Karen Jones

Senior Policy Analyst at The Aerospace Corporation’s Center for Space Policy and Strategy, where she works as a space economist and technology strategist focused on markets, technologies, and infrastructure affecting government and commercial space activity. Her prior experience spans petroleum geology in Texas, renewable energy, technology consulting, and AI voice-recognition commercialization.

Texas Uses State Grants to Build a Commercial-Space Cluster

Texas is building a statewide commercial-space industry around NASA talent in Houston, launch sites on the coast and in West Texas, and manufacturing and testing operations in Central Texas. Bloomberg reports that state grants are reinforcing a model in which NASA contracts help companies finance early development, while Texas offers industrial capacity and a business-friendly environment to keep them expanding locally. Loren Grush, Bloomberg’s space reporter, says SpaceX’s scale has made the strategy more visible—and its environmental and local costs around Boca Chica harder to ignore.

Bloomberg OriginalsJul 15, 20264 min read