Just after a Houston-built spacecraft landed on the moon, NASA completed one big leap for the agency by fully leasing a new development for commercial space.
However, the newest tenant plans to lease out its facilities to companies looking for room to develop technology while staying close to NASA’s Houston operations.
Exploration Park is currently 240 acres of undeveloped land, but between Texas A&M University’s $200 million Space Institute and the American Center of Manufacturing and Innovation’s new Space Systems Campus, NASA expects to see considerable growth in Houston’s commercial space economy.
The development is located outside of the Johnson Space Center’s controlled-access area, which JSC Director Vanessa Wyche said was a big selling point for interested tenants. The agency issued a request for proposals for the space in June 2023, according to documents the Houston Business Journal viewed.
“We were looking for someone that’s going to be able to reach out to other government agencies, academia and entrepreneurs,” Wyche said during a March 6 press conference at the Bay Area of Houston Economic Partnership.
Although the Exploration Park space is fully leased, NASA does have facilities at the JSC that periodically open for companies to lease, albeit within a controlled entry area, Wyche added.
Space Systems Campus to take shape by 2026
The Space Systems Campus lease, which was announced last week, is 207 acres and takes up most of the Exploration Park parcels. John Burer, ACMI’s CEO and founder, said his company is in discussions with prospective tenants but cannot disclose any at this time.
ACMI shared an initial timeline with BAHEP that targets a 2025 groundbreaking date. The rest of this year will be focused on permits and advancing leasing engagement, and the first buildings are expected to be available in early 2026.
“We think all the makings are here to build out an ecosystem paired with Johnson, the legacy and future leader of manned spaceflight,” Burer said. “We have a number of partnerships that we’ve already built here in the Houston area and expect to bring more people from our team to this area as well.”
ACMI recently landed a contract to develop a $75 million munitions campus in Indiana. Company officials told the BAHEP that ACMI’s planned facilities will include spaces for research and development, testing spaces, and office space. Square footage of the buildings was not immediately available, but ACMI officials said buildings could house single or multiple tenants.
New testing spaces could synergize with TAMU’s Space Institute, which is set to include 2.5-acre testing beds that simulate environments on the moon and Mars. TAMU Chancellor John Sharp said those beds will incentivize companies developing robots exploring those environments to utilize the institute for testing.
TAMU appointed former NASA astronaut Nancy Currie-Gregg as director of the Space Institute alongside Robert Ambrose, a former Johnson Space Center chief, as assistant director. Ambrose said the TAMU board of regents has approved initial designs for the Space Institute and estimated that a timeline for construction could take several years.
Recent commercial spaceflight experience leads Exploration Park development
During her address to the BAHEP, Wyche acknowledged the work performed by Houston Spaceport anchor tenants Axiom Space, Intuitive Machines and Collins Aerospace. All three companies have opened new facilities at the Spaceport and landed contracts with NASA for upcoming Artemis missions.
Wyche said Exploration Park’s development was spurred by NASA’s growing experience with private programs involving commercial cargo as well as spacecraft developers like SpaceX and The Boeing Co. (NYSE: BA).
“[Houston] has a rich history of the brains behind the spacecraft that we’re currently using, and what’s happening now is we’re looking at ways to make these craft through what we call commercial opportunities,” Wyche said.
Texas pumped significant funding into its space economy in the 2023 legislative session. Beyond the Space Institute, the 88th Texas Legislature also created the Texas Space Commission and the Aerospace Research and Space Economy Consortium with the goal of keeping the Lone Star State competitive with other emerging space economies around the country.
“I think in Texas we take it for granted that because we have this rich legacy, tremendous natural resources and human resources that we will always be the leader, but we haven’t been as strategic or intentional about it,” Texas State Rep. Greg Bonnen, R-Friendswood, said during the announcement of the Space Institute lease. Bonnen was one of the architects of the legislation supporting Texas space development.
Jishnu Nair
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