Redwire plans operations center at Novaparke campus
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Florida-based Redwire Corp. is expanding its presence in Floyd County. The company, which acquired Techshot Inc. in Greenville in 2021, said this week it plans to open a microgravity payload development facility at the new Novaparke Innovation & Technology Campus in Edwardsville and create more than 25 jobs.
Redwire produces a variety of technologies that support microgravity research and development in space.
The new, 30,000-square-foot facility, the company told IIB, will add more laboratory space and a much larger Payload Operations Control Center, or mission control center, where engineers can communicate directly with astronauts operating Redwire equipment aboard the International Space Station (ISS).
Redwire Executive Vice President John Vellinger said in a news release the company is building capacity as it expands its in-space manufacturing and microgravity research capabilities, such as bioprinting, in low-Earth orbit, or LEO.
“As we leverage strategic investments to scale in-space manufacturing in LEO, it will directly impact the sustainability of future human spaceflight and deliver optimized products for Earth-based industries,” Vellinger said. “The new facility will help accelerate the development of our growing portfolio of new microgravity research technologies, such as biomedical research payloads, as we continue to serve our research and deep space exploration customers.”
The company currently has 10 research and manufacturing devices aboard the ISS, including the 3D BioFabrication Facility, or BFF, a bioprinter designed to manufacture human tissue in microgravity.
A spokesperson for Redwire told IIB the device, which made it to the ISS last November, is preparing to print a human knee meniscus in the next few weeks.
Among the other projects the new facility will support is Redwire’s platform designed to grow small-batch crystals of protein-based pharmaceuticals and other key pharmaceutically relevant molecules for research and production.
The company is partnering with Indianapolis-based Eli Lilly and Co. to conduct critical testing during the initial flight missions for the Pharmaceutical In-space Laboratory – Bio-crystal Optimization Xperiment, or PIL-BOX.
Construction on the facility at Novaparke is expected to begin in the fourth quarter and be complete no earlier than 2025, officials said.
The announcement of the new center came during the grand opening and ribbon cutting ceremony for the first phase of the $10 million Novaparke campus, which currently has two buildings for startups, including a coworking space.
The campus, designed as an entrepreneurial and innovation hub focusing on industries such as aerospace, biotechnology and software design sits on 60 acres near I-64 in Edwardsville and has more than a dozen lots for additional facilities.
“Redwire is exactly the kind of world-class, innovative company we had in mind when the vision for Novaparke was first conceived,” said Bob Woosley, president of the Floyd County Redevelopment Commission. “We look forward to seeing what new breakthrough technologies will be developed here for the benefit of all and are excited for the outstanding career opportunities this presents for the next generation of scientists, engineers and professionals here in Floyd County.”
Redwire currently has more than 700 employees in the U.S. and Europe.