Voyager names team to build VISTA space park at Ohio State

Space solutions and defence tech business Voyager has named the team that will shepherd the Voyager Institute for Space, Technology and Advancement — VISTA — from concept toward construction at The Ohio State University. Positioned on land adjacent to Ohio State’s aviation and research facilities, VISTA is intended to serve industry, academia and government collaborators.

In a media release last week, Voyager describes it as “the nation’s first science park dedicated to in-space research and innovation.”

Elford Developers, a firm based in Columbus, will lead preconstruction work while Colliers International has been retained to run an international search for tenants as VISTA begins work on its first dedicated facility. 

According to Voyager’s statement, the campus plan covers up to 80 leased acres on Ohio State property and will start with targeted site development and tenant fit‑outs.

Ohio State is the lead academic partner for the site, which evolves from the university’s George Washington Carver Science Park. The university has noted that a permanent U.S. ground location for the Starlab program is sited on this location and that Voyager has an option to lease up to 80 acres in total. The original announcement of the partnership was announced in 2022.

Voyager says VISTA already counts more than a dozen tenants and is expanding its roster across sectors including biopharma, Ag‑tech, artificial intelligence, semiconductors, robotics and biomedicine. The park’s onboarding of international firms illustrates the project’s global reach: a tenant announcement earlier this year highlighted Space LiinTech, a South Korea–based space‑biopharma company that intends to pursue microgravity drug discovery and related research using the park’s facilities. 

The project also retains and reframes the site’s historical identity. The development will continue to honor Carver’s legacy through a newly named G.W. Carver AgTech initiative, which announcements say will focus on in‑space crop development and planetary sustainability research - areas the university has previously identified as priorities for low‑Earth‑orbit science and terrestrial applications.

“VISTA is a powerful engine to take the space economy to the next level,” Jeffrey Manber, president, International and Space Stations at Voyager, said in the statement, framing the park as a place to concentrate the skills and facilities needed for commercial low‑Earth‑orbit destinations and in‑space resource development. Local news stressed the potential economic lift for the region as federal and commercial space activity gathers around Ohio State.

The plan marries Voyager’s capabilities with university capabilities and third‑party services: VISTA’s public materials describe tenant benefits such as a Catalyst Partner program, university testing infrastructure and a “space concierge” intended to provide mission and payload support. 

Voyager provided a conceptual rendering with its announcement and said it is signing new tenants as it moves from planning into the early phases of campus development; observers will be watching for construction milestones and tenant‑by‑tenant confirmations in the months ahead.