Metro Atlanta becomes hub for nascent aerospace companies

ATLANTA, Ga. (Atlanta News First) — A Marietta-based aerospace company has built what it says is the lightest and thinnest debris shield the U.S. Space Force has ever seen, designed to stop millimeter-wide projectiles traveling 17,000 miles per hour from striking satellites.

Atomic-6 founder Trevor Smith started the company in 2018 to lighten heavy truckloads before pivoting focus to space technology.

“I’d say ‘realigning,’” Smith said.

Atomic-6 is one of several aerospace companies establishing operations in metro Atlanta. Didi Caldwell, founder and CEO of Global Location Strategies, said the region’s manufacturing base is driving the trend.

“The industry is shifting from asking ‘Can we design it?’ to asking ‘Can we build it at scale?’ And that’s where manufacturing powerhouses like Georgia come in,” Caldwell said.

Smith cited the region’s existing talent pool as a key factor.

“There’s a skillset and workforce that’s already here that we can take and apply to the space side,” Smith said. “Atlanta itself is a really good hub.”

Atomic-6’s shield, called Space Armor, is engineered to intercept high-speed space debris before it can damage satellites in orbit. Smith said the company’s workforce and location in metro Atlanta made it possible.