REPORT: MOON TO MARS A BOON TO VIRGINIA
NASA venture has generated $300M for state, study says
HAMPTON — NASA’s Mars mission and effort to send the first woman to the moon is on the horizon, but officials already are touting the economic benefits to Virginia.
The “Moon to Mars” mission has generated nearly $300 million in direct economic benefit for the state during the 2019 fiscal year — a gain expressed in thousands of jobs and government contract opportunities for goods and services, according to a report by the Nathalie P. Voorhees Center at the University of Illinois at Chicago.
The study looks at the nationwide economic benefit. For Virginia, the economic impact from NASA is roughly
27,000 jobs, which includes $2 billion in labor income, $5.5 billion in economic output and nearly $220 million in tax revenue for state and local governments.
As many as 1,221 jobs are directly related to the Moon to Mars mission.
NASA Langley Research Center in Hampton, one of several research and flight centers contributing to the effort, has been bustling with the Artemis program, which has a targeted launch date of 2024.
“(We’re) proud to be an integral part of sending the first woman and the next man to the moon and then on to Mars,” Langley spokeswoman April Phillips said in an email. “We are also pleased to see that along with our commercial partners, we are contributing to a growing aerospace economy in Virginia that benefits everyone.”
The Moon to Mars program will focus on returning mankind to lunar exploration, with missions eventually headed to Mars and beyond, according to the study.
Langley engineers, technicians and scientists also are contributing to the Space Launch System by conducting wind tunnel and water impact tests, as well as other technologies to support the Orion crew and capsule.
Space architects are designing and analyzing technologies that will enable precision landing and autonomous-in-space assembly and manufacturing. Researchers also are advancing radiation technologies to better protect astronauts on longer missions and are developing newer spacesuits to fit the Artemis mission.
The study also stated that NASA allocated nearly $19.3 billion overall in expenditures to vendors nationally to the states and U.S. territories during fiscal year 2019.
Of this amount, $4.4 billion was specific to the Moon to Mars effort, which accounts for 23% of total NASA procurement spending.
Some industries in Virginia to reap benefits include software and publishing, electronic and precision equipment repair, truck transportation, maintenance and scientific research and development services.