The Midweek #82: San Antonio’s Opportunity in the Next Big Moonshot

There hasn’t been much, if any, serious conversation this busy and contentious summer season at City Council or Commissioners Court about San Antonio’s opportunity to play a significant role in NASA’s plans to send astronauts to the moon in early 2028.

If successful, it will be this country’s first return to the lunar surface since the Apollo 17 moon landing 55 years ago.

The next NASA lunar crew, which undoubtedly will include astronauts of both genders, has far greater ambitions than planting a flag and returning safely home. NASA scientists want to establish a lunar base capable of sustaining a human presence. That, in turn, will allow the United States to use the moon as a springboard for missions to Mars. There also is serious interest among astronomers in developing lunar-based deep space telescopes to search for radio waves and planets that might sustain life forms.

San Antonio’s long history with aviation and space medicine, its significant military assets, Port San Antonio and the Southwest Research Institute position it well to play a leading role in developing the infrastructure to sustain human habitation and operations on the moon.

Should the opportunity be considered in the context of the 2027 bond program? It’s a question worth exploring. Elected leaders should be discussing what they can do, in tandem with state economic development and legislative initiatives, to support an emerging lunar and space economic sector here. There could be opportunities with the right incentives to attract companies, including startups, seeking to develop solutions to the many challenges of humans and their equipment operating in the lunar environment for extended time periods.

The ​Texas Space Commission​, created by the Texas Legislature with $150 million in grants funding in 2023, shut out San Antonio in its first round of funding announced in 2025. Half of the $150 million distributed in ​24 different grants​ went to 10 Houston private sector companies and academic institutions, no surprise given that the city is home to the Johnson Space Center and an advanced aerospace ecosystem. The TSC was given $300 million by legislators last year, funding that has not yet been allocated.

It also would be advisable to see what role, if any, there will be for SpaceX as Elon Musk’s Starbase operations in the Rio Grande Valley continue to expand. San Antonio is a Democratic city, and opposition to Musk here is strong, but wouldn’t it be advisable to assess economic opportunities with SpaceX (and with the Boring Co., a topic for another edition of the Midweek) apart from his politics and social media pronouncements? Will San Antonio prove to be the only major Texas city that does not become home to a Musk-based advanced manufacturing operation?

San Antonio’s opportunity to carve out a role in NASA’s ambitious plans to return to the moon centers on ​Astroport Space Technologies​ and ​Knight Aerospace​, both based at Port San Antonio, and research initiatives at the ​Southwest Research Institute​ (SwRI) and ​UT-San Antonio​.

In June, SwRI announced that it had signed a ​memorandum of understanding​ with Astroport and the ​WEX Foundation​ to establish the National Lunar Research Center on 180 acres of its 1,500 acre Westside campus. It’s a plan without funding at present. Efforts to win grants from NASA and the TSC undoubtedly would be stronger if seed money were raised locally. A relatively small bond allocation could generate state and federal matching funds.

Why San Antonio’s application for funding was denied last year merits a transparent response from the TSC, which, to date, has not released any information on its funding process, how different projects were ranked or why a well-funded SpaceX was given $7.5 million it did not need in state funding.

Sam Ximenes, Astroport’s founder and CEO, has attracted $3.68 million in federal grants from NASA and the U.S. Air Force since the company began operations here in 2020. The San Antonio Report published an ​article​ last week examining the company’s efforts to turn regolith, moon dirt, into bricks or tiles that would serve as on-site building blocks for lunar construction.

“We want to make San Antonio known for lunar construction,” Ximenes told the Report.

I was surprised that the article did not mention the key equity investment in Astroport made by Knight Aerospace, an ​announcement​ made this past summer that attracted surprisingly little media attention given its importance. That investment triggered further funding from NASA.

“NASA’s Phase II-E award validates the technology our team has built, and this partnership is about executing the operational blueprint for humanity’s permanent presence beyond Earth,” said Ximenes. “Knight Aerospace brings unparalleled expertise in intermodal modular systems and aviation-grade manufacturing, embedding an established defense and aerospace manufacturing partner directly into our lunar surface supply chain.

“Together, capitalizing on the proximity of our respective facilities at Port San Antonio, and the Port’s support of aerospace ventures, we are creating a seamless technology transfer in the logistics chain from factory floor to lunar surface. Port San Antonio is already a major MRO, depot, and transportation logistics hub, and together we are extending that expertise to the Moon, defining what the future of MRO, depot, and logistics will look like beyond Earth.”

Knight Aerospace’s past success serving military, government and commercial aviation with customized payloads positions the company to help solve some of the most important challenges in sustaining extended human stays on the moon.

“As humanity transitions from lunar exploration to permanent surface operations, specialized payload integration and containment hardware become mission-critical,” said Bianca Rhodes, CEO and president of Knight Aerospace. “Astroport is solving the foundational challenges of off-planet infrastructure, and matching NASA’s Phase II-E award with our own capital reflects our commitment to scaling this capability together.

“Equally vital is our shared commitment to STEM workforce development,”’ she stated in the joint press release. “Astroport’s non-profit arm, the WEX Foundation, is working with NASA to prepare our youth for space careers, inspiring young minds and equipping them with real-world STEM skills. We are proud to invest in a company developing cutting-edge space technology that actively cultivates the workforce to build it – a powerful formula for industry capacity and growth.”

Rhodes appeared on the bigcitysmalltown podcast in July: ​From the Ground Up: The Untold Success Story of Bianca Rhodes and Knight Aerospace.​ The company already is at work developing lunar cargo modules, vacuum-rated containers designed to protect sensitive equipment and deployment systems to unload and load equipment in the lunar vacuum.

Astroport engineers are designing a BrickBot robotic system that converts lunar dirt to bricks. What about water? Scientists believe ice formations trapped on the moon’s dark side can serve as potential sources of water in space. Separating oxygen and hydrogen in any water source would allow potential development of rocket fuel.

Rhodes disclosed on the podcast that she is willing to sell the company she acquired and has since built up if the right buyer willing to keep its work and employee base at Port San Antonio can be found. That seemingly gives Greater:SATX an opportunity to search for such a buyer able to bring new investment to the company as it expands its production from aviation-based modules to operating in a lunar environment.

For many of us, the new lunar exploration plans are long overdue. I was about to turn five years old in 1957 when the Soviet Union launched Sputnik, the world's first artificial satellite, beginning the Space Age. My Christmas present that year was a toy Sputnik, a battery-operated orb that rolled around the room emitting a beep and a terrible odor that led my mother to trash it. I was 10 years old when John Glenn circled Earth three times over five hours in the Friendship 7 capsule, inspiring a generation of space exploration. By the time I turned 16 in 1969, astronauts Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin had become the first humans to land on the moon.

Space exploration is in my generation’s DNA, and I am one of many who have lamented the lack of support for moon launches from successive administrations and Congresses in the intervening decades. The United States, facing challenges from Russia and China in space, is finally serious about renewing space exploration. San Antonio is positioned to play an important role if we can generate the support essential to the mission. It all starts with strong local support.