MDC, city praised for cooperation on radar facility

What started several years ago as a prototype made of PVC pipe and chicken wire has become reality, thanks to a bit of help from the Midland Development Corp. and the city of Midland.

A small ribbon-cutting ceremony was held Tuesday at the MDC offices to officially celebrate the completion of LeoLabs’ Midland Space Radar, located on city-owned property in Winkler County known as the T-Bar Ranch.

The radar is the first in the worldwide network LeoLabs is looking to build to map space debris hurtling around in low Earth orbit.

“We’re building a worldwide radar network to act as infrastructure for the entire global space community,” CEO Dan Ceperley said. “The Midland Space Radar is the first radar built to provide commercial tracking services. It’s the first radar we built as a company.”

There is a lot of space debris in low Earth orbit, and it threatens to damage multimillion-dollar satellites if collisions occur. Even a piece of junk the size of a dime can ruin equipment.

“We founded LeoLabs to protect all this new investment and equipment going into low Earth orbit,” Ceperley said. “A major part of that is protecting the low Earth orbit environment. We want to make sure that the amount of space debris is minimized so these companies can be successful, and future users of space can be successful, as well.”

The MDC board in September 2016 agreed to enter into a promotional agreement with LeoLabs for $60,000 to be paid in equal installments over the course of five years. Ceperley said the partnership and project moved quickly because the MDC is in tune with the needs of space startups. “One of the things that’s critical for a startup is moving quickly. … As we started to engage in Midland, it was clear you can move at the same speed we do. Midland Development Corp. moves at the same speed as a startup.”

Ceperley also had high praise for Midland’s efforts to develop the space industry.

“Midland is ahead of the curve in the space industry,” he said. “It was about a year ago that we met the MDC in Colorado, and it was clear from the beginning that they’ve been in the space industry for a while. They built the spaceport, they’ve been recruiting companies to come here and create a hub of space activity in Midland, and they knew exactly the sort of support a space company needs to be successful. That was a big benefit to us.”

MDC Chairman Brent Hilliard said the development corporation and upstart radar company met during the Space Symposium in Colorado Springs, Colorado. “In less than 15 minutes we had a plan. This is one of the easier space deals we’ve been involved in.”

Hilliard Energy, owned by the chairman, worked on the land services side of the construction project because of its previous experience at T-Bar Ranch and adjacent Clearwater Ranch, Hilliard said. The city of Midland pipes water from aquifers T-Bar and Clearwater for use in the municipality.

General contractor N.C. Sturgeon provided construction services. The project took about six months to complete, a pace Ceperley considered unprecedented.

Mayor Jerry Morales said the city has invested a lot of money and time into the space industry to bring economic diversification. “We know how exciting and fruitful the space industry can be.”

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