News · Marquette
Marquette’s KMI Space wins $3.5 million in state money to finish a satellite-moving spacecraft, with 60 jobs promised
MARQUETTE, Mich. — A Marquette space company that wants to build tow trucks for satellites is getting $3.5 million from the state to finish designing and running its first full-size spacecraft.
KMI Space’s award comes from the Make it in Michigan Competitiveness Fund and was part of a $23 million package Gov. Gretchen Whitmer’s office announced Oct. 14. The money will go toward completing development, design and operations of Laelaps, a spacecraft built to rendezvous with satellites already in orbit, retrieve them and move them, the state said. The goal is to extend the working life of existing satellites and cut how often they have to be replaced.
The state said the project is expected to create 60 more jobs in Marquette. It also leverages $34 million through the Strategic Funding Increase program run by SpaceWERX, the U.S. Space Force’s innovation arm.
“This spacecraft will be the full-scale mission where we will be demonstrating our reach technology previously seen on the ISS in 2024 and 2025 in its full-sized configuration,” KMI Space head of engineering Sam Cassidy told TV6. He said most of the new jobs would be in engineering operations and that the company is planning for a 2028 launch.
Cassidy said more details on the craft will come once the company’s contract is finalized. “We’re just as close to space just as anywhere else on this planet,” he said, calling Michigan “a space development center for many companies.”
The Marquette grant was one of two U.P. awards in the package; WNMU reported that a project in L’Anse was also funded.
Why it matters. Sixty engineering-heavy jobs is a big number for a city of about 20,000. The state’s money is a fraction of the federal award it sits beside, which is how these grants are supposed to work: public dollars following private and defense contracts rather than leading them. The test will be whether the jobs show up on the timeline promised.
Sources:
Office of Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, “Governor Whitmer Announces $23 Million Investment to Build Infrastructure, Grow In-Demand Industries, Create Jobs and Strengthen Workforce Training,” press release, Oct. 14, 2026 (grant amount, Laelaps purpose, 60 jobs, $34 million STRATFI leverage), https://www.michigan.gov/whitmer/news/press-releases/2026/10/14/whitmer-announces-23-million-investment-to-build-infrastructure-grow-industries-create-jobs
TV6/WLUC, “State gives $3.5M toward Marquette space logistics company spacecraft mission,” Oct. 19, 2026 (Cassidy quotes, 2028 launch target, job types), https://www.uppermichiganssource.com/2026/10/19/kmi-space-receives-35m-state-funding-new-spacecraft-launch/
WNMU-FM, “Make It In Michigan awards funding to Marquette, L’Anse projects,” Oct. 16, 2026 (U.P. awards), https://www.wnmufm.org/money/2026-10-16/make-it-in-michigan-awards-funding-to-marquette-lanse-projects
Photo: Chris Rycroft, “Shops and businesses on West Washington Street, Marquette, Michigan.jpg,” Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), cropped and color-adjusted, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Shops_and_businesses_on_West_Washington_Street,_Marquette,_Michigan.jpg
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