Lockheed Martin on Thursday pledged $1 million to build an additive manufacturing lab at Metropolitan State University of Denver, the only one of its kind in Colorado.

The money will be spent over four years to set up the Lockheed Martin Additive Manufacturing Laboratory, where students can use state-of-the-art 3-D printing technology to design and create aerospace components. The grant also establishes an endowed director for the school’s Advanced Manufacturing Sciences Institute.

Brian O’Connor, Lockheed’s vice president of production operations called the grant an investment in the futures of the students and creating possibilities that we can only dream of today.

What kind of possibilities? Oh, just printing entire satellites from the ground up.

“We’re helping students design with those new concepts in mind so the next space missions are innovative, affordable and faster to market. This lab will help students unleash their creativity in engineering tomorrow’s great advancements,” O’Connor said in a news release.

Lockheed Martin and the Colorado Space Business Roundtable are working together to get Colorado high school and college students interested in pursuing careers in the aerospace industry and STEM ample time to experience what it’s like to work in various facets of the aerospace industry.

Over the course of two-weeks during the summer students spend time at various CSBR partner facilities where they participate in hands-on activities and get an exclusive look at what each company does and some of the projects they are working on.

We got to see some rockets, that was amazing,” said Caleb Matteson, a 17-year-old Lakewood High School student. ” I discovered that I hate programming.”

The idea of the program is to introduce students to the programs universities like Metro and University of Colorado have to offer.

“You learn about all these different programs so if you decide you want to change your track you can do it now,” said Rock Canyon High School student Aditya Gopalam.

But workers are hard to come by and so Metro is returning to its roots, developing academically rigorous programs that churn out workforce-ready graduates.

“Our companies cannot find people to use all this advanced manufacturing technology. We are creating a workforce for our companies, students are getting the opportunity at jobs starting at $65,000 a year and MSU Denver gets a win in for having a nationally unique program,” said Metro president Stephen Jordan.

Lockheed Martin and the Colorado Space Business Roundtable are working together to get Colorado high school and college students real-world experience

This partnership with Lockheed comes on the heels of investment by Hartwig Inc. and York Space Systems in the university’s growing Aerospace and Engineering Sciences program.

Hartwig, the largest distributor of computerized machine tool solutions and inspection equipment in the Midwest and Rocky Mountain regions, will provide CNC machines, inspection equipment, software, tooling and consumables valued at $2 million.

“We have a 10-year agreement for CNC machines at no cost to the university,” Jordan said. “Every three years we will get brand new machines, which means brand new learning technology. This is a unique arrangement that doesn’t exist in many parts of the country.”

Hartwig will in turn have access to the top floor of the AES Building, where they can demonstrate their tech in use to buyers and investors.

Denver-based York Space Systems, an aerospace company that specializes in small- and medium-class spacecraft manufacturing, is getting a similar deal.

The company is gearing up to build 150 to 200 small satellites a year and will move its headquarters into the building this fall. The facility will house the company’s full engineering and design team, production facility, as well as a Mission Operations Center to operate spacecraft on orbit, in real-time.

“Students learning to operate and control satellites with have access to this communication room and also in satellite production for the U.S. Army,” Jordan said. “This is just another extremely valuable unique aspect to the program.”

The university celebrated the completion and opening of the $60 million building Thursday afternoon.

According to Jordan, the building is a marvel of its own.

“Something particularly fun is the 50 percent mock-up of the Orion spacecraft, which will be the first spacecraft to travel to Mars. Students built this structure with the guidance of Lockheed engineers and even at 50 percent, it’s huge,” he said. “This is just another example of how theory and practice come together in one building.”

While it may be one cool building, it seems aerospace programs at Colorado universities still have some convincing to do. Matteson and Gopalam plan to look at programs out-of-state, naming MIT as a particular school of interest for both.

“Maybe once I see the aerospace building I might change my mind,” Matteson said.