Space Foundation Joins Aerospace Road Trip in Northeastern Colorado

For the third consecutive year, the Colorado Space Business Roundtable (CSBR) conducted a ‘Business Development Road Trip’ to a featured section of Colorado. This time, the tour took participants through Northeastern Colorado, and the Space Foundation’s Director – Philanthropy, Gina Taranto, joined the road trip (pictured front row, right). The purposes of the road trip align well with the Space Foundation’s mission to advance space-related endeavors to inspire, enable and propel humanity.

The primary purpose of the road trip was to seek businesses that could join Colorado’s space economy by providing products or services as suppliers and subcontractors to prime contractors. A secondary purpose was to meet with local officials, students, educators and anyone interested in learning about the impact aerospace has on our nation, state and the benefits to every community in Colorado. And thirdly, the tour promoted science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) opportunities among rural educational institutions in both K-12 and higher education.

The four-day road trip started with a tour and presentation at Enersys Advanced Systems/ABSL Space Products in Longmont. Day two included a presentation at Innosphere in Fort Collins, followed by one at the Greeley-Weld County Airport. Next, the group headed to Northeastern Junior College in Sterling, participated in a meet and greet in Sedgwick, toured Revere Public Schools in Ovid. The day concluded with various stops in Julesburg and a well-attended community dinner. The last day of the road trip took the group to Wray for presentations on precision farming and unmanned aerial vehicles, and a community presentation. The final stop was in Akron with a tour of the Colorado Plains Regional Airport and a community presentation.

Representatives from the following organizations participated on the road trip: 3D Printing Store, Ball Aersopace, Colorado Educational Initiative, Colorado Space Coalition, Colorado Office of Economic Development and International Trade, Lockheed Martin Space Systems, Manufacturer’s Edge, Metropolitan State University of Denver, NASA, Rocky Mountain BEST, Space Foundation and University of Colorado-Boulder. Representatives from Senators Bennet and Gardner and Congressman Buck, plus a few members of the State Legislature, joined the group at designated stops.

The next road trip is scheduled for mid-August to Southeastern Colorado. For more information, visit CSBR’s website at www.coloradosbr.org.

This article is part of Space Watch: August 2015 (Volume: 14, Issue: 8).