Progress has been a bit slow going at Max Q, the 70-acre mixed-use development on Kirtland Air Force Base land in South Albuquerque, since the project was first unveiled in late 2018. To date, a 27,000-square-foot Northrop Grumman facility is the only building on the Max Q property, with other retail and infrastructure projects either planned or underway.
But that progress could soon heat up if some of Greg Seeley's recent work comes to fruition.
Seeley, a U.S. Air Force veteran and former Congressional staffer, traveled to Colorado last week to attend the 39th Space Symposium, a national gathering of over 12,000 aerospace industry professionals and military stakeholders held between April 8 and April 11 in Colorado Springs.
He was there to help pitch Max Q to relevant stakeholders in attendance, which included folks from Max Q's "mission partners," like the Air Force Research Laboratory and Space Systems Command, and private aerospace companies.
One of Seeley's big takeaways from the Symposium, he told New Mexico Inno, was learning more about the needs of military and government partners. Military stakeholders in attendance ranged the entire chain of command, Seeley added, from generals to colonels and lieutenant colonels to captains.
Seeley also spoke with "a number of companies" interested in setting up operations at Max Q, including those that hadn't previously heard of the mixed-use development. Companies he had conversations with range in size from the "big boys" in the aerospace and defense industry to medium- to small-size firms, Seeley said.
He added the key for Max Q is "proactively" reaching out to those potential tenants who would be interested in setting up shop in close proximity to government buyers like the Department of the Air Force and the U.S. Space Force, which have extensive operations at Kirtland Air Force Base.
It's important, Seeley said, to help find an alignment between the needs of those government buyers and the private industry stakeholders — like Northrop Grumman — who would consider building at Max Q.
But Max Q isn't alone in its efforts to draw aerospace companies to New Mexico. Seeley said the development's long-term vision is acting as one base for the broader aerospace ecosystem in the state, which includes other players like NewSpace Nexus, the New Mexico Partnership and the Space Valley Coalition.
"We see ourselves as part of a constellation of mission enablers growing space and emerging tech in New Mexico," Seeley said.
It was Seeley's first time at the sprawling Symposium, he said. Alongside networking with industry and military stakeholders to pitch Max Q, Seeley said he also talked with folks living in Colorado Springs to compare that city's space and defense ecosystem with Albuquerque's own space and defense ecosystem.
There's an increasing sense of momentum surrounding Max Q, specifically, Seeley added, thanks to Northrop Grumman's opening last year and ongoing retail and infrastructure work. That means now is the "exact right moment" to pull different factors together to continue the development's growth, he said.
Other New Mexico representation at the Symposium
While Seeley attended the Space Symposium for the first time, Casey DeRaad spent her fourth year at the April conference with NewSpace Nexus, an Albuquerque-based aerospace industry nonprofit she founded in February 2019.
The Albuquerque nonprofit brought six representatives to the Symposium to help staff a 10-by-10 exhibit booth. NewSpace also offered 20 visitor passes to other folks from New Mexico interested in attending the Symposium but who may have struggled to afford to $3,000-plus full attendance fee.
"That's what NewSpace Nexus is about, trying to help the especially small and medium space companies," DeRaad said.
This year wasn't too different from prior years, DeRaad said. The coffee and tea NewSpace offers guests at its booth were still big hits.
Part of NewSpace Nexus' work at the Symposium this year included marketing its upcoming 2024 State of the Space Industrial Base conference, which is scheduled for May 29 through May 31 at the Sheraton Airport Hotel in Albuquerque.
The nonprofit also had several companies express interest in applying for its NewSpace Ignitor, an incubator-like program aimed at accelerating the development of aerospace startups through a tiered progression system, DeRaad said.
Other New Mexico institutions at the Space Symposium this year included the New Mexico Partnership, Albuquerque-based data company RS21 and the New Mexico Spaceport Authority, the state body that oversees Spaceport America. Folks from the state ventured to the Colorado conference last year, too, to market New Mexico's aerospace potential and network with other industry stakeholders.
