Lockheed Martin Expands Presence in Denver

Lockheed Martin is going to occupy 650,000 square feet of office space in the business community. At present, Denver South is home to nearly 190 aviation and aerospace companies, including Sierra Nevada Corporation, UP Aerospace Inc., Jeppesen: A Boeing Company, Oakman Aerospace, Bye Aerospace, and General Atomics.

 “As private companies continue to develop new space technologies and the U.S. military is increasingly focused on space, companies in the Denver South region continue to hire and grow here to advance critical national security and defense missions across the U.S.,” said Christine Shapard, vice president of economic development, Denver South.

Approximately 6,810 persons are employed at Denver South, with an average wage of $122,500.

Denver South was created three years ago and is the collaboration of industry, education and transportation interests. The area is rapidly becoming known as a “hub for flight.”

Denver South, Lockheed Martin, United Launch Alliance and the Colorado Space Coalition are celebrating the Lucy rocket launch. The mission, which will take 12 to 14 years to complete, will study the Trojan Asteroids which share Jupiter's orbit around the sun. 

The mission was named Lucy after the fossilized skeleton in Hadar Ethiopia in 1974. According to the story, the team who found the fossils  played the Beatles song Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds to celebrate. In addition, the spacecraft carries a disc made of lab-grown diamonds for its Thermal Emission Spectrometer. The instrument detects far infrared radiation emitted by the asteroids.  

Scientists hope the study of asteroids will reveal fossils of planet formation.