A Japanese aerospace company that is developing a lander to make deliveries to the moon has chosen Colorado for its U.S. headquarters.
Gov. Jared Polis said in a statement Monday that will open its office in the Denver area.
“Colorado is a proven leader in the aerospace sector and one of the best places to live and to start or run a business,” Polis said.
Colorado’s overall private aerospace employment of 30,020 is second only to California’s and is the country’s highest per capita, according to a report by the Metro Denver Economic Development Corp. The report says 57,830 private and military workers in Colorado support an additional 140,390 workers in all industries, bringing direct and indirect jobs supported by the aerospace sector to 198,220.
The industry contributes more than $15 billion annually to the state economy.
“Colorado’s dynamic aerospace ecosystem and abundance of talent strongly align with our aggressive hiring plan,” said ispace CEO Kyle Acierno.
In October, the Colorado Economic Development Commission approved a Job Growth Incentive Tax Credit worth up to $1.13 million for ispace. The new office is expected to employ 48 people over the next five years with an average wage of $118,333.
The company is also looking to build a plant to manufacture its landers, although it is not certain if that would be built near the U.S. office.
State officials chalked up ispace’s decision to open an office in Colorado to the state’s highly skilled workforce, robust aerospace industry and strong partnerships among state and local economic development agencies and the industry. It wasn’t clear when ispace will open the office.
The company said it has hired Kursten O’Neill, who was previously with SpaceX, where she managed new product introduction for the rocket manufacturer’s fleet of Falcon vehicles for several years. At ispace, she will lead the engineering for the next-generation of the company’s lunar lander.
The lunar exploration company is building a commercial lunar lander intended to provide low-cost delivery service to the moon. The company said in a statement that it has raised about $125 million for the project.
The company was selected by the European Space Agency to be part of the science team for PROSPECT, a program that seeks to extract water on the moon.
Aldo Svaldi contributed to this report.