Q Station, an aerospace technology-focused accelerator in New Mexico, has named five companies to its 2023 Space Tech Cohort.
They are:
- Archer Labs (Albuquerque, NM)
- Berlin Space Technologies (Berlin-Adlershof, Germany)
- Hoonify Technologies Inc. (Albuquerque, NM)
- Obruta Space Solutions (Ottawa, Ontario)
- Radsul Vision Systems (Austin, Texas)
Inclusion provides access to legal services, business development coaching and technology demo assistance, among other benefits. It's the second Space Tech Cohort. The inaugural Q Station cohort of companies graduated in November.
The companies were selected through a six-week process, said Randall Trask, the president of the New Mexico Trade Alliance and Q Station director. He said Q Station personnel worked with partners at the Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL) to analyze the companies' technology.
This included potential applications and demand for the technology behind a company, as well as its tech-readiness level, Trask added.
There's a "soft-landing program" built into the cohort, Trask said. He said it helps international and domestic out-of-state companies set up operations in New Mexico through access to resources and information about the aerospace industry in the state.
Resources in New Mexico for aerospace companies include unique assets like Spaceport America and private-public space-related partnerships through agencies like AFRL's Space Vehicles Directorate, Trask said.
"There is a rapidly growing commercial market for space in New Mexico," Trask said. "Many technology startups are in need of assistance through programs like [the Space Tech Cohort]."
Q Station also wants to support companies that are developing commercial technologies with a "Space Force mission fit," said Gabe Mounce, director of outreach and technology engagement in New Mexico for AFRL and deputy director of SpaceWERX.
"What we've been doing through our various activities is finding if these companies not only have a market fit but if they also have a military utility or a usefulness to the Space Force based on what the Space Force needs," he said.
Mounce hopes that helping companies develop their technologies through the cohort program can make them more "dual-use" — that is, have both commercial and military applications for their technology.
The first Q Station Space Tech Cohort included six companies, those being:
- Blue Eye Soft Corp. (Greer, S.C.)
- Leaf Space (Lomazzo, Italy)
- Rogue Space Systems Corp. (Laconia, N.H.)
- SPiN Tech (Darmstadt, Germany)
- Equatorial Space Systems (Singapore, Singapore)
- Neutron Star Systems (Cologne, Germany)
Mounce said that the first cohort was a "pilot" to test the program's effectiveness. He said that some of the companies from the first cohort, including SPiN Tech and Blue Eye Soft Corp., have expanded their operations into New Mexico.
Expanding into New Mexico is part of Rogue Space Systems Corp.'s 2023 roadmap, too, a spokesperson for the company said.
Q Station is operated by AFRL and the New Mexico Trade Alliance. It's also supported by the U.S. Space Force, according to a Q Station news release, and includes a physical co-working space at 3225 Central Ave. NE in Albuquerque.
