Colorado’s aerospace industry just grew Thursday with the announcement of a new company that will create new jobs around the greater Denver area with economic development incentives from the state.

Space infrastructure startup ThinkOrbital chose Lafayette for its headquarters, according to a news release from Gov. Jared Polis and the Global Business Development Division of the Colorado Office of Economic Development and International Trade (OEDIT).

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The company plans to create up to 60 new jobs to augment its current 11-employee workforce. Those new positions carry an average annual salary of $80,433, including engineers, technicians, executives, and manufacturing professionals.

The Colorado Economic Development Commission approved up to $547,577 in job-creation tax credits to help ThinkOrbital officials chose Colorado.

ThinkOrbital conducts research and development for space structures that are “scalable, affordable and autonomously assembled,” according to the release. This design, known as the ThinkPlatform, is made for a single launch, is assembled autonomously in orbit and can support multiple space missions. The platform will be able to support in-space manufacturing, satellite servicing, space debris processing and storage, military missions, pharmaceutical development and tourism.

Colorado already has about 400 businesses focused on aerospace, ranging from space mining to pharmaceutical growth.

The state’s skilled and educated workforce, and growing network, led the startup to choose Colorado for its headquarters.

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Col. Lee Rosen, U.S. Air Force (Retired) and former SpaceX vice president, now leading ThinkOrbital as co-founder, president and chief security officer said Colorado will offer considerable opportunities for the company.

“Our ThinkPlatform can scale-up to deliver 4000 cubic meters of internal volume in space through a single launch-that’s four times the volume of the International Space Station,” Rosen said in a press release. “Such large volume structures at an affordable price shift the industry’s perspective on what were otherwise viewed as limitations with in-space missions.”

After receiving the award of two U.S. Space Force Orbital Prime contracts in September, ThinkOrbital started subleasing space in Lafayette and is now considering spaces in the metro Denver and Boulder areas.

“Colorado is the epicenter of the aerospace industry, and we are excited to welcome ThinkOrbital to Colorado, bringing 60 new good-paying jobs to Coloradans and joining our innovative and collaborative aerospace community,” Polis said in the release.

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In addition to ThinkOrbital incentives, OEDIT Thursday approved up to $2,425,289 for a company under the pseudonym “Project Disco” that would create 491 new jobs with an average annual wage of $126,812.63 in Boulder County.

The company currently has eight employees, none of whom are in Colorado. These jobs would include engineers, sales and marketing professionals, product designers, cyber and security analysts and finance roles. The company known as Project Disco focuses on cybersecurity for small and medium size businesses. They are also considering Orlando, Fla.