Florida Space IndustryStreet Economics® · The Florida space economy on a network and a lineage

Reference

ContentsHow to read this mapThe statutory spaceport systemThe launch coast and the Eastern RangeThe chain off the coastThe engine that changed hands twiceThe state's handThe state designates a research entityAnnounced, and designated: two different thingsNetwork position and what it does not meanHow to read each relationEvidence architecture, open items and sources
The argument

The chain off the coast

76 of the 294 edge endpoints on this map sit outside the Space Coast, a share of 25.9 percent. The launch coast is where Florida’s documented chain culminates, not where all of its production, capital, research and statutory authority are located.

Cross hub endpoints count both ends of every edge whose two ends sit in different hub regions. Endpoints outside the Space Coast count every edge end that sits in a hub region other than the Space Coast, whatever region the other end sits in. The two measures differ and both are published.

Hub regionNodesWhat sits there
Orlando3Florida Space Institute, Lockheed Martin Missiles and Fire Control, University of Central Florida
Palm Beach and the Treasure Coast6AE Industrial Partners, Pratt and Whitney West Palm Beach, RL10 engine, Rocketdyne, Terran Orbital, West Palm Beach rocket engine plant
Jacksonville and the First Coast4Cecil Spaceport, Hermeus, Jacksonville Aviation Authority, Redwire Space
Panhandle and the capital8CS/SB 968 (2024), spaceport territory, Cape San Blas, Eglin range complex, FAMU-FSU College of Engineering, Florida Department of Transportation, Florida Legislature, Florida State University, Tyndall Air Force Base statutory spaceport territory
South Florida2Florida International University, Homestead Air Reserve Base statutory spaceport territory
North Central Florida3David Norton, Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University, University of Florida
Tampa Bay and West Central Florida1University of South Florida
Headquartered outside Florida3Lockheed Martin, NASA, United States Space Force
Place not recorded1Long Wall, formerly ABL Space Systems

South Florida: statutory optionality and research linkage

South Florida appears on this map through two documented relationships: Homestead Air Reserve Base statutory spaceport territory, added to Florida’s statutory spaceport territory effective 1 July 2024, and Florida International University’s membership in the Florida University Space Research Consortium [CH202476] [SFCON]. The designation creates authority for the state’s property, financing and infrastructure tools. It does not establish an operating orbital launch site, a commercial tenant or a construction program at Homestead, and none is recorded at this release. South Florida’s cross hub endpoint share of 100 percent is computed on three endpoints and reflects the small number of mapped nodes; it is not a measure of regional economic dependence or output. The university is the South Florida research node because of its consortium membership, which is the documented relationship, and not because this dataset identifies a launch or manufacturing cluster in Miami-Dade.

Ports and logistics is incomplete, not minimal

The lane holds Port Canaveral and Jacksonville Aviation Authority. The port carries documented booster and fairing recovery operations for two providers [PORTHOME]. Space cargo tonnage, any JAXPORT role and the specific operators working the port are researched and not yet supported by primary records, so no figure and no node is published for them here. The lane is conservative at this release and remains incomplete pending that evidence.

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