Aerospace on the Shore
NASA Goddard Space Flight Center’s Wallops Flight Facility, located on Virginia’s Eastern Shore and directly on the doorstep of the LESMD Region, is NASA’s only owned and operated launch range. It is the home to a multi-user/multi-tenant facility ideal for supporting satellite command and control, military operations, scientific investigations, technology development, and commercial aerospace. Wallops Flight Facility is a regional and national asset, and one of only four major orbital launch ranges in the U.S. providing assured access to space, supporting NASA, DOD, OGAs, and commercial space. Its wide range of activities provide jobs in the trade professions as well as STEM related science and technology. Its outreach and growing list of partnerships with LESMD technical schools, community colleges and universities link it to the regional education/training continuum.
37% of Wallops Complex Employees are from Maryland
What happens on Wallops Island?
Sounding Rockets
Suborbital science rockets from worldwide launch sites
Scientific Balloons
Upper atmosphere science missions from worldwide sites
Airborne Science
Earth Science research using piloted and unmanned aircraft
Special Projects
Small satellite development and operations
Hybrid flight projects that leverage the facility’s unique capabilities
Research Range and On-Orbit Operations
Launch range supporting rocket/missile missions
Research airfield supporting aircraft/UAS operations and research
Mobile range enabling remote campaign missions
Satellite tracking of NASA spacecraft
Earth Science Research
Precipitation, coastal processes, and ice sheet research
STEM Education Activities
Hands-on flight projects for students and researcher training
Economic Resiliency in the LESMD Region
Commercial Space is the private sector providing an additional line of access to space, often by leveraging technology and facility investments made by the public sector over decades. Among other things, commercially produced launch vehicles may be used to resupply missions, deploy constellation satellites, demonstrate products and carry out human spaceflight. Advantages include cost effectiveness, frequency and flexibility. In addition to launch vehicles commercial space companies provide a range of other products, including satellites and satellite components and spacecraft hardware. Services include actual mission design, launch and ground control.
Innovators and Entrepreneurs in the LESMD Region
Familiar names in the LESMD Region include Orbital and Northrup Grumman (Cygnus). Though well known in the industry, a relatively recent addition to the Region’s aerospace cluster is Rocket Lab (Electron Rocket, Photon Satellite). Since 2017 the company has completed 20 launches from its Launch Complex 1 in New Zealand. In 2020 Rocket Lab selected a second launch site at the Virginia Commercial Spaceflight Authority – Mid-Atlantic Spaceport at Wallops Flight Facility and completed construction of its Integration and Control Facility at Wallops Research Park in 2021.
Rocket Lab USA Website
At the Nexus of Education, Industry and Inspiration
Wallops Island Flight Facility has positively impacted the LESMD Region for decades. Capital improvements and maintenance to facility assets employ individuals in the skilled trades, while mission-related activities recruit individuals in STEM related professions. Increasing educational outreach and partnerships with colleges, universities and technical high schools have helped embed Wallops in the LESMD education/workforce development continuum. Purposeful coordination with local economic development professionals has further strengthened both Wallops and the LESMD regional economy. Against this backdrop of education and economic development is the inspiration Wallops Flight Facility provides to the LESMD Region – something sure to continue from the increased development of Commercial Space.
Wallops Island Aerospace Cluster
