NASA Affiliated Companies Key Part of NY Space Ecosystem
Patrick Chase & Aayusha Singh, 4.6.2023
The private sector of New York’s space ecosystem is full of companies with a wide range of connections to NASA. This network supports over 29,000 jobs and touches almost every corner of the state. The diversity and longevity of these companies proves that space is good business in New York and serves as a foundation for future economic growth in the New York space ecosystem.
The following is an overview of this network across the state, followed by a company-by-company list.
Overview
There are 37 private companies in New York with NASA ties that employ at least 29,263 people at 70 sites across the state. These companies are active in every region of New York with the exception of the North Country. These companies are diverse, with 19 sites in the Core Space category, 20 sites in the Aerospace category, and 31 sites in the Space & Defense category.
Below are a series of graphs and charts that demonstrate the depth and breadth of the NASA-affiliated companies in New York.
Company-by-Company List
The following list provides highlights, basic information, and relevant links for all 37 NASA-affiliated companies in New York. Please note that this list is constantly evolving as we layer on additional information and may not be complete. Also note that many of these companies were founded or operate primarily outside of New York, even if they do maintain facilities here. NY-based employment figures are best estimates based on publicly available data.
AI Space Factory
Facility Locations: NYC
Estimated NY Employment: 21
Year Founded: 2017
Twitter: @AISpaceFactory
NASA Connection: Based in NYC, AI Space Factory has maintained a partnership with NASA since 2021 developing in-situ lunar habitat architectures.
Alpal Precision Machining
Facility Locations: Long Island
Estimated NY Employment: 7
Year Founded: 1963
NASA Connection: A longstanding member of the Long Island aerospace ecosystem, NASA is one of their many space & aerospace related end users.
American Aerospace Controls
Facility Locations: Long Island
Estimated NY Employment: 48
Year Founded: 1965
NASA Connection: American Aerospace Controls is a long-time member of the Long Island aerospace network and a woman-owned small business with decades of experience developing high quality sensors for projects including the Space Shuttle program and the Hubble telescope.
Betatronix
Facility Locations: Long Island
Estimated NY Employment: 98
Year Founded: 1966
Twitter: @Betatronix_Inc
NASA Connection: Betatronix is another longstanding member of the Long Island aerospace network that develops high quality electronics, including systems certified for NASA missions.
Caci
Facility Locations: Mohawk Valley
Estimated NY Employment: 49
Year Founded: 1962
NASA Connection: Based in Upstate New York’s Mohawk Valley, Caci, is a key developer of the laser communications system for NASA's Psyche mission.
Century Fasteners Corp
Facility Locations: NYC
Estimated NY Employment: 35
Year Founded: 1955
Twitter: @CenturyFastener
NASA Connection: Century Fasteners Corporation is a NYC based operation with decades of experience supporting numerous NASA and space missions across the satellite manufacturing, ground support, and launch industries.
Clad Metal Specialties
Facility Locations: Long Island
Estimated NY Employment: 35
Year Founded: 1985
Twitter: @CladMetalSpec
NASA Connection: Clad Metal Specialties provides a range of high quality cladding services for the aerospace industry. Their work was even a part of the NASA Juno mission to Jupiter.
Clouds Architecture Office
Facility Locations: NYC
Estimated NY Employment: 4
Year Founded: 2010
Twitter: @Clouds_AO
NASA Connection: The Clouds Architecture Office has worked with NASA Langley on development of a Mars Ice Home concept for future crewed missions to the Red Planet.
Collins Aerospace
Facility Locations: Long Island, Southern Tier, Mohawk Valley
Estimated NY Employment: 519
Year Founded: 1934/2001/2018
Twitter: @CollinsAero
NASA Connection: Collins Aerospace was tapped to develop NASA's next generation space suits, the latest in a long line of significant space and aerospace projects.
Ducommun
Facility Locations: Mid-Hudson
Estimated NY Employment: 270
Year Founded: 1849
NASA Connection: Decades of contributions to numerous major space missions including Mars Pathfinder, the Mars Exploration Rovers, and the International Space Station.
EB Industries
Facility Locations: Long Island
Estimated NY Employment: 36
Year Founded: 1965
NASA Connection: A long time member of the Long Island aerospace ecosystem, EB Industries is a NASA approved and certified supplier and welder.
FlightSafety International
Facility Locations: Long Island
Estimated NY Employment: 110
Year Founded: 1951
NASA Connection: FlightSafety International has partnered with NASA's Ames Research Center on researching new cockpit technologies.
Frequency Electronics
Facility Locations: Long Island
Estimated NY Employment: 94
Year Founded: 1961
NASA Connection: Frequency Electronics has developed a mercury atomic clock for use in spacecraft navigation.
General Dynamics
Facility Locations: Capital Region
Estimated NY Employment: 5+
Year Founded: 1952
NASA Connection: General Dynamics Information Technologies has developed efficiencies with NASA's Ames Research Center for their supercomputers, and has a facility in Rensselaer in the Capital Region.
Honeywell
Facility Locations: Western NY, Capital Region,
Central NY, Long Island
Estimated NY Employment: 189
Year Founded: 1906
Twitter: @honeywellaero
NASA Connection: Honeywell is a major international aerospace supplier with multiple locations in New York. They are a significant contributor to NASA's Artemis missions.
Howmet Aerospace
Facility Locations: Finger Lakes, Mid-Hudson
Estimated NY Employment: 58
Year Founded: 1965
Twitter: @HowmetAerospace
NASA Connection: Howmet Aerospace has over a century of manufacturing experience and have participated in various NASA supply contracts over the years. They have two facilities in New York.
iRocket
Facility Locations: Long Island
Estimated NY Employment: 2
Year Founded: 2018
Twitter: @iRocketUSA
NASA Connection: iRocket is developing an autonomous, fully reusable launch vehicle with strong support from NASA. HQ & manufacturing takes place on Long Island.
L3Harris
Facility Locations: Finger Lakes, Mohawk Valley, Long Island, NYC
Estimated NY Employment: 5982
Year Founded: 1895/2019
Twitter: @l3harristech
NASA Connection: L3Harris is an innovative and versatile company with over a century of experience in precision manufacturing and technology development, with extensive optics, electronics, and laser communications contributions to multiple NASA missions.
Leidos
Facility Locations: Central NY
Estimated NY Employment: 246
Year Founded: 1969
NASA Connection: Leidos has decades of experience providing technical and mission support to NASA and the broader defense and aerospace industries. They maintain a campus in Syracuse in Central New York.
Linda Tool
Facility Locations: NYC
Estimated NY Employment: 23
Year Founded: 1952
NASA Connection: Linda Tool is an experienced Brooklyn-based precision machine company with space experience, including Nasa's "Return to Flight" program in 2004.
Lockheed Martin
Facility Locations: Capital Region, Central NY, Mohawk Valley,
Long Island, Southern Tier, Western NY
Estimated NY Employment: 5457
Year Founded: 1907, 1910
NASA Connection: Lockheed Martin is a longtime NASA industry partner with multiple campuses across New York engaged in a wide range of aerospace-related work.
Magellan Aerospace
Facility Locations: Long Island, NYC
Estimated NY Employment: 103
Year Founded: 1996
Twitter: @magellanaero
NASA Connection: Long Island based Magellan Aerospace has become a proven supplier of solid rocket engine systems to NASA in addition to their work developing satellite bus systems.
Mechanical Rubber
Facility Locations: Mid-Hudson
Estimated NY Employment: 35
Year Founded: 1941
NASA Connection: Hudson Valley based Mechanical Rubber has received Quality Management Systems Certification from NASA.
Micross Components
Facility Locations: Long Island
Estimated NY Employment: 318
Twitter: @MicrossComps
Year Founded: 1998
NASA Connection: Long Island based Micross Components hosts extensive facilities for advanced testing and assembly of advanced components. Client list includes NASA and other aerospace giants.
Moog Space & Defense Group
Facility Locations: Western NY
Estimated NY Employment: 11787
Year Founded: 1951
Twitter: @Moog_Industrial
NASA Connection: Buffalo-based Moog has participated in numerous NASA collaborations, including the lunar VIPER rover.
Narda-MITEQ
Facility Locations: Long Island
Estimated NY Employment: 90
Year Founded: 1953
Twitter: @Narda_MITEQ
NASA Connection: Long Island aerospace mainstay Narda-Miteq has provided proven space-borne products for over 50 years.
Northrop Grumman
Facility Locations: Finger Lakes, Mid-Hudson, Long island,
Mohawk Valley, NYC, Western NY
Estimated NY Employment: 1874
Year Founded: 1929
NASA Connection: The Grumman Corporations Bethpage, Long Island facility was the production site for the Apollo Lunar Modules, This location has been a key node for Northrop Grumman throughout its existence.
Optimax
Facility Locations: Finger Lakes
Estimated NY Employment: 350
Year Founded: 1991
Twitter: @Optimax_Systems
NASA Connection: Highest quality precision optics manufacturer that includes NASA among its customers, with its products on every Mars rover as well as the TESS telescope.
Orbital Insight
Facility Locations: NYC
Estimated NY Employment: 5
Year Founded: 2013
Twitter: @orbital_insight
NASA Connection: NYC-based Orbital Insight Founder and CEO James Crawford formerly managed robotics at NASA's Ames Research Facility.
Precipart
Facility Locations: Long Island
Estimated NY Employment: 38
Year Founded: 1950
NASA Connection: Long Island is home to the New York location for the Swiss company that provides high quality precision gears and parts to the aerospace and defense industries, with their products making it all the way to the Hubble Space Telescope and Mars.
Ragnarok Industries
Facility Locations: NYC
Estimated NY Employment: 1
Year Founded: 2012
Twitter: @ragnaroksat
NASA Connection: NYC-based Ragnarok is a nano-satellite company that is a previous winner of a NASA CubeQuest Challenge.
Rocketstar
Facility Locations: NYC
Estimated NY Employment: 8
Year Founded: 2014
Twitter: @RocketStarSpace
NASA Connection: Rocketstar is an innovative aerospike-powered rocket-maker headquartered in NYC that has conducted launches from NASA facilities.
Saab Group
Facility Locations: Central NY
Estimated NY Employment: 463
Year Founded: 1937
NASA Connection: The Saab Group has periodically partnered with NASA over the years, and maintains a facility in East Syracuse in Central New York.
SAIC
Facility Locations: Western NY
Estimated NY Employment: 227
Year Founded: 1969
NASA Connection: Buffalo-based SAIC is working with NASA to develop technologies to extend orbital life of satellites.
Space Exploration Architecture
Facility Locations: NYC
Estimated NY Employment: 2
Year Founded: 2006
Twitter: @spacexarch
NASA Connection: Manhattan-based Space Exploration Architecture maintains a decades long partnership with multiple NASA facilities designing human-centric extraterrestrial habitat concepts.
Telephonics
Facility Locations: Long Island
Estimated NY Employment: 673
Year Founded: 1933
Twitter: @TelephonicsHQ
NASA Connection: Telephonics is a Long Island based legacy aerospace company that provides multiple types of radar systems for NASA.
Ultra Motion
Facility Locations: Long Island
Estimated NY Employment: 6
Year Founded: 1994
NASA Connection: Long Island based Ultra Motion has developed components of lunar observation capabilities for NASA.
Conclusions & Future Questions
New York is home to a broad and diverse array of NASA affiliated companies, from small aerospace manufacturers in New York City and Long Island to large core space companies in Buffalo and Rochester. These firms support almost 30,000 jobs across the state, generating millions of dollars every year in wages and economic impact.
There are several key questions that Empire Space will seek to answer about this network in the future, including the following:
* What other economic impact metrics can be tracked (wages, economic impacts, etc…)?
* How have these figures changed over time?
* How closely are these companies plugged into NASA’s civic and academic programs around New York?
What’s clear is that NASA has deep ties with a number of private companies around New York, forming the core of the economic component of the New York space ecosystem and a strong foundation for future growth.