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LOUISVILLE, CO., and LEXINGTON, KY. – September 14, 2021 – Sierra Space and Space Tango are joining forces to make manufacturing more accessible and available in space, opening up new market opportunities in low-Earth orbit (LEO). The new space economy will include partners from several sectors, including technology, materials and biomedical industries. This key work can help humanity and the medical field on Earth by opening more opportunities for scientific and technical breakthroughs.
Sierra Space is a new commercial, independent company that is transforming the way humans live and work in space, creating a new space station concept with its Dream Chaser spaceplane and LIFE Habitat, making space more accessible and affordable. Space Tango is an aerospace company dedicated to creating transformational solutions in manufacturing by utilizing the unique environment of space.
Sierra Space is leveraging Space Tango’s experience in microgravity and automated systems to create additional valuable market sectors that harness the unique characteristics of LEO. By exploring microgravity solutions, Sierra Space and Space Tango aim to revolutionize the LEO ecosystem, in promising areas such as biotechnology, manufacturing of artificial retinas, fiber optics, organ re-cellularization and carbon nanotubes.
The memorandum of understanding (MOU) between the companies enables Sierra Space and Space Tango to explore the use of microgravity for bold new commercial opportunities in the technology, materials, and biomedical industries.
“Manufacturing, biotech and the advanced work that Space Tango does is exactly what the Sierra Space Station was made to do – to help humanity and industries that benefit from microgravity,” said Tom Vice, Chief Executive Officer of Sierra Space. “We see this partnership as another step in bringing together different pieces of the new space economy and ecosystem to fulfill our vision of a new era for commercial space.”
The companies’ strategic collaboration enables Space Tango to make their portfolio of automated facilities available to Sierra Space customers, including NASA. Space Tango’s TangoLab facilities and TangoBox, an innovation of the standard glovebox system that prioritizes biotechnology and manufacturing, will be used to reduce the cost of accessing and utilizing space to improve people’s lives on Earth.
“With a shared mission to utilize microgravity as a platform for research and manufacturing and leverage our companies’ respective strengths, Space Tango and Sierra Space tap LEO for a new wave of commercial opportunities in the growing space economy,” said Twyman Clements, Space Tango Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer. “We look forward to working with Tom and the team at Sierra Space as we grow our businesses together and make transformational advancements in scientific research.”
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About Sierra Space
Sierra Space Corporation is a new independent commercial space company, created from the space capabilities of Sierra Nevada Corporation (SNC). Leveraging breakthrough technologies including the Dream Chaser® spaceplane and expandable LIFE™ habitat, Sierra Space builds and delivers the future of space transportation, destinations and infrastructure for LEO commercialization. Its turnkey, space-as-a-service solutions are modular, scalable and reusable, opening space to new participants globally. With 30+ years of proven spaceflight heritage, Sierra Space has provided more than 4,000 systems, subsystems and components to customers worldwide, and participated in more than 500 missions to space, including to Mars. Sierra Space is a subsidiary of global aerospace and national security leader Sierra Nevada Corporation.
About Space Tango
Space Tango is an industry leader in automated systems in the pursuit of health and technology manufacturing in space. Since 2017 through a NASA Space Act Agreement, Space Tango provides facilities to support iterative R&D and manufacturing in space. Through an integrated and intuitive approach, Space Tango works alongside their diverse partner-base to embrace pathways to on-orbit production yielding valuable and transformational solutions for humanity. Space Tango is headquartered in Lexington, Kentucky with offices in Texas, Florida, California, and Washington, D.C.
About Sierra Nevada Corporation (SNC)
Owned by Chairwoman and President Eren Ozmen and CEO Fatih Ozmen, SNC is a trusted leader in engineering answers to the world’s toughest challenges, through customer-focused technologies and best-of-breed integrations in aerospace and defense and national security space. For nearly 60 years, SNC technology has delivered state-of-the-art civil, military and commercial solutions. SNC has received numerous awards and distinctions innovation, customer satisfaction and leadership including being named a US Best Managed Company for two consecutive years. In spring 2021, SNC announced the transition of its Space Systems business area to an independent commercial space company, Sierra Space.