U.S. Army Yuma Proving Ground (YPG) has a long history of supporting multiple aspects of outer space utilization and exploration.
From hosting tests for NASA since the inception of the space program to serving as the developmental testing site of the Global Positioning Satellite system in the 1970s and 1980s, YPG has deep institutional knowledge.
Local and state officials in Arizona are likewise enthusiastic about fostering space industry in the state. After being inactive for more than a decade, the Arizona Space Commission was relaunched last February. Commission member Douglas Nicholls, City of Yuma Mayor, offered to host one of its regular public meetings in Yuma and asked YPG to serve as venue. The post did so on January 14.
“I believe that as we grow our aerospace industry in Arizona, the assets here at YPG that aren’t provided anywhere else in the state—and in few other states in the country-- would be beneficial to our industry partners,” said Nicholls. “The ability to do private industry work in this amazing test facility the Army has developed in Yuma is unique, and the staff has a great deal of institutional knowledge.”
A highlight of the meeting was a presentation about the proposed Yuma Spaceport by City of Yuma Chief Information Officer Isaiah Kirk. A public-private partnership that plans to launch 12-24 satellite payloads of up to 1,300 pounds per year over the Sea of Cortez, officials hope to host the first launch before the close of the decade. The facility would be the first of its kind in Arizona and is expected to bring an additional aerospace industry cluster to support it, and commission members were interested in learning about YPG’s ability to support testing for private industry customers.
“There are a lot of industry partners that don’t have the suite of instrumentation to collect test data that we have, and we are able to facilitate testing for them,” said Col. John Nelson, YPG Commander. “I do see some opportunities where industry may want to leverage a set of instrumentation and operators for use at that facility. We definitely feel that some of the capabilities we have are complimentary to what they are trying to do there.”
Following the meeting, commission members received capabilities briefings from Nelson and Lt. Col. John Leone, Operations Manager for Marine Corps Air Station Yuma. The group then met with multiple subject matter experts from YPG’s aviation systems, electronic warfare, and instrumentation branches.
“I knew there was incredible stuff here, but there is something so impressive about actually being here and learning about it,” said Marisa Walker, Executive Vice President of Infrastructure for the Arizona Commerce Authority. “We’re always interested in figuring out ways for those companies we are working with who have unique testing capability requirements to be able to leverage assets like this.”