A commercial space industry is emerging in Alaska because our high latitude location is one of the best locations in the world for launching and tracking satellites in polar or bits..
Project Starshine
A small, optically reflective spherical “STARSHINE” student spacecraft, built by the Naval Research Laboratory in Washington, DC, was deployed by NASA from a Hitchhiker canister in Space Shuttle Discovery into a highly inclined low earth orbit at 2:13 A.M. CDT on June 5, 1999. The satellite is covered with 878 front-surface aluminum mirrors that were machined by technology studentsin Utah and polished by 25,030 students in Austria, Australia, Belgium, Canada, China, Denmark, England, Finland, Japan, Mexico, New Zealand, Pakistan, South Africa, Spain, Turkey, the U.S.A. and Zimbabwae
Kodiak is one of the best locations in the world for launching satellites into a Polar orbit. The Kodiak Star mission, which is the first orbital launch from Alaska, is currently scheduled for August 13, 2001.
Alaska Aerospace Development Corporation
A public corporation created in 1992 to develop aerospace related economic and technical opportunities for the State of Alaska.
