PORTLAND, Maine — The aerospace industry is growing in Maine, with more and more rocket manufacturers finding a home here. The growth has created a new demand for products and services, ultimately benefitting local businesses and the state's workforce.
Building fireproof fabric is how Auburn Manufacturing Inc. has built decades of success. "We've been at it 45 years and we're very good at it and we stayed right here in Maine the whole time," owner Kathie Leonard said.
However, in recent years, Leonard said an entirely new demand for the products has taken off. "Who would've thought we'd be in aerospace? We started out selling products to the Petra Chemical industry."
Currently, there are two launch providers manufacturing rockets in Maine, bluShift Aerospace, Inc. and VALT Enterprises, Inc.
Now, as of Wednesday, another one is on the way.
At the Maine Space Conference, it was announced that Ukrainian startup, Promin Aerospace, will soon be building rockets in Maine.
"The industry actually came to us. There's a need for more materials like ours in the marketplace," Leonard said. Building space applications requires the use of special textiles that Leonard's company can produce.
Auburn Manufacturing is not the only company filling a new gap. Most of the organizations at the conference offer very different niche services. A look at them shows how wide the range of need is and how many details go into exploring space safely.
"We have learned more about what Maine has than we've really recognized," Terry Shehata, executive director of the Maine Space Corporation, said. Shehata said the conference shines a spotlight on companies, like Leonard's, for advancing Maine's workforce by becoming part of the global space economy.
That economy is a half trillion-dollar industry Shehata said the state has big goals for.
"We want Maine to capture five percent of that market and that would be a significant investment in Maine's economy if we were able to do that," he said.
That desire is an ambitious goal many feel like they are already a part of. "Our business is booming because people want good supply chains. They want to buy stuff in the United States," Leonard said. As long as the success in the sky continues, she plans to keep turning it into success on the ground.