While local economic development officials wait to see what happens next in their quest to lure an aerospace manufacturer to Volusia County, the company they’ve been hoping to attract has been revealed as Blue Origin, the private commercial space flight company owned by Amazon founder Jeff Bezos.
U.S. Senator Bill Nelson confirmed last week that he personally has talked to Bezos.
“I and a number of others are working hard to attract new business to Florida’s Space Coast,” Nelson said. “Among other things, I have talked to Jeff Bezos and urged him to come here.”
Bezos, 15th on this year’s Forbes Magazine’s list of the world’s top billionaires, is one of a couple of billionaires competing to revolutionize commercial space flight and exploration, making it more efficient and affordable with new vehicles and technologies.
The space industry is growing,” said Lance Erickson, a professor at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University in Daytona Beach and coordinator of its commercial space operations program. “They’re bringing in new kinds of innovation and technology.”
For Volusia County officials, said Erickson, it’s an “opportunity” to expand in a new direction.
Volusia and state economic development officials have worked for months with a consultant scouting potential sites in several southeastern states for aerospace-related manufacturing. The officials refer to the project only as “Project Panther,” and would not confirm the company is Blue Origin, citing non-disclosure agreements they’ve signed.
Excitement about the project ramped up a notch last week when Blue Origin announced it had reached a critical stage in the development of one of its new rockets. In a press conference at its Kent, Washington, headquarters, company President Rob Meyerson said the company has completed acceptance testing of its new rocket engine, the BE-3. The announcement generated a wave of excitement in the industry nationwide because the engine is the first new hydrogen engine to be developed in the United States in more than a decade. In the news conference, Meyerson confirmed the company was looking at launch sites in Florida.
Keith Norden, president and CEO of the Team Volusia Economic Development Corporation, would not comment specifically on Project Panther, or any of the other aerospace-related projects being discussed. However, it’s very important for Volusia County to attract those kinds of jobs, “higher pay, skilled aviation and aerospace-related,” he said. “Team Volusia’s mission is to create higher paid jobs for our citizens.”
Even if this company doesn’t select a Volusia site at this time, Denys said it’s crucial to economic development in Southeast Volusia to expand a “commercial space brand.”
No matter what happens with Project Panther, it would be a good strategy for Volusia to keep moving forward in getting sites ready for potential suitors, said Mullis, the site selection consultant. “As this whole commercialization industry begins to change the face of the Space Coast, there’s going to be sites like Oak Hill needed.”
