HOUSE MEMORIAL 16

56th legislature - STATE OF NEW MEXICO - first session, 2023

INTRODUCED BY

Tara L. Lujan

 

 

 

 

 

A MEMORIAL

DECLARING JANUARY 31, 2023 "NEW MEXICO AEROSPACE DAY" IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES.

 

     WHEREAS, New Mexico is the birthplace of the United States space and missile programs; and

     WHEREAS, New Mexico is the third state to host human spaceflight; and

     WHEREAS, New Mexico offers favorable elevations for aerospace operations, including three hundred forty days on average of sunshine annually, abundant land and a sparse population, creating the perfect conditions for launching rockets and recovering payloads; and

     WHEREAS, New Mexico is home to over eighty innovative aerospace companies performing satellite component and rocket design, aerospace parts manufacturing, space launch and data analytics; and

     WHEREAS, commercial aerospace in New Mexico provides considerable economic and employment impacts, including more than three hundred million dollars ($300,000,000) and over eight thousand jobs; and

     WHEREAS, the three major federal research laboratories in New Mexico have a combined annual budget of over six billion dollars ($6,000,000,000) and employ over twenty-one thousand people; and

     WHEREAS, New Mexico is home to flight testing facilities with access to over six thousand square miles of restricted airspace, four major United States military installations and twenty federal, state and privately funded laboratories; and

     WHEREAS, New Mexico is ranked in the top three states for drone-friendly skies; and

     WHEREAS, New Mexico is home to many superb sites of air and space activity, including the United States army White Sands missile range, the national aeronautics and space administration White Sands test facility, Kirtland air force base, the space force rapid capabilities office, the air force research laboratory, Sandia national laboratories, Los Alamos national laboratory and New Mexico state university's physical science laboratory; and

     WHEREAS, New Mexico is home to the world's first purpose-built commercial spaceport, spaceport America, which hosts suborbital launches and someday will host launches to orbit; and

     WHEREAS, New Mexico is home to leading research universities, including the New Mexico institute of mining and technology that operates the Magdalena research observatory and the very large array; and

     WHEREAS, the university of New Mexico is home to the institute of meteoritics and New Mexico state university is a core member of both the federal aviation administration center of excellence for commercial space transportation and the center of excellence for unmanned aircraft systems; and

     WHEREAS, spaceport America hosts the world's largest college-level student rocket competition, the spaceport America cup; and

     WHEREAS, New Mexico will continue to lead in aerospace education through its superb science, technology, engineering and mathematics education programs and world-class research universities; and

     WHEREAS, the aerospace states association — New Mexico chapter sponsors events to highlight the contributions of the aerospace community in New Mexico;

     NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED BY THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE STATE OF NEW MEXICO that January 31, 2023 be declared "New Mexico Aerospace Day" in the house of representatives; and

     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that a copy of this memorial be transmitted to the aerospace states association — New Mexico chapter.

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