Why Louisiana?

Brainpower:

• • The state boasts the highest per capita concentration of chemical engineers in the nation.

Manufacturing:

• • Louisiana is home to the highest per capita concentration of welders, cutters, solderers, and brazers in the country.

  • New Orleans has one of the largest manufacturing facilities in the world: NASA's Michoud Assembly Facility where Boeing is building many of the components for the Space Launch System and Lockheed Martin is building the Orion space capsule.

Space Manufacturing and R&D:

• • The skillsets in the Louisiana economy are ideal for the development of in-situ resource utilization (ISRU) technologies. For example, reactors in oil & gas refineries share similarities with the Sabatier reactor design that could produce CH4 fuel on Mars at a large-scale.

Transportation:

• • The Port of South Louisiana ranks first in the nation for tonnage and the state is home to five of the top fifteen water ports in the country.

Strategic Location:

• • The state is strategically located between Houston, Texas; Huntsville, Alabama; and Cape Canaveral, Florida, epicenters of the aerospace world.