Spectrum Astro will begin construction this week on a $54-million, state-of-the-art manufacturing facility at the southwest corner of Elliot and McQueen roads in Gilbert. The company closed on the land last summer.

The facility is the first all-new spacecraft manufacturing facility built in the United States since 1958.

"These new facilities have been in the planning stages for over two years now and represent the next step in our growth plan," says W. David Thompson, president/CEO of Spectrum Astro.

Spectrum Astro is involved in a number of major space-related programs, including the Space Based Infrared System (SBIRS Low), Global Positioning System (GPS III), Coriolis, and Orbital Express for the Department of Defense. The company is working with NASA on two programs, the High Energy Solar Spectrosopic Imager (HESSI) and the Swift Gamma Ray Burst Mission. The company also recently was awarded the US Air Force's Communication/Navigation Outage Forecasting System and the next-phase design study for the National Polar-orbiting Operational Environmental Satellite System called the NPOESS Preparatory Project.

Spectrum Astro designs, develops, integrates and tests high-performance satellites, space-based systems and related subsystems for defense, science and commercial applications.

Phase one of Spectrum Astro's development is comprised for three separate buildings totaling 270,000 sf. The building will house engineering, manufacturing, office, testing and support functions. The 115,000-sf manufacturing building will be used to build and test 20 satellites at one time. The other buildings will house the company's first large-diameter thermal vacuum chamber and its first acoustic chamber. The other buildings will house office space for 600 employees and parking for 1,000 vehicles.

The campus will include an on-site daycare center, on-site cafeteria, gym and recreation areas. Spectrum Astro is also incorporating design elements into the buildings that are intended to help with employee well-being and health, including increased outside air exchange, increased AC filtration and ultraviolet light bathing of chilled-water coils that decrease bacteria and allergens. The company is also using special interior finishes, glues and carpeting that are made of environmentally friendly materials that eliminate the potential for mold growth and potentially hazardous volatile condensable materials.

"We believe our new campus will improve not only employee health, but also employee happiness and productivity," Thompson says.

The first buildings on the campus are expected to be completed by summer 2002.

Spectrum Astro, which is privately held, is headquartered in Gilbert, and has offices in Los Angeles, Washington DC and Colorado Springs.