New York-based SpaceFactory Inc. will relocate its headquarters to Huntsville, Ala., to be closer to the aerospace industry as it expands its lunar research and advanced manufacturing divisions.
Founded in 2017, the company is on a mission to be the first builders on the moon and beyond using its 3D printing machines with high-performance materials and intuitive software.
SpaceFactory will invest $2 million into the Huntsville site, where it expects to create 25 jobs.
The new facility is being designed by PlanetWorks Architecture, which is SpaceFactory's sister company. Construction will begin later this year with a planned completion in summer 2025.
The Huntsville location offers proximity to NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center, which oversees propulsion systems and hardware, launch vehicles and space systems, as well as the Redstone Arsenal, which is the U.S. Army's center for missile and rocket programs.
Huntsville, nicknamed Rocket City, is an ideal fit for the company, according to SpaceFactory founder and CEO Dave Malott, who also is the founder and chief architect of PlanetWorks.
SpaceFactory is joining a "thriving community of innovators" with support from local government agencies, Marlott said in a news release.
"This support allows a small but ambitious company like ours to grow and make a significant impact, following in the footsteps of the Apollo program as we support NASA's return to the Moon with Artemis," Malott said.
Last month, NASA identified nine possible landing spots for a 2026 mission to once again send humans to the moon, specifically the lunar South Pole, which has never been explored by a crewed mission.
"The Moon's South Pole is a completely different environment than where we landed during the Apollo missions," Artemis Lunar Science Lead Sarah Noble said in a statement.
"It offers access to some of the Moon's oldest terrain, as well as cold, shadowed regions that may contain water and other compounds. Any of these landing regions will enable us to do amazing science and make new discoveries," she said.
For now, Huntsville officials welcomed the company's decision to anchor its operations in the North Alabama city.
"SpaceFactory's creative work fits perfectly within the ecosystem that fuels Huntsville's tech sector," Mayor Tommy Battle said in the release. "This young company's innovative spirit is pushing the boundaries on the traditional ways we think about and use materials to build infrastructure in space and here on earth."
The selected site is likely to be near a crater rim for long-duration illumination to collect solar power yet with proximity to permanently shadowed crater regions, which are of interest for water harvesting operations.