It will house Starlab’s U.S. Ground Location (SGL-US), including substantial payload development, research, operations, communications, and training activities. The U.S. Ground Location for Starlab was awarded through a competitive proposal process run by Voyager, and for which Ohio’s entry was led by JobsOhio.
The permanent SGL-US will be located on ten acres of the Ohio State Aviation and Aerospace Campus at Ohio State’s Don Scott Airport. Voyager Space will lease the land from Ohio State, with an option to lease as much as eighty (80) acres in total. The Ohio State University’s Board of Trustees ratified the terms of the agreement in November 2023, and a temporary facility is in operation today at the College of Food, Agriculture, and Environmental Sciences. This collaborative space contains a low-fidelity Starlab mock-up, early experiment prototypes, hardware development designs, student research projects, and more.
Ohio State leadership on Starlab and GWCSP includes Dr. John M. Horack, Professor and Neil Armstrong Chair in Aerospace Policy, a joint appointment between the College of Engineering and the John Glenn College of Public Affairs, and Dr. Scott Shearer, Chair of the Food, Agricultural, and Biological Engineering Department.
