Robert Long, president and CEO of Space Florida
Florida is home to the world’s busiest spaceport, but retired U.S. Space Force Col. Robert Long wants you to know that Space Florida, the state-sponsored development authority he leads, is about fostering all sorts of private sector aerospace work — and not just on the state’s Space Coast. I spoke to him by video from his office in Exploration Park, near the entrance to NASA’s Kennedy Space Center. We talked about the funding tools at his disposal, Florida’s partisan reputation and the “hivemind” that Florida has declared Washington, D.C., to be.
Q: Thanks for speaking to me. Do you get out and meet with some of the companies that you help finance?
A: We’re the state’s aerospace finance and business development authority. So, yes, we certainly are out talking to industry quite regularly, not just here locally around Brevard County and the spaceport, but all aerospace too. The Northrop Grummans, the Boeings of the world, and statewide. I was just in Miami last week, and I get out to the Panhandle and across the state. That’s our team’s role in terms of helping grow the company’s presence here in the state. We get to have a lot of good interactions and understand the needs of the companies, understand what the economy and what the industry is looking like overall, and then work to make sure they can take advantage of the state tools and financial tools that we have to offer. At the same time, we listen to industry and make sure we can provide what industry needs, whether it’s talent or otherwise here in the state.
Q: We won’t have time for a tutorial on financing, but is this free Florida tax dollars to the companies? Do the taxpayers come out in the black?
A: We’re not really interested in what I would call cash incentives. We are focused on entering into long-term partnerships with companies that are interested in growing over time. So initially, usually there’s a move or an expansion, but then we can come alongside and then grow with them, or help them grow. Mainly, we act under a conduit financing structure where Space Florida becomes the legal owner of a facility or equipment, and there are certain tax benefits that come with that. It’s very analogous to a port authority, whether an airport or a seaport. It’s a very similar structure, not only from a tax perspective but also from a revenue-generation perspective and then bonding and some of the authorities that we have. And then we also partner with the Florida Department of Transportation. They’re near what we call the Spaceport Improvement Program, which is more of a direct investment program, but typically that’s based on company investment as well. So if the state was going to contribute $1 to a project, we usually see about $4.50 to $5 of private investment come alongside that. So we call it a leveraged match type of program.
Q: You used the term “invest.” Is it a literal payback to the state or is it in terms of jobs and growth?
A: Could be both. We are allowed to do investing in the traditional sense, so there might be an excellent equity piece of that as part of the investment. Depending on how the company does, you’d see returns there. But to your point, really where we see the true benefit is on the economic impact. And the job growth then drives taxes — not income taxes here in Florida — but other contributions to the community. There’s been something like about $6 billion worth of economic impact over the history of Space Florida. We forecast that to grow about a billion dollars a year. So, while there is revenue generated by Space Florida, it’s relatively small compared to the overall, you know, economic impact of the aerospace industry across the state, really.
Q: I notice the word “aerospace” as distinct from “space” on your website and elsewhere. So Space Florida is interested in more than space companies?
A: That’s correct. We actually deal with companies across the entire aerospace supply chain. If you were to look at the statute definition of aerospace, it’s extremely broad. It deals with all aviation, all components of aviation, the space industry proper, the infrastructure that supports those industries, missile testing, the platforms that support those various platform and equipment that support those various industries also. So while we are called Space Florida, yeah, the statute that created this current version of Space Florida allows us to go across the entire aerospace industry.
Q: I was reading that you have some connection with Eve Air Mobility. What’s the nature of that?
A: If you look at eVTOLs and advanced air mobility, there’s several studies or reports out there that have noticed or designated that central Florida is one of the key markets, first markets for advanced air mobility, South Florida being another top market. When you look at Florida in general, it’s ripe for investment in advanced air mobility. So, there are several companies that are obviously in that space. Eve is one of them. It happens to be headquartered here in Melbourne, and they are JV, or originally was connected to Embraer, who we have a long business relationship with here in Florida also. So we did enter into a strategic partnership with them, which included an investment, but there’s several components of that partnership, with the intent to help them grow and really help the entire industry grow here in Florida.
Q: I’m gathering that these activities aren’t all about shunting stuff to Cape Canaveral to be launched.
A: Yes, absolutely. We don’t lose sight of the fact that we benefit from the world’s busiest spaceport, and we certainly are focused on working with our federal partners — the DoD side and the NASA side — on making sure that the spaceport is maximizing its capacity and resilience and making sure the infrastructure investments are in place for years to come. But you’re right that we look across the entire state, not only just for aerospace work. So you know, there’s tons of work going on, from the Panhandle all the way down to South Florida. In the aviation world, a great example is the company CAE. It’s a Canadian company, but they have their U.S. headquarters in Tampa. We helped them build that building and then expand it. They’re one of the world’s top flight simulator builders.
Q: That said, I’m sure space launch is a pretty big part of the business. Is there a limit to how much growth the local community can accept in terms of the number of launches? Because, you know, waters get closed down, and you always have a little bit of risk of some kind of incident with debris or gases or whatnot.
A: Our federal partners manage the overall operations on the complex itself. When I sit back and look at it from a Space Florida perspective, we’ve actually made tremendous strides. We collectively have in the last couple of years gone from, like, 30 launches just three years ago to 90, then to 150 last year, and hopefully this next year. A lot of that growth is by being smart, working more efficiently from an operational scheduling and process management perspective. Flight termination systems were a key part in reducing the systems that are required to launch. We’ve gotten better at working with FAA to manage air corridors and air traffic so that we’re not impacting commercial airline travel too much. There’s plenty of physical capacity here at Cape Canaveral to grow from. There’s plenty of land area. But you’re right, you’re always looking at the processes. That’s why we have the reviews that we have and we go through whether that’s environmental or otherwise.
Q: What effect is the change of presidential administrations having, or what effect do you think it will have?
A: We haven’t seen any effect, necessarily, and I don’t know that there will be. There’s so much interest and energy behind the space industry in general that I think we’ll continue to see growth. Our job will be to keep managing that growth, regardless of where the demand signal comes from.
Q: Do you know anyone at NASA or maybe FAA who’s been let go or resigned?
A: I don’t have any direct connections to anything like that. Most of what I’ve seen is in the press.
Q: Is Gov. DeSantis’ proposal to shift NASA headquarters to Florida gaining any traction that you see?
A: You might know that better just from looking at it publicly. I do know that when you look at the proposal that the state put together to highlight all the reasons why it would make a lot of sense in terms being away from Washington, D.C., which seems to be an interesting concept for several out there right now —
Q: On your website is the document “Florida’s NASA HQ Pitch,” and it refers to the “bureaucratic hivemind of D.C.” What does that mean?
A: I think, at the end of the day, it seems like there’s a lot of discussion about streamlining activities, and that’s probably all associated with that. Most of the programs that launch, the vast majority come through Cape Canaveral at some point. Not all obviously.
Q: Was the “hivemind” term produced by Space Florida or the state?
A: That was in the state’s document, yeah.
Q: You were in the Pentagon, though, so you must know some people at NASA Headquarters. Is it really a “hivemind”?
A: Here’s what I would say. You always want to be able take advantage of all the talents you have access to. And there’s some value in creating pathways for interesting ideas to take flight.
Q: I chose to largely relocate here in the Space Coast during the pandemic. I love the industry, the people, the fishing. Like me, you probably hear “Florida Man” jokes when you get out and about. What do you want people to know about this area of Florida?
A: When you look at the data, Florida leads in so many parts of the aerospace world, whether it’s manufacturing, the space industry in general, the spaceport itself. It’s generally a pro-business friendly state. When you really peel that back, you can see why in 2023, 2024 there were, like, around a thousand people moving to Florida a day. It’s a great place to live. It’s a very pro-business climate for companies to come and grow. You put all that together: great people, great education system, great talent across the state and a climate that is receptive of people, I think you get in a pretty good place.
Q: Are investors or businesses that are looking to start up here at all worried about Florida’s fairly partisan reputation?
A: I don’t think I’ve ever really heard anything along those lines. When we talk to companies, the things that we hear are: “What’s the talent look like? What’s our workforce population?” We typically don’t hear too much about things outside of those, really, when it comes down to it.
Q: If a company outside of Florida wanted to set up shop here and they had somebody very talented who is LGBTQ+, should they feel psychologically safe moving them to Florida?
A: I would think so, and I don’t know a reason why not.
Q: Well, thank you for being part of our new print edition, Rob.
A: Thanks, and let us know if there are any follow-ups.
