Keystone Space Collaborative to Build a Tri-State Industry Centered in Pittsburgh

2023 is bound to be a historic year for space innovation in Pittsburgh.  Astrobotic’s highly-anticipated mission to the Moon is only part of a much larger story, one that Keystone Space Collaborative is eager to share. 

“Astrobotic is sort of a poster child for that narrative,” Justine Kasznica, the collaborative’s co-founding board chair and shareholder at Babst Calland said. “But in addition to that, there's a lot happening here that people may not be aware of or know about.” 

The Keystone Space Collaborative is a nonprofit organization with a mission to support and serve the growing space industry of the Tri-State Region (Pennsylvania, West Virginia and Ohio), while also attracting and expanding the next generation of space industry businesses and talent in the region. 

As of last year, the global space economy was valued at $470 billion. The industry has shown exponential growth over the last several years, despite economic downturns. This is one of the more unusual things about the space ecosystem: it tends to be recession- proof.  

Kasznica says this is due to the unique way the space industry operates: it is based upon the 1967 Outer Space Treaty. Because the treaty is an international agreement between nations, space innovation is very much reliant on federal funding, which is provided by groups that can more easily ride the economic tides that affect so many other technology markets. And while space science seems very niche, it is also an enabler for economic development in adjacent industries. 

“Astrobotic is a space company that builds spacecraft. And they're going to the moon. Wow, right? But the space industry is made up of both space participants like Astrobotic and second order impact organizations and companies that work in robotics and additive manufacturing, advanced manufacturing, and material science, and even life sciences and all those other industries that this region is so well-known for,” Kasznica explained. 

“It is crucial that we activate the region and drive partnerships between the three states and between the participants in the space ecosystem. And that is what the collaborative does. Our goal is to convene those participants to help grow and activate and drive revenue, and additional long term and short-term investments into the space and defense innovation capabilities of the region.” 

While Pittsburgh serves as the nucleus for much of this work, the collaborative sees the tri-state area as operating the strongest as a region. All three states are working together to solve the unique challenges of space industrialization. These active participants in the space economy are comprised of hundreds of materials, robotics and other companies. NASA’s presence in Cleveland and Wright-Patterson Air Force Base being the headquarters for the Air Force Research Lab are other local advantages. The space economy also includes universities, community colleges and vocational schools — which will be the driving forces for research and development that results in commercial opportunities. 

“It is crucial that we activate the region and drive partnerships between the three states and between the participants in the space ecosystem. And that is what the collaborative does. Our goal is to convene those participants to help grow and activate and drive revenue, and additional long term and short-term investments into the space and defense innovation capabilities of the region.” 

The Keystone Space Collaborative recently announced the creation of the Keystone Space Innovation Center, partnering with the U.S. Air Force and Space Force to create a new AFWERX Hub in Pittsburgh. Kasznica believes that this will bring a lot of exciting opportunities to the region in terms of activating new companies and tech development, along with funding opportunities from the Department of Defense for technology companies to grow and mature in the region.  

The Innovation Center is currently located at Nova Place but will ultimately find its home adjacent to Astrobotic’s headquarters on the North Side. Kasznica and the collaborative believe that innovation happens best in clustered environments. Their goal is to have a campus footprint that develops organically over time as the local space economy grows.