NASA plots 'next giant leaps' in partnership with Maryland Department of Commerce

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration has plans to return astronauts to the moon this decade, and Maryland is set to play a role in the agency’s progress the next several years both in outer space and on earth.

In outer space, the commander of the upcoming Artemis II manned-mission around the moon is a Maryland native. And on earth, the state’s elected leaders announced on May 29 a three-year agreement to further ties with NASA in a memorandum of understanding signed last month.

The agreement between the state’s Department of Commerce and NASA Goddard, located in Prince George’s County, Maryland’s Greenbelt, pairs the agencies in promoting technology transfer, aerospace industry development and community outreach, as well as education in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics fields.

“Maryland is ready to lead,” said the state’s Gov. Wes Moore, in a press release announcing the agreement, “and by standing united with our partners in both the public and private sector, we will make Maryland more competitive and position our state to win the decade.”

NASA Goddard Center Director Dr. Makenzie Lystrup, who signed the memo on the agency’s behalf, said in a release: “I’m grateful to clasp hands with our home state and work together to build up the coalition that will help us all make those next giant leaps.”

The Maryland Economic Development Corporation is also a party to the memorandum of understanding. A purpose of the agreement is to raise awareness of Small Business Innovation Research and Small Business Technology Transfer funding to support the creation and growth of new space-related businesses and promote development efforts around two NASA facilities (in Greenbelt, Maryland and Wallops Island, Va., about 10 miles from the Maryland state line).

More: Why at least five of the last six US presidents have come to one Western Maryland airport

‘...exciting behind the scenes collaboration,’ says Salisbury Chamber CEO

Though the agreement was signed by Lystrup and the state’s Department of Commerce Secretary Kevin Anderson in Greenbelt about 10 miles from the nation’s capital, the Lower Eastern Shore of Maryland is also set to play a part in the development of the state’s aerospace industry.

A public signing ceremony for NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center Director Lystrup and Salisbury University President Carolyn Ringer Lepre was held in March to announce an agreement to provide learning opportunities for Salisbury University students at NASA's Wallops Flight Facility, but less public partnerships have proceeded too.

“We have been doing some exciting behind the scenes collaboration,” said Bill Chambers, president and CEO of the Salisbury Area Chamber of Commerce, in a June 5 email. Chambers cited chamber-led visits to the NASA Wallops facility with former Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan two years ago, and Maryland Senate President Bill Ferguson, D-Baltimore City, in April 2023.

In March, he said, the Chamber hosted representatives from NASA, Virginia Space, Northrop Grumman and Rocket Lab to meet with developers on future needs on and around the NASA Wallops facility, a site which helps resupply cargo to the International Space Station.

More: Northrop Grumman president goes from small town to stars with company's astronautics award

In July, in collaboration with the University of Maryland Eastern Shore and NASA Wallops, the Maryland Economic Development Corporation is aiming to hold its first Industry Day as part of the agreement, the corporation’s Director of Innovation & Strategic Partnerships Sarah Horta, said in a June 5 email.

Maryland Lt. Gov. Aruna Miller, an engineer herself, previously led a workshop on the workforce needs of the state’s aerospace industry, according to the release that announced the agreement. “By bringing together government, industry, and education, we have what it takes to prepare for the workforce needs of our time,” she said.

Maryland has over 2,000 aerospace engineers in the state

A post late last year by Miller pointed to the community of California in Southern Maryland’s St. Mary’s County as the locale with the “the highest concentration of aerospace engineers in the nation.”

The United States Bureau of Labor Statistics data shows nearly 1,000 aerospace engineers (970) lived in the California-Lexington Park statistical area in St. Mary’s County near Naval Air Station Patuxent River in May 2023.

The state of Maryland, as a whole, ranked in the top 10 in the nation for aerospace engineers with 2,810, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. The effect of the work of those Maryland aerospace engineers can be far from the Old Line State.

“I have frequently cited technologies created at Goddard in Prince George’s County that are working now on the surface of Mars,” said David Iannucci, president and CEO of the Prince George's County Economic Development Corporation, in a June 5 email. He said the memorandum of understanding in May between the state and NASA “can only reinforce the importance of Goddard to our County.”

In the release, Maryland Department of Commerce Secretary Kevin Anderson pointed to the agreement’s potential effect on the whole state. “We’re thrilled to sign this agreement,” he said, “which will support NASA’s innovative work and help make our state more competitive.”

Dwight A. Weingarten is an investigative reporter, covering the Maryland State House and state issues. He can be reached at [email protected] or on Twitter at @DwightWeingart2.

This article originally appeared on Salisbury Daily Times: NASA, Md. Department of Commerce sign agreement for aerospace industry