This column by Dan Baker, Director of the Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics (LASP), appeared in the March 15, 2019 Boulder Daily Camera:
Today there are space missions exploring every corner of our solar system, looking back to the beginning of time itself and peering globally from space at our planet Earth. Most of these achievements have been made possible because Colorado universities, national labs and aerospace companies have expanded the frontiers of space exploration. No other place in the world has brought together science, engineering and advanced technology for the betterment of humankind through space exploration more than Colorado.
The confluence of national security infrastructure, civilian space agencies, and academic research investment over several decades has produced an aerospace equivalent of Silicon Valley right here in Colorado. There is no comparable...