Bethesda, Md.-based Lockheed Martin, one of the largest aerospace, defense and advanced technology companies in the world, is moving forward with the development of a new satellite production facility near Denver.
Located within the company’s Waterton Canyon campus in Littleton, Colo., the 266,000-square-foot Gateway Center facility will cost $350 million to build and is scheduled for completion in 2020. The state-of-the-art project will produce next-generation satellites and will employ 1,500 contractors over the three-year construction phase.
The Gateway Center, which will be the company’s largest satellite production facility so far, according to The Washington Post, is set to include a state-of-the-art high bay clean room big enough to fit the Space Shuttle, and a thermal vacuum chamber that will simulate the harsh conditions in space. The new facility will also be certified to security standards needed to support crucial national security missions.
“This is our factory of the future: agile, efficient and packed with innovations,” Rick Ambrose, executive VP of Lockheed Martin Space Systems, said in a statement. “We’ll be able to build satellites that communicate with front-line troops, explore other planets, and support unique missions.”
Lockheed Martin’s Waterton Canyon campus has been operational since the 1950s, and is home to more than 4,000 workers and various industry-leading manufacturing and test facilities. The company has added more than 750 jobs to its Centennial State workforce since 2014, and has roughly 350 current job openings in the Denver area alone. According to The Denver Channel, Lockheed Martin employs around 97,000 workers worldwide, 4,000 of them based in Littleton.
Video courtesy of Lockheed Martin
