Today’s aerospace pioneers may be blazing new trails beyond the heavens, but they’re taking off from Maryland’s innovation runways built nearly a century ago.
When industry leader Rocket Lab looked to open its Space Structures Complex to build bleeding-edge carbon-composite spacecraft, they had a few non-negotiables. Proximity to NASA’s Wallops Flight Facility was essential, and they needed experts in launch vehicles, composites, avionics, precision fabrication, and mission-critical quality standards.
Middle River, Maryland checked every box while adding an advantage no other site could claim: a history of making history.
Glenn L. Martin, a true maverick of American aviation, began construction of his massive Middle River plant in 1929 with a plan to imagine, engineer and build the future of flight. By 1935, his Maryland team launched the famed Pan Am China Clipper, a technological leap forward that ushered in the first trans-Pacific passenger air service and literally changed the world.
The plant went on to build the bombers that won WW2 and the rockets that opened the space age. Today, Rocket Lab continues Maryland’s tradition of aerospace innovation, manufacturing critical components and precision-engineered parts for the company’s remarkable Neutron launch vehicle. The facility’s 90-ton, automated fiber-placement system is capable of laying carbon fiber faster and more accurately than NASA engineers could even imagine a decade ago.
“We’re grateful for the support from the State of Maryland…and others who have welcomed us to the state. We look forward to building a bright future in aerospace manufacturing together,” said Peter Beck, Founder and CEO of Rocket Lab.
Not many places have the talent to get a project like this one off the ground. Thanks to Maryland’s fourth-generation of aerospace engineers and high-tech manufacturing workforce, we can. It’s a legacy that began with the promise “Martin Builds Bombers” and has grown to include NASA Goddard, Northrop Grumman and the Space Telescope Science Institute (STScI), while cultivating one of the highest concentrations of aerospace engineers, materials scientists, and advanced manufacturing specialists on the planet.
Just imagine what Maryland will be building in the next hundred years.
