The U.S. Space Force’s innovation arm SpaceWERX has collaborated with the Aerospace Corporation, which operates a space-focused federally funded research and development center, to create a new initiative aimed at providing start-up companies access to necessary resources to advance their technology offerings.
The partnership will enable early-stage companies to test and mature their technologies in a 100,000-square-foot “Technology Readiness Level,” or TRL, bootcamp laboratory in El Segundo, California, Air Force Materiel Command said Wednesday.
“At SpaceWERX, we actively invest in and nurture these ideas to foster their growth and development, with the goal of transitioning them into programs for both warfighters and the commercial market,” said Arthur Grijalva, director of SpaceWERX.
The first cohort of the bootcamp will focus on in-space servicing, dynamic space operations and assembly and manufacturing.
“The bootcamp gives small businesses access to the decades of experience Aerospace Corporation has in the space domain,” said Maj. Jareth Lamb, military deputy of SpaceWERX. “This is another tool SpaceWERX is adding to help companies be successful and transition technologies.”