According to news on October 17, the University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley) announced on Monday that it plans to invest US$2 billion in the NASA Ames Research Park in Silicon Valley to build an aerospace education and research complex called the Berkeley Space Center. The center will include offices, laboratories, classrooms, residential and retail space and will cover nearly 35 acres (approximately 14 hectares). Short-term accommodation facilities, student and faculty housing are also planned for the future, according to the statement.
Universities are increasingly building large off-campus centers to promote the integration of research and industry. The Berkeley Space Center is modeled after Cornell University's technology complex on Roosevelt Island in New York City and the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, which is managed by the California Institute of Technology.
"I don't know of any other place in the world that combines the best of NASA and the University of California, Berkeley, especially in the heart of Silicon Valley," said Dan Kingsley, managing partner of SKS Partners, the project manager. "Silicon Valley remains unique," he added.
The project could be an opportunity for the region as tech companies are laying off workers and cutting costs. According to research from Bank of America, the total commercial space economy is expected to double to $1.1 trillion by 2030.
The new Berkeley Space Center will utilize a site that NASA set aside for academic and research purposes more than two decades ago, Moffett Field, located south of San Francisco. This area was originally developed as a U.S. Navy base in the 1930s to house naval airships. A huge hangar built at that time still exists today, and Google's Planetary Ventures department is helping to restore it.
Once approved, construction on the Berkeley Space Center is expected to begin as early as 2026, with the first buildings opening two years later, according to Kingsley. SKS Partners will raise investor capital and manage construction, while CBRE Group will handle leasing operations.
Potential tenants at Berkeley Space Center include companies developing vertical take-off and landing aircraft and startups in the field of astrobiology. Astrobiology is the field that studies how living things are grown in space and the effects of zero gravity on the human body.
NASA Ames Research Center has made many contributions to research in the fields of astronomy, satellite design, and supercomputing.
"Through this new research center and partnerships with NASA and the public sector, we will be able to achieve results across multiple science, engineering and technology fields and advance the global university model," said Alex Bayen, UC Berkeley's vice chancellor for the project.