Under darkening skies and with a storm on the horizon, ATK Space Systems broke ground Monday on a 25,000-square-foot expansion. Despite the unsettled weather, the development portends a bright future for the spacecraft hardware manufacturer and Old Town Goleta.
Three years in the making, ATK’s project includes a clean-room high bay so engineers can create and test spacecraft arms, laboratories and additional office space. ATK’s existing 70,000-square-foot facility at 600 Pine St. houses production, engineering and office space used to design and build advanced solar arrays and lightweight deployable space equipment — like the folding solar panels on the Mars Phoenix Lander.
The upgraded facility will allow ATK to continue to support critical national space programs with products like its UltraFlex solar arrays. The solar arrays, 18 feet in diameter, will provide power to NASA’s Orion crew exploration vehicle on its missions to low-Earth orbit and the moon. The ultra-lightweight devices are produced under a contract with Lockheed Martin.
The expansion also is necessary for the production of large solar arrays for a series of four National Polar-orbiting Operational Environmental Satellite System (NPOESS) spacecraft being developed by Northrop Grumman. The spacecraft are considered the next generation of low Earth-orbiting environmental satellites, which are designed to continuously circle the planet. The 100-minute rotations will monitor environmental conditions and collect and process data about Earth’s weather, atmosphere, oceans, land and near-space environment.
“This facility expansion will help ATK provide high-quality, innovative products for a growing customer base,” said Alan Jones, general manager of the Goleta operation.
“We are proud of our contributions to America’s space program through the design, development and production of critically important technologies, as well as the role ATK’s 179 Goleta employees play in Goleta’s Old Town Redevelopment.”
Despite the longtime support the company and its employees provide for community organizations like the Dos Pueblos Engineering Academy, ATK has sometimes gone unnoticed locally. ATK is housed in a sprawling, nondescript structure in the heart of the Old Town industrial district, just down the street from the high-profile Santa Barbara Airbus.
The importance ATK plays in the local economy is well-known to officials, however, and the groundbreaking drew a range of dignitaries. Rep. Lois Capps, D-Santa Barbara, attended the event, as did 2nd District Supervisor Janet Wolf, and every member of the Goleta City Council: Mayor Roger Aceves and Council members Michael Bennett, Margaret Connell, Ed Easton and Eric Onnen.
Capps said ATK’s expansion “couldn’t come at a better time for our economy.”
“We know the state of California is an aerospace state,” she said. “The Central Coast depends on a healthy aerospace industry.”
Capps also praised the close relationship ATK has with fledgling Dos Pueblos engineers as well as with UCSB, and she said the company’s decision to expand here was further proof of Old Town Goleta’s vitality.
Aceves echoed that theme, emphasizing that ATK’s expansion is an important milestone for the young city. He said the city was “pleased to be a partner in collaboration with ATK and The Towbes Group,” the project’s redevelopment partner.
Dave Messner, ATK’s vice president of operations, said he was grateful to have the city’s support in getting the project through the arduous planning process.
“Thank you to city staff for guiding us,” he said. “And thanks to The Towbes Group for handling the details so we could focus on what we do best: build spacecraft hardware.”
The additional space will be constructed to the rear of ATK’s facility, on what is now the employee parking lot. Parking will be shifted to the north side of the property. Over the next five years, the Goleta operation is expected to grow by more than 250 employees.
Craig Zimmerman, president of The Towbes Group, said ATK’s multimillion-dollar building will result in substantial property-tax revenue for the city’s Redevelopment Agency, which will redirect funding for projects in Old Town.
With revenues of about $4.8 billion annually, publicly traded ATK (NYSE: ATK) has more than 18,000 employees in 22 states, Puerto Rico and internationally.
— Noozhawk publisher Bill Macfadyen can be reached at wmacfadyen@noozhawk.com. Follow Noozhawk on Twitter: @noozhawk.
