Space is in Kentucky. Here are the space-focused businesses and organizations that are in the Commonwealth. Information copied from the companies’ respective websites.
Space Tango
Based in Lexington, Kentucky, Space Tango grew out of a partnership that began in the labs of Kentucky Space. The first operational TangoLab facility installed on the International Space Station U.S. National Laboratory in 2016 and a second facility installed in 2017, Space Tango has designed and flown a variety of R&D projects using automated CubeLabs™. Since 2017, made possible by a NASA Space Act Agreement, Space Tango continues to provide facilities on the International Space Station to support iterative R&D and manufacturing.
Twiggs Space Lab
Twiggs Space Lab, LLC is focused on creating STEAM based products and curriculum to stimulate, engage, and encourage students to pursue interests in science, technology, engineering, arts, and math. Our company’s mission is to inspire future generations of engineers and scientists to make the world a better place through innovative research in space.
NASA Kentucky at the University of Kentucky
KY Space Grant Consortium and NASA EPSCoR (website)
Advancing opportunities for NASA research, inclusive STEM engagement & workforce development in Kentucky.
Administered by the University of Kentucky College of Engineering.
Morehead University (MSU)
Artemis I
Lunar IceCube small satellite onboard Artemis I rocket to look for water on the Moon.
Space Science Center
At the heart of MSU’s Department of Physics, Earth Science and Space Systems Engineering is the Ronald G. Eaglin Space Science Center (SSC). The facility houses state-of-the-art equipment and laboratories that will give you valuable hands-on learning experiences. The Space Science Center is home to MSU’s Program of Distinction, the Bachelor of Science in Space Systems Engineering.
MSU is a NASA Space Grant University.
Star Theatre
MSU’s Digital planetarium hosts educational and entertainment programming for the community.
Craft Academy
Located at Morehead. The Craft Academy for Excellence in Science and Mathematics is a dual-credit academy for academically exceptional Kentucky students. Craft Academy provides students with a postsecondary residential experience to complete their junior and senior high school years by enrolling in college courses.
The Craft Academy’s purpose is to meet the unique educational needs of academically gifted and talented high school juniors and seniors in the Commonwealth. The academic rigor of the Craft Academy challenges students to excel at their highest level through project-based STEM+X courses and hands-on learning experiences, emphasizing innovation, design and creativity, and civic and regional engagement.
ClimaVision
Climavision is rebuilding climate technology from the ground up and combining terrestrial sensors with space-based observations. Their team of renowned meteorologists, leading scientists, and passionate weather enthusiasts are changing weather forecasting as we know it by uncovering the clearest, most accurate picture of weather intelligence.
Powered by a proprietary sensing network that produces the highest resolution data and cutting-edge prediction modeling, they see weather like never before.
Working to minimize economic impacts of weather events, improve safety, protecting assets, reduce risk, or to better understand our climate.
RedWire
(Indiana, near Louisville)
Redwire Space is accelerating humanity’s expansion into space by delivering reliable, economical, and sustainable infrastructure for future generations.
Artemis I
Redwire is providing an array of internal and external inspection and navigation cameras comprising the Orion Camera System, under a contract with Lockheed Martin. The 11 internal and in-vacuum cameras that make up the Orion Camera System will allow in-flight inspection of the entire spacecraft from the docking hatch to the main engine, provide data to the Camera Controller for machine vision processing to determine Orion’s position and velocity relative to Earth, and record and stream high-quality video of key mission events such as separation, jettison, deployment and release events.
In addition to the Orion Camera System, Redwire is also providing a mission-unique kit that includes a virtual reality camera and forward-facing console camera that will be flying on the Artemis I mission.
Redwire is also providing four redundant Coarse Sun Sensor (CSS) detector assemblies for Orion’s European Service Module (ESM), the spacecraft’s primary power, thermal control, and propulsion component, through a contract with Airbus. The CSS detectors will perform sun acquisition and solar array pointing functions for the Orion spacecraft.
Challenger Learning Center Of Kentucky
The Challenger Learning Center of Kentucky provides a first class, space-based learning environment where schoolchildren, families, senior citizens, corporate teams and other community members “fly” simulated space missions. The CLCKY features a Mission Control Center modeled after the one at NASA’s Johnson Space Center, a Transporter/Space Shuttle, and a Spacecraft/Space Station simulator where experiments are performed and probes are assembled and “launched” into the depths of outer space.