Opinion: Space industry continues to be growing economic pillar

Written By: Julio Fuentes

This is an exciting time for Made in America innovation and economic growth. From artificial intelligence to cryptocurrency to space travel and beyond, American entrepreneurs and skilled American workers are on the front lines, leading the world forward toward huge advances with the potential for economic transformation. Recent months have brought headline after headline of great American businesses planning sizeable new investments and expansions, and other countries’ leading businesses seeking to bring jobs and dollars to our shores.

Here in Florida, the space industry especially is a huge and growing economic pillar for Florida, supporting nearly $6 billion in activity and more than 151,000 jobs. Cape Canaveral’s Kennedy Space Center, as the world’s preeminent launch complex for both government and commercial space access, is attracting great investments from major space and tech companies with their eyes on the skies.

One exciting new sector in particular deserves even more attention than it is already getting for its contribution to the growth of this sector: The growing field of low Earth orbit (LEO) satellites — and the coming revolution in broadband access it will spark.