ScreenshotNew Berkeley Space Center
Aiming to generate futuristic innovations in aviation and space exploration, UC Berkeley is teaming up with NASA’s Ames Research Center and developer SKS Partners to create the new Berkeley Space Center. The site — which will include research space for companies interested in collaborating with scientists and engineers from Berkeley and NASA — plans to accommodate up to 1.4 million square feet on 36 acres of land at Moffett Field in Mountain View, leased from NASA.
“We believe that the research and the capabilities of a major university like Berkeley could be a significant addition to the work being done at Ames,” said NASA Ames Director Eugene Tu (B.S.’88 ME). “In a more specific way, we would like the potential of having proximity to more students at the undergraduate and graduate level. We would also like the possibility of developing potential partnerships with faculty in the future.”
“The NASA mission is twofold: inspiring the next generation of explorers, and dissemination of our technologies and our research for public benefit,” he added. “Collaboration between NASA and university researchers fits within that mission.”
The new buildings, some of which could be ready for move-in as early as 2027, will house not only state-of-the-art research and development laboratories for companies and Berkeley researchers, but also classrooms for Berkeley students. These students will benefit from immersion in the Silicon Valley start-up culture and proximity to the nation’s top scientists and engineers at Ames. Eventually, Berkeley hopes to establish housing at Moffett Field to make working at the innovation center easier for students.
“This expansion of Berkeley’s physical footprint and academic reach represents a fantastic and unprecedented opportunity for our students, faculty and the public we serve,” said Chancellor Carol Christ. “Enabling our world-class research enterprise to explore potential collaborations with NASA and the private sector will speed the translation of discoveries across a wide range of disciplines into the inventions, technologies and services that will advance the greater good.”
Learn more: Berkeley Space Center at NASA Ames to become innovation hub for new aviation, space technology (Berkeley News)