into the 180,000-square-foot West Mesa building previously occupied by Rea Magnet Wire.

“I can confirm they are now occupying the old Rea building, and have taken over part of the Parkview site as well,” said Davin Lopez, president and CEO of the Mesilla Valley Economic Development Alliance.

The Parkview Metals site, vacant since 2007, stands at 100,000 square feet. AKS leased all but the office space in the building as it continues to consolidate its El Paso operations into Las Cruces.

“(AKS) will need more employees, but I do not know if they are hiring right now,” said Christine Logan, administrator for the city’s Economic Development Department. AKS designs, engineers and manufactures fabric-building systems for extreme environments for both military and commercial use. It recently was awarded a large contract that called for the expansion. Expected employment for the Rea site is 75 to90 employees, city officials said, with a possible expansion of up to 170 employees once the Parkview site is fully operational.

“It’s safe to say, that any local company that expands at this rate can only be a great opportunity for us,” Lopez said.

Although industrial buildings are still available for lease, space on the West Mesa is becoming more of a hot commodity.

“Don Billings has a 6,000-square-foot spec building available on Trigg Loop and NAI 1st Valley is marketing a 23,000-squarefoot facility on Crawford Boulevard,” Logan said. “Although there are not many buildings available, there are several development ready land parcels available through private land owners and the city.”

Current West Mesa tenants include Samson Equipment, which continues to do well and is looking to acquire additional land for expansion. F&A Dairy Products has completed a significant expansion and has recently upped its employment number to 93.

The Sapphire Energy research and development site continues to grow and now employs 24 full-time and has added several interns from New Mexico State University.

Onion producers Barker Produce have a new facility under construction on the West Mesa and Premier Distributing opened a facility there in February and employs 63 people in the park.

For more information on the West Mesa Industrial Park, a city-owned light manufacturing and industry development, call (575) 541-2286.

The September meeting of the MVEDA Business on the Border Forum will be held on Tuesday, September 7, 2010 from 11:30 AM until 1:00 PM at the Hotel Encanto de Las Cruces, 705 S. Telshor. The meeting will begin with a hot entree buffet followed by a brief update by MVEDA staff.

Dr. Garrey Carruthers

Dr. Garrey Carruthers, Dean of the NMSU College of Business and Vice President for Economic Development, and Dr. Kevin Boberg, Associate Dean of the NMSU College of Business and CEO for the Arrowhead Center, will speak at the luncheon.  The focus of the presentation will be on the growth and opportunities for small businesses in the Arrowhead Business and Research Park and Arrowhead Center’s Entrepreneurship Institute and TECHSTART Incubator.

Luncheon cost is $20.00 per person, payable by cash, check or major credit card. Due to space limitations, reservations are required. Please confirm your attendance no later than Thursday, September 2nd by sending an email to rsvp@mveda.com or by calling the office at (575) 525-2852. The meeting is open to the public.