Alpha Space Test and Research Alliance (Alpha Space) and technology/defense company MEI Technologies, Inc. (MEIT) will form a single integrated business to offer a range of commercial space services, technology and engineering services as well as products to the space and defense industries.
Stephanie Murphy, the principal owner of MEIT and Alpha Space, has named Mark Gittleman as the CEO of the new enterprise. Gittleman has served as the CEO of Alpha Space for the past three years, where he diversified its portfolio from a base of commercial testing services on the International Space Station (with Alpha Space’s MISSE system) to lunar system development and lunar testing missions. He brings extensive aerospace and commercial space experience and leadership to the new enterprise.
The merger is expected to be completed by the end of August, 2021. Both companies will continue to operate independently until that date.
“The space industry is changing fast,” said businesswoman and entrepreneur Stephanie Murphy, who is principal owner of MEIT and Alpha Space. “Combining the companies allows us to blend the best of our commercial space practices with our traditional civil and military space expertise to create greater capability and value for all of our customers as well as exciting growth opportunities for our employees.”
Mark Gittleman said, “Combining the talents of the people in these two companies enables the new enterprise to deliver even more reliable engineering, cyber and technical services, space hardware products, and commercial space services all under one woman-owned roof. This combination makes us one of the most unique companies in the rapidly evolving commercial space industry, and we think our customers will be as excited about it as we are.”
MEI Technologies, Inc. (MEIT) is a minority Woman-Owned Small Business (WOSB) technology company with over twenty-five years of experience serving DOD, NASA, and commercial customers with a depth of capability, flexibility, quality and service. Headquartered in Houston, MEIT has operations in six states nationwide. MEIT offers innovative services and solutions in engineering; modeling and simulation; space system design, integration, and production; and IT/cyber engineering services.
Alpha Space leads the commercial space industry through its Space Testing as a Service (STaaS) offerings. Alpha Space owns and operates the MISSE – an orbiting commercial science and testing facility permanently installed on the exterior of the International Space Station. It is also developing two lunar systems for STaaS on the moon beginning in 2023. The company’s turn-key, fixed-price space testing services make testing in space more simple, convenient, predictable, and inexpensive than it has ever been.
