For years, this Eastside city has been a hub for tech companies of all kinds, famously including Microsoft and Google. But Mayor Angela Birney recently announced that Redmond will be taking its next step into the future with a brand-new Space District.
Created in partnership with the OneRedmond campaign to expand infrastructure and increase community amenities in the area, Redmond’s Space District makes perfect sense when the city’s local tenants are accounted for. High-profile SpaceX and Project Kuiper both call the city home; the companies are two of the largest satellite manufacturers in the world. As such, Redmond has produced almost half of the satellites that are in orbit, and studies predict it could produce up to 75% of the world’s satellites in the near future.
SpaceX and Project Kuiper aren’t the only space companies to call Redmond home. In fact, the city first stepped into orbit in 1967, when Rocket Research Inc. broke ground in the city. Since then, the company has become Aerojet Rocketdyne and is a world-class developer and manufacturer of chemical and electrical propulsion systems.
Other space companies with operations in the cityinclude Honeywell Aerospace, Kymeta, Microsoft’s Azure Orbital, RBC Signals, Spectralux and Triumph. With this well-established cluster of large and small companies, Redmond has become a prime location for others in the industry to set up shop. One smaller space company, Xplore, chose to open in Redmond specifically because of its infrastructure and employee base in the area.
Combined with Redmond’s large tech sector, its commitment to increased public infrastructure like the Eastlink light rail, and its many other upcoming new developments, city officials are clearly shooting for the moon.With support from their new Space District, it seems likely they’ll get there.
This post was based on information from 425Business.
