As the commercial business interest in outer space continues to grow— now estimated to be $400 billion globally — the greater tri-state region centered around Pittsburgh stands to benefit greatly, according to the Allegheny Conference on Community Development.
During the civic leadership organization's most recent Regional Growth Series event, the Conference invited Keystone Space Collaborative Founder and Board Chair Justine Kasznica to speak to Conference members about the region's already-existing strengths in this niche sector and how these abilities might position Pittsburgh and others for success ahead.
Working with partners in Ohio and West Virginia is paramount to this, Kasznica said during an interview with Pittsburgh Inno following her private remarks with members, emphasizing the use of "collaborative" in the title of the organization, which she runs in addition to being a shareholder at downtown-based law firm Babst Calland.
Each state is already working in unique verticals within the space and aerospace industries, Kasznica explained.
Ohio, with its Wright-Patterson Air Force Base outside of Dayton and the NASA John H. Glenn Research Center outside of Cleveland, is "claiming" a low-Earth orbit specialization, Kasznica said, while noting that West Virginia is focusing on satellite development and mission assurance following the launch of West Virginia University's Small Satellite Center of Excellence in 2022.
As for Pittsburgh, and Pennsylvania more broadly, the region's robotics scene is a strong asset, Kasznica said, which is playing into a military-oriented space defense-type of specialization. Pair that with continued advancements being made by North Side-based Astrobotic Technology Inc., which is preparing to send its first lunar lander to the moon sometime this summer, and the region is ripe for continued growth in this sector, Kasznica said.
"I am a firm believer that if we're not looking at this particular industry from a regional lens, and by that I mean knowing where your assets are and how to capitalize on shared assets collectively," Kasznica said. "We're not going to be successful when we're competing against sole space states like Texas, Florida and Alabama and others."
Businesses in Pennsylvania, Ohio and West Virginia could stand to benefit by expanding into each state's respective specialization, Kasznica said before noting how a diverse supply chain already plays a factor in enabling this opportunity.
"I think if you break down the supply chain: Component manufacturing and repurposing existing component manufacturing material, science companies, precision machining companies in the region, all you have to do is really get educated, trained and certified to work in the space environment, and you can readily expand your capabilities to support that industry and have an on-ramp to some of the tremendous DOD- and NASA-led federal missions," Kasznica said. "We're not asking everything to be built out of nothing. We're asking existing companies to consider space as an environment to expand their business operations into."
The region also benefits from strong energy-, infrastructure- and communications-based businesses that could adapt to include space-based operations into their strategy, Kasznica said.
It's a strategy that Matt Smith, chief growth officer at the Conference, fully supports. He said the Conference has advocated for such plans with Gov. Josh Shapiro as it relates to potential policy implementation that could support this growth. The Conference has also taken on marketing and communications efforts that aim to boost the region's understanding of its ability to thrive in this sector given its strengths.
"There's no reason that the key differentiating sectors that we've identified in the Pittsburgh region—space and robotics, autonomy, energy, advanced manufacturing, life sciences—they all fit within this larger puzzle of economic development and in fact reinforce and complement each other," Smith said. "We sort of view our role in that way between those sectors and among those sectors as a network connector as well."
