Mendez: State of Texas needs to invest more in Space Race, 2.0

BROWNSVILLE, Texas - Brownsville Mayor Trey Mendez says the State of Texas needs to make a stronger commitment to the Space race, 2.0.If it does not it could get left behind by states like Florida, Colorado, and Alabama.Mendez first made the call in an op-ed he jointly penned with Margaret Spellings, CEO and president of Texas 2036 and former Secretary of Education, retired Colonel Tim Kopra, vice president for robotics and space operations at MDA, and Maynard Holt, CEO of Tudor, Pickering, Holt & Co.The op-ed appeared in the Houston Chronicle and the Rio Grande Guardian International News Service. Mendez followed this up with similar comments at a news conference held in Brownsville to announce the arrival of 9Point8 Capital, a group of companies that supports the space industry with end-to-end financial products. “It is important to position ourselves as the leader and continue to be the leader. We do have 70 years of legacy when it comes to space travel. When you think about it, we have kind of been dormant, in a way, this whole entire time. And Florida is a huge competitor, they are known as the Space Coast, they have launch sites, they have all sorts of companies out there, they have capital,” Mendez said.“Colorado is emerging with Space Force and other things. California has always been a player. Alabama is also a huge player now, as well.”In order for Texas to remain competitive, Mendez said, it really needs to start looking at the assets it has in the space industry and what it has to offer to companies in order to get them to locate here.“We have to look at various things. One of them is workforce. Thanks to the college and the university and our partners and our neighbors to the south, in Matamoros, we have an advantage when it comes to workforce,” Mendez, referring to Texas Southmost College, UT-Rio Grande Valley, and the skilled workers operating in the maquiladora industry. “We are obviously well positioned globally for launches, which is huge. If you create that atmosphere, this business-friendly environment like we are doing, we are going to be able to attract that,” Mendez said.“But that is not enough. You also need what I spoke to earlier, which is the main component here, finance and capital. That is why I think this is a such a huge endeavor. It is so big for us here in Brownsville but it also has ramifications across the state and our competition against other states.”Asked by the Rio Grande Guardian to elaborate on the message contained in the op-ed, Mendez said: "We want our legislators and the rest of Texas to wake up. We have Texas swagger but we also have to remember that while we are the largest state in the continental U.S., we have competition and if we do not wake up and we don’t start allocating resources at the state level, we are going to lose out.”Editor's Note: To read the full story go to the Rio Grande Guardian website.Go to www.riograndeguardian.com to read the latest border news stories and watch the latest news videos.