{"id":360132,"date":"2026-06-14T06:27:15","date_gmt":"2026-06-14T06:27:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/360132\/"},"modified":"2026-06-14T06:27:15","modified_gmt":"2026-06-14T06:27:15","slug":"space-the-next-frontier-for-jobs-in-michigan-the-oakland-press","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/360132\/","title":{"rendered":"Space the next frontier for jobs in Michigan \u2013 The Oakland Press"},"content":{"rendered":"

This story was originally published by BridgeMichigan, a nonprofit and nonpartisan news organization. Sign up for a free BridgeMichigan newsletter\u00a0here.<\/a><\/p>\n

By Paula Gardner, Bridge Michigan<\/p>\n

When the U.S. recently sent its first crewed rocket mission into space in 50 years, Michigan-made products went along for the ride.<\/p>\n

Blades and nozzles in the four engines of the\u00a0Artemis II\u00a0rocket came from\u00a0Moeller Aerospace\u00a0in Harbor Springs, a state supplier to NASA contractors.\u00a0Elmet Technologies\u00a0in Lewiston tooled more equipment. And NASA used\u00a0solar particle forecasts\u00a0from the University of Michigan.<\/p>\n

All told, at least 78 Michigan-based entities contributed to the mission, said Mark Ignash, director of strategic initiatives at Michigan\u2019s Office of Defense and Aerospace Innovation. That includes two companies in Madison Heights \u2014 Harcourt Industries, Inc., and Thermal Wave Imaging, Inc. \u2014 that have contributed to NASA\u2019s Artemis program.<\/p>\n

\u201cThese are companies we don\u2019t realize that we\u2019ve got in our backyard,\u201d Ignash told Bridge Michigan.<\/p>\n

\"InIn this image provided by NASA, Artemis II Pilot Victor Glover is photographed in the Orion spacecraft during the Artemis II lunar flyby on Monday, April 6, 2026. (NASA via AP)<\/p>\n

Ignash is looking to change that by creating a space sector to grow business in Michigan.<\/p>\n

He and other officials say the nation\u2019s growing space economy \u2014 serving telecommunications, navigation and even agriculture, along with celestial research \u2014\u00a0is a bold new frontier for economic development.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are in the second space race, commercially and in defense, and people just don\u2019t realize that yet,\u201d Ignash said.<\/p>\n

\"TheThe NASA Artemis II SLS (Space Launch System) rocket with the Orion spacecraft launches at the Kennedy Space Center, Wednesday, April 1, 2026, in Cape Canaveral, Fla. (AP Photo\/John Raoux)<\/p>\n

The Michigan Economic Development Corp. is\u00a0seeking proposals\u00a0to establish the state\u2019s first Space Innovation Hub. With up to $1.2 million budgeted for the first year, the hub is an early step towards connecting and growing the space-centered business in the state.<\/p>\n

Space offers a rich opportunity for the state, given the research, engineering and industrial expertise needed to make it work, Ignash said.<\/p>\n

Nationally, space-related spending\u00a0 \u2014 such as satellites and rockets \u2014\u00a0 is projected to grow to $1.8 trillion by 2035, up from about $630 billion in 2023, according to the\u00a0World Economic Forum.<\/p>\n

Space is one part of the\u00a0strategic plan\u00a0to spur defense and aerospace development announced in February by Gov. Gretchen Whitmer.<\/p>\n

\u201cFrom our skilled workforce and world-class universities to our robust supply chains, advanced testing environments, and manufacturing infrastructure, Michigan has unique capabilities and assets,\u201d Whitmer said in\u00a0introducing the plan.<\/p>\n

The other pillars of the state plan, aviation and unmanned systems, or drones, are more familiar to the average person and within business circles, Ignash said.<\/p>\n

But increased commercialization of space is a game-changer today, he added.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve not seen this kind of space activity since the 1960s,\u201d Ignash said.<\/p>\n

Back then, Michigan had a big role in development, including from the\u00a0missile lab near Willow Run Airport\u00a0to\u00a0research and manufacturing ties\u00a0to the Apollo spacecraft.<\/p>\n

Research is still taking place across several universities, and Michigan manufacturers still produce space-related parts and technology \u2014 including Houghton\u2019s Orbion, which was just purchased for its electric propulsion systems. In Madison Heights, Harcourt provides heavy0duty industrial tooling hardware used in assembling the massive components of the Artemis flight systems, and Thermal Wave Imaging uses thermal sensors and imaging to inspect rocket components for hidden cracks, gaps and structural defects without damaging hardware.<\/p>\n

By creating a space hub, the state envisions a physical location but other connections, such as data sharing, that can reach across both peninsulas.<\/p>\n

Collaboration around space-related endeavors is already increasing, with a state networking group growing from a dozen participants to 150 this year. Specialty areas include space research, remote sensing and digital engineering.<\/p>\n

Another area for potential growth is in-space assembly and manufacturing, known as\u00a0ISAM. This is the work \u2014 done by humans or robots \u2014 performed after a launch that keeps equipment usable for later projects.<\/p>\n

Not on the list of expected opportunities:\u00a0rocket launch sites, such as the one touted in a $2.5 million study announced in 2019 that prompted an\u00a0ongoing criminal investigation\u00a0four years later. However, a test site could be considered, according to a 2025 plan.<\/p>\n

The state will be evaluating bidders for the space hub after the June 1 deadline.<\/p>\n

\"TheThe Core Stage for NASA\u2019s Space Launch System rocket is moved from the Pegasus barge to the Vehicle Assembly Building, on Tuesday, July 23, 2024.
\n(Ricardo Ramirez Buxeda\/ Orlando Sentinel)<\/p>\n

Over the coming years, Ignash said, he hopes that today\u2019s momentum turns into Michigan receiving more federal funding through NASA and other programs.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re not creating a sector here,\u201d Ignash said. \u201cWe are really just putting some wind behind the sails and saying, if we all unify in a single direction, we can probably do a lot more.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"This story was originally published by BridgeMichigan, a nonprofit and nonpartisan news organization. Sign up for a free…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":360133,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[34],"tags":[387,383,181,795,16663,100,143,145,144],"class_list":["post-360132","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-oakland","tag-business","tag-economy","tag-latest-headlines","tag-michigan","tag-michigan-news","tag-news","tag-oakland","tag-oakland-headlines","tag-oakland-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/360132","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=360132"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/360132\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/360133"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=360132"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=360132"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=360132"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}