Local nonprofit hopes to fuel space industry in New Mexico

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. – A local woman has created her own space for folks with their eyes on the skies to collaborate, support each other, and ultimately speed up the innovation process for interstellar technology.

The leader of a local nonprofit is bringing all of the key players for space innovation to New Mexico.

“We unite and ignite space,” said Casey Anglada Deraad, CEO of New Space New Mexico. 

New Space New Mexico is a nonprofit created to help grow the space business in the state.

“We unite by bringing many, many stakeholders together,” said Deraad. “The ignite is to really put resources in place for the companies to help them innovate faster. I just saw that there were so many barriers for companies to undertake, to be able to leverage all these federal assets, but also understand how to navigate.”

Deraad is the mastermind behind the initiative established in 2018 that now provides work spaces, connections and resources to more than 240 New Space Alliance members.

“We lead a national level space industrial base conference with the Space Force, Defense Innovation Unit, Air Force Research Lab, now NASA is one of the key partners,” Deraad said. “New Mexico is the nexus for the new space race.”

Not a bad environment for young companies like “Unmanned Systems of America” to  shoot for the stars.

“It’s really cool collaborative space that you can both meet people and develop your technology,” said Justin Carr, owner & CEO of Unmanned Systems of America. 

Carr’s drones will soon be used by companies and government agencies to save lives   during search and rescue missions, fires, floods, or other natural disasters.

With help from New Space New Mexico he hopes to eventually take his tech to new heights.

If you want to learn more about New Space New Mexico or how to get involved, click here.