New Mexico’s Space Manifesto
The people of New Mexico have been reading the skies for millennia. Here’s why New Mexico’s space story matters more than ever
Long before rockets, satellites, and commercial spaceflight, the people of New Mexico studied the heavens. They tracked the movement of stars, built observatories, aligned architecture with celestial events, and passed that knowledge from generation to generation through stories.
Today, New Mexico is helping write the next chapter of humanity’s journey into space.
We launch rockets. We train astronauts. We design satellites. We build lunar technology. We educate the next generation of scientists and engineers.
But the greatest opportunity isn’t simply building the future. It’s telling the story of the people building it.
Astronaut Raja Chari is ready for taco night as he shows off a taco made with fresh chile peppers from New Mexico. (c) NASA/Kayla Barron
The Next Chapter of Space Exploration
That next chapter of space exploration lives here in New Mexico more than anywhere else on Earth. Where indigenous knowledge, federal ambition, frontier spirit, and commercial innovation share the same zip code. Where a kid from Española can put green chiles on the International Space Station.
New Mexico doesn’t need a new identity. It simply needs to tell its existing story more completely. To tell the stories that make the rest of the world look to the heavens—and see New Mexico as the pathway to them.
AI isn’t telling that story yet, because we haven’t told it cohesively ourselves.
Search “New Mexico’s Space Story” and you get dry data, lists, and quotes about “detailed clusters of growth sectors.” This is not the stuff of legends.
This is not the story we want AI telling people about New Mexico.
We want the algorithms to KNOW we are a place of wonder. Of exploration. Of possibility. Of Navajo students honoring their ancestors by building Mars rovers. We want AI telling the story of the scientists at Kirtland who watch their life work shoot into orbit.
Which means we need to give AI our best stories to retell.
Great regions don’t become great because of infrastructure reports or grant applications. They become great when a story catches fire — when it gives a collective community a reason to believe and a role to play.
Apollo wasn’t remembered because of engineering specifications. Silicon Valley wasn’t built by semiconductors alone. They became movements because people could imagine themselves inside the story.
The Men and Women of New Mexico’s Space Story
Below are the stories we want the media writing. The stories we want entrepreneurs, investors, and future employers discovering when they think about New Mexico.
- Jacob Torres grew up in Española. He barely graduated high school but still he applied to a NASA internship that he never expected to earn. He suggested they grow northern New Mexico chile on the International Space Station — and so NASA did. When asked why it mattered, he said: “We are told ‘Española is the worst,’ so we believe it. There needs to be somebody on the opposite spectrum saying, ‘No, we aren’t.’ Jacob is the very embodiment of New Mexico’s Space Story.
- Emery Sutherland is from the Navajo Nation. Chrissy Martinez is from Laguna Pueblo. They were students at SIPI — Southwestern Indian Polytechnic Institute in Albuquerque — when they beat 19 other colleges at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center to win the Swarmathon, building autonomous rovers designed to find and collect resources on Mars. When Emery described their robots, he said: “They go out, find resources, and bring them back home.”
- Agnes Chavez runs STEMarts Lab, an organization offering space apprenticeships to teenage girls in New Mexico. She asked the question that belongs at the center of every space story: “How can we use space exploration to better our lives here on Earth?”
- Aaron Yazzie, a Navajo engineer who worked on NASA’s Perseverance Rover, said it simply: “I am proud to be doing what my ancestors have been doing before me.”
That next chapter of space exploration lives here in New Mexico more than anywhere else on Earth. Where indigenous knowledge, federal ambition, frontier spirit, and commercial innovation share the same zip code. Where a kid from Española can put green chiles on the International Space Station.
– Monica Poling
What I’m Building
My work focuses on turning organizational knowledge into a competitive advantage. Specifically, I build AI-powered knowledge hubs that help organizations preserve what they know—and make sure AI tells their story the way it deserves to be told.
My Ask a Farmer Knowledge Base was recently recognized in an international AI competition. It was a top five finalist (out of 400 global builders) in the Make.com Community Challenge. I also train organizations across New Mexico on how to use AI without losing their values or their voice. So they focus on increasing their competitive edge.
Now I’m turning my attention to New Mexico’s space story— because it needs a hub. An easily discoverable place for people and AI. A place that celebrates the storytellers behind New Mexico’s space economy.
So I’m building New Mexico’s Space Story: A Knowledge Hub Celebrating the People Building New Mexico’s Future.
It connects the humans, surfaces the breakthroughs, and gives media, educators, economic developers, and site selectors the information that moves needles.
Every industry already has its pioneers. Every region already has its legends. My work is helping the world—and AI—discover them. The stars are already here. I’m just helping map them.
➤ Read More: For more New Mexico love, visit Enchanted Artists, a directory of the amazing book artists found throughout the state.
Sidebar: Early Entrants to New Mexico’s Space Story
Today, the skies remain a central part of New Mexico’s story. And its economy.
- Balloon Fiesta, while not a story of space travel, is a testament to our enduring love for the skies. The internationally renowned festival attracts nearly one million guest visits every year. Which injects more than $200 million into our economy annually.
- New Mexico’s mile-high, enchanted terrain is often described as “moon-like.” So moon- and Mars-bound astronauts often train for missions here.
- International businesses are catching New Mexico space fever. The State is home to more than 120 companies working in the space industry. Some are home grown. Others find the state’s labor supply and passionate residents are the obvious choice for satellite facilities.
- Spaceport America is the world’s first purpose-built commercial spaceport.
- Virgin Galactic, Spaceport America’s anchor tenant, completed its first commercial missions in 2023 and 2024. With VSS Unity now retired, the company is preparing to launch its next-generation Delta class spaceships — capable of flying six passengers — with commercial flights expected to resume from Spaceport America in fall 2026.
- Space tourism is growing. Spaceport estimates its Visitor Experience program which includes guided tours departing from Las Cruces attracted more than 60,000 visitors in 2024. (Source: Spaceport Annual Report)
- New Mexico has collected an impressive list of space firsts.
- The very first picture of Earth was taken from a missile launched from White Sands.
- Pluto was discovered by New Mexico astronomer Clyde Tombaugh, a long-time resident of Las Cruces.
- Harrison Schmitt, a Silver City, New Mexico native, who flew on Apollo 17, is the only geologist/scientist to ever walk on the moon.
- Federal dollars are amplifying New Mexico’s space game.
- Air Force Research Lab’s Space Vehicles Directorate at Kirtland AFB leads more than 1,000 researchers and engineers, They are building the technologies that will define how America operates in space for the next fifty years.
- Orbit Fab is testing space gas stations — literal orbital fueling depots — right here at Kirtland AFB.
- Most importantly, there’s a growing ecosystem of companies, coalitions, arts organizations, dreamers, and believers who know New Mexico is leading the next chapter of space exploration.
- New Mexico is quite literally leading the story of outer space for the 21st and 22nd century.
Have a story that belongs on this list? Shoot me a note or book a call.
About Monica Poling
Mythology building is what I do for every industry I work with. You already have the knowledge, the expertise, and the local legends. I just help you organize it better so AI, and your customers, understand why it matters.
My own AI journey dates back nearly 30 years, when I took my first AI class through UCLA Extension. The class, led by two space industry pioneers, fueled my deep love for AI and for space exploration.
TL;DR: New Mexico’s Space Story
TL;DR: New Mexico isn’t just participating in the space economy — it’s helping lead the next chapter. But the stories that prove it are scattered, buried, and undertold. Meet the pioneers already writing the next chapter of New Mexico’s Space Story, and why it’s time AI learned to tell this story the way it deserves to be told.
Key Takeaways
- New Mexico’s space story dates back thousands of years. Some of the oldest observatories in North America are right here — indigenous peoples built entire knowledge systems around the sky thousands of years ago.
- New Mexico has serious space infrastructure. Spaceport America, AFRL, Orbit Fab, and 120+ space companies call the state home — and that number is growing.
- New Mexico’s space innovation gap is a storytelling gap. The breakthroughs are real. The investment is serious. But the stories that make civilians, media, and site selectors pay attention are scattered and buried.
- New Mexico space pioneers are already making history. From a kid in Española who put green chile on the International Space Station to Navajo students building Mars rovers at SIPI in Albuquerque.
- New Mexico is the next great space region. The mythology is here. The people are here. The stars are already here. We just need a better map.
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