Space Rising plans future in space for Arizona

On April 29, the inaugural Space Rising and Arizona Space Congress connects leaders from across Arizona to shape its role in the global space economy and the state’s space strategy.

Leaders from government and various industries came together to create a shared, achievable blueprint for Arizona Space 2030. The initiative was designed to align strategy, partnerships, and execution across Arizona’s space ecosystem to help the state leverage its core strengths to succeed.

Taryn Struck, Co-Founder of Space Rising, joined “Arizona Horizon” to discuss how Arizona needs a game plan to win the emerging space economy.

“The reason space rising exists is because the one challenge we have here in Arizona is the connective layer, that connective tissue that brings all of our sectors together,” Struck said, “…but to have alignment and shared understanding with all sectors to move forward, it really lead in the space economy, which is going to be valued at a trillion dollars on the next decade. We need to be aligned.”

Struck emphasized that they are inviting all members of the community, and of all sectors, to come together to have a voice in what the space strategy will look like. The participants will discuss different tactics and ideas that will then turn into a space action playbook for the entire state to use.

“Arizona is positioned in a way where we could be end-to-end manufacturing…we have year-round weather that we can do testing, we have one of the most impressive workforce pipelines coming out of the amazing universities we have,” Struck said. “Arizona, we need to capture that because it’s important for our nation at large.”

According to Struck, many commercial space companies are beginning to move in, with the primes being Northrop, Honeywell, and Raytheon. Struck emphasized how these primes are crucial for Arizona to bring new mid-tier acquisitions.