Space Florida continues to hold things close to the vest with several ongoing projects as it tries to attract aerospace business to the state — but did reveal the company behind what they had dubbed “Project Manta” to be Seagate Space, for which the state agency will help fund an offshore launch platform.
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The state’s aerospace finance and development authority held a Board of Directors meeting Tuesday giving the approval to move forward on a variety of space and airline deals in the works with names like Project Jaguar, Project Forge and Project Henry.
Project Manta called for Space Florida to negotiate and enter into an equipment purchase and leaseback agreement up to $270,000 for advance infrastructure system hardware to be developed and demonstrated in the state. After the board approved the funding, the agency announced it was for Seagate, a St. Petersburg-based company that’s been lining up small-rocket customers for its proposed offshore launch vessel.
Two of those customers have been Cocoa-based Vaya Space with its Dauntless rocket and Firefly Aerospace with its Alpha rocket. The company’s goal is to provide a mobile launch site based in the ocean that could serve the needs for smaller companies that may have a harder time breaking into the busy pads on the Space Coast.
“We are ecstatic to receive meaningful support from Space Florida that accelerates the next stage of our development,” said Michael Anderson, co-founder and CEO of Seagate Space. “The opportunity to supplement early-stage private investment with public capital shows our state’s commitment to fostering homegrown innovation. As we grow, we see a bright future in Florida with the people, capital, and partners that startups need across phases.”
Anderson in January took part in the Global Spaceport Alliance’s annual summit at the Orange County Convention Center, highlighting his company’s momentum.
“We’re kind of looking at opportunities in the Gulf, right across the state, as well as in the Atlantic, which could open up other launch corridors,” he said.
Space Florida’s investment can help that come to fruition, while also opening up more potential business as the lineup at Kennedy Space Center and Cape Canaveral Space Force Station gets more crowded. Already the pads at those sites host NASA, SpaceX, Blue Origin and United Launch Alliance rockets. Relativity Space, Stoke Space and Astra Space all have plans to continue launching from there as well.
“We are having and will continue to work with all of these companies in various forms,” said Space Florida CEO Rob Long. “I think there’s plenty of opportunities across here, Cape Canaveral, and across the state at large for any aerospace company, really, that wants to take advantage of the tools and the model that we have at our disposal.”
Seagate Space’s vessel was still in research and development mode in January, but the company was looking to begin construction this summer and potentially serve customers by late 2027 or into 2028, he said. Construction of the prototype vessel will take place at the Port of Tampa Bay.
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“Our partnership with Seagate Space is a great example of how Florida is cultivating an innovation ecosystem that leverages everything the state has to offer, while empowering companies to stay and build here,” Long said. “Space Florida’s role is to be a force multiplier, and our engagement consistently helps unlock bigger outcomes, more capital, and stronger companies choosing Florida time and time again. Seagate Space represents the future we’re investing in.”
Among other project action Tuesday, the agency approved next steps for Project Jaguar, first announced late last year. The deal could be the first in the nation to take advantage of new tax-free bonds for spaceport infrastructure that were first allowed by law after Congress passed Trump’s “One Big, Beautiful Bill” last year.
The project looks to bring facilities such as “final assembly, integration, and test, logistics and inventory storage, payload processing, flight crew launch readiness, training, and recovery, science center, and payload support on spaceport territory in Florida for the development of destination hardware,” according to Space Florida’s budget.
The agency would enter into an agreement with the anonymous company to seek funding in the capital market for facilities and equipment to the tune of $235 million. Tuesday’s actions was to approve reimbursement of some costs already associated with the pursuit of financing.
A similar approval was given to Project Forge, although whichever company was behind that is not as close to fruition as Project Jaguar.
Other actions Tuesday include allowing Space Florida to negotiate with an international aircraft manufacturer, associated with Project Henry, to expand its Florida presence with a two-phase project that would amount to $200 million in capital investment between facilities and equipment, and add 350 jobs to the state.
The state recently announced the company behind another effort from Space Florida that had been dubbed Project Horizon. That turned out to be Blue Origin, for an expansion of its New Glenn rocket manufacturing in Merritt Island that expects to bring an additional 500 jobs to the Space Coast.
“When you consider the overall project pipeline that we have, it’s on the order of $5-6 billion of potential capital investment across the state,” Long said after the meeting. “So when today was a very narrow snapshot of a specific projects based on the where they’re at and their overall readiness to move to the next step. But when you take that step back overall, I think we’re over 160,000 aerospace jobs across the state right now, and I think we’re going to continue to see that increase over time.”
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