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A proposal for a commercial, full-service launch, tracking, and recovery complex for Reusable Launch Vehicles in New Mexico is presented. Vision, mission, business definition, competitive advantages, and business approach are formulated. Management plan and team structure are detailed, and anticipated market is described. Finance and marketing plans are presented. Financial analysis is performed.
The Virginia Commercial Space Flight Authority (VCSFA) was established on July 1, 1995 and codified at Sections 9-266.1 et seq., Code of Virginia. It is governed by an eleven person Board of Directors representing industry, state and local government and academia. VCSFA has designated the Center for Commercial Space Infrastructure as its Executive Directorate and Operating Agent. This Business Plan has been developed to provide information to prospective customers, prospective investors, state and federal government agencies, the VCSFA Board and other interested parties regarding development and operation of the Virginia Space Flight Center (VSFC) at Wallops Island. The VSFC is an initiative sponsored by VCSFA to achieve its stated objectives in the areas of economic development and education. Further, development of the VSFC is in keeping with the state's economic goals set forth in Opportunity Virginia, the strategic plan for jobs and prosperity, which are to: (1) Strengthen the rapidly growing aerospace industry in space based services including launch services, remote sensing, satellite manufacturing and telecommunications; and (2) Capitalize on intellectual and technical resources throughout the state and become a leader in the development of advanced technology businesses.
This booklet of success stories highlights the NASA Glenn Research Center's accomplishments and successes by the Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) and Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) Programs. These success stories are the results of selecting projects that support NASA missions and also have high commercialization potential. Each success story describes the innovation accomplished, commercialization of the technology, and further applications and usages. This booklet emphasizes the integration and incorporation of technologies into NASA missions and other government projects. The company name and the NASA contact person are identified to encourage further usage and application of the SBIR developed technologies and also to promote further commercialization of these products.
Terabeam has developed a Fiberless Optical(TM) Network that transmits broadband data from office buildings to the nation's wide-area networks (WANs), without digging up the streets. A key component of Terabeam's Fiberless Network is Large Aperture Holographic Optic technology, developed by Ralcon Development Lab, of Paradise, Utah. Ralcon developed the Holographic Optical Element (HOE) technology with assistance from a NASA Goddard Space Flight Center Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) contract. Terabeam further developed the HOE technology and incorporated it into its Fiberless Optical Network-sending an immeasurable amount of information soaring overhead. Terabeam developed its Fiberless Optical Network using a proprietary HOE to transmit data. The unit is mounted near an office window and has the ability to beam safe, low-power, invisible data through the air at gigabits-per-second speeds to anywhere in the service area. Gigabits-per-second speeds are thousands of times faster than the speeds of current broadband transmissions. This allows businesses to connect to local-area networks (LANs) as well as WANs, in a quick and affordable manner.
Cessna Aircraft Company was last featured in Spinoff 1991 for the Citation Jet, the industry's current best selling business jet. The newest addition to its fleet is the Citation X (ten), the largest, most complex aircraft ever produced by Cessna, which also has its basis in NASA technology. Aerodynamic design, wind tunneling testing, and airfoil performance, for example, have their foundation with NASA. The Citation X is the fastest, most efficient business jet ever built.
This final report has been prepared by Honeywell Engines & Systems, Phoenix, Arizona, a unit of Honeywell International Inc., documenting work performed during the period June 1999 through December 1999 for the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Glenn Research Center, Cleveland, Ohio, under the Small Engine Technology (SET) Program, Contract No. NAS3-27483, Task Order 24, Business and Regional Aircraft System Studies. The work performed under SET Task 24 consisted of evaluating the noise reduction benefits compared to the baseline noise levels of representative 1992 technology aircraft, obtained by applying different combinations of noise reduction technologies to five business and regional aircraft configurations. This report focuses on the selection of the aircraft configurations and noise reduction technologies, the prediction of noise levels for those aircraft, and the comparison of the noise levels with those of the baseline aircraft.
A class of new supersonic aircraft for business purposes is currently under consideration for use starting around 2015 to 2020. These aircraft, which can accommodate about 12 to 13 passengers, will fly at a speed of Mach 1.6 to 2 and are commonly termed as Supersonic Business Jets (SSBJs). A critical issue that needs to be addressed during the conception phase of such aircraft is the potential impact of emissions from such aircraft on the atmosphere especially on stratospheric ozone. Although these SSBJs will be much smaller in size and will have smaller engines than the hypothetical fleets of commercial passenger High Speed Civil Transport (HSCT) aircraft that we have studied previously, they will still emit nitrogen oxides (NOx = NO + NO2), carbon dioxide (CO2), water vapor (H2O) and sulfur, the latter if it is still in the fuel. Thus, it is important to design these SSBJs in a manner so that a projected fleet of these aircraft will not have a significant effect on ozone or on climate. This report analyzes the potential impact of a fleet of SSBJs in a set of parametric analyses that examine the envelope of potential effects on ozone over a range of total fuel burns, emission indices of nitrogen oxides (E.I.(NOx)), and cruise altitudes, using the current version of the UIUC zonally-averaged two-dimensional model of the global atmosphere.
This technology project is to advance an integrated Planning and Management Simulation Model for evaluation of risks, costs, and reliability of launch systems from Earth to Orbit for Space Exploration. The approach builds on research done in the NASA ARC/KSC developed Virtual Test Bed (VTB) to integrate architectural, operations process, and mission simulations for the purpose of evaluating enterprise level strategies to reduce cost, improve systems operability, and reduce mission risks. The objectives are to understand the interdependency of architecture and process on recurring launch cost of operations, provide management a tool for assessing systems safety and dependability versus cost, and leverage lessons learned and empirical models from Shuttle and International Space Station to validate models applied to Exploration. The systems-of-systems concept is built to balance the conflicting objectives of safety, reliability, and process strategy in order to achieve long term sustainability. A planning and analysis test bed is needed for evaluation of enterprise level options and strategies for transit and launch systems as well as surface and orbital systems. This environment can also support agency simulation .based acquisition process objectives. The technology development approach is based on the collaborative effort set forth in the VTB's integrating operations. process models, systems and environment models, and cost models as a comprehensive disciplined enterprise analysis environment. Significant emphasis is being placed on adapting root cause from existing Shuttle operations to exploration. Technical challenges include cost model validation, integration of parametric models with discrete event process and systems simulations. and large-scale simulation integration. The enterprise architecture is required for coherent integration of systems models. It will also require a plan for evolution over the life of the program. The proposed technology will produce long-term benefits in support of the NASA objectives for simulation based acquisition, will improve the ability to assess architectural options verses safety/risk for future exploration systems, and will facilitate incorporation of operability as a systems design consideration, reducing overall life cycle cost for future systems. The future of business intelligence of space exploration will focus on the intelligent system-of-systems real-time enterprise. In present business intelligence, a number of technologies that are most relevant to space exploration are experiencing the greatest change. Emerging patterns of set of processes rather than organizational units leading to end-to-end automation is becoming a major objective of enterprise information technology. The cost element is a leading factor of future exploration systems.
Creating long-duration, high-powered lasers, for satellites, that can withstand the type of optical misalignment and damage dished out by the unforgiving environment of space, is work that is unique to NASA. It is complicated, specific work, where each step forward is into uncharted territory. In the 1990s, as this technology was first being created, NASA gave free reign to a group of "laser jocks" to develop their own business model and supply the Space Agency with the technology it needed. It was still to be a part of NASA as a division of Goddard Space Flight Center, but would operate independently out of a remote office. The idea for this satellite laboratory was based on the Skunk Works concept at Lockheed Martin Corporation. Formerly known as the Lockheed Corporation, in 1943, the aerospace firm, realizing that the type of advanced research it needed done could not be performed within the confines of a larger company, allowed a group of researchers and engineers to essentially run their own microbusiness without the corporate oversight. The Skunk Works project, in Burbank, California, produced America s first jet fighter, the world s most successful spy plane (U-2), the first 3-times-the-speed-of-sound surveillance aircraft, and the F-117A Nighthawk Stealth Fighter. Boeing followed suit with its Phantom Works, an advanced research and development branch of the company that operates independent of the larger unit and is responsible for a great deal of its most cutting-edge research. NASA s version of this advanced business model was the Space Lidar Technology Center (SLTC), just south of Goddard, in College Park, Maryland. Established in 1998 under a Cooperative Agreement between Goddard and the University of Maryland s A. James Clark School of Engineering, it was a high-tech laser shop where a small group of specialists, never more than 20 employees, worked all hours of the day and night to create the cutting- edge technology the Agency required of them. Drs. Robert Afzal and Joseph Dallas were directors of the SLTC, and led the development and production of active spaceborne, remote-sensing, optical instruments. As a pioneer in the area of photonics, Dr. Dallas led basic research, development, and production of semiconductor laser diode products, improving coupling efficiency through novel physical optics modeling and intracavity phase-correction techniques. He worked for NASA for 15 years, 11 of which were as a civil servant, and 4 of which were as a contractor.
A flight test of a business jet aircraft with various ice accretions was performed to obtain data to validate flight simulation models developed through wind tunnel tests. Three types of ice accretions were tested: pre-activation roughness, runback shapes that form downstream of the thermal wing ice protection system, and a wing ice protection system failure shape. The high fidelity flight simulation models of this business jet aircraft were validated using a software tool called "Overdrive." Through comparisons of flight-extracted aerodynamic forces and moments to simulation-predicted forces and moments, the simulation models were successfully validated. Only minor adjustments in the simulation database were required to obtain adequate match, signifying the process used to develop the simulation models was successful. The simulation models were implemented in the NASA Ice Contamination Effects Flight Training Device (ICEFTD) to enable company pilots to evaluate flight characteristics of the simulation models. By and large, the pilots confirmed good similarities in the flight characteristics when compared to the real airplane. However, pilots noted pitch up tendencies at stall with the flaps extended that were not representative of the airplane and identified some differences in pilot forces. The elevator hinge moment model and implementation of the control forces on the ICEFTD were identified as a driver in the pitch ups and control force issues, and will be an area for future work.
This document provides a compilation of all known supersonic business jet studies/activities conducted from 1963 through 1995 by university, industry and the NASA. First, an overview is provided which chronologically displays all known supersonic business jet studies/activities conducted by universities, industry, and the NASA along with the key features of the study vehicles relative to configuration, planform, operation parameters, and the source of study. This is followed by a brief description of each study along with some comments on the study. Mention will be made as to whether the studies addressed cost, market needs, and the environmental issues of airport-community noise, sonic boom, and ozone.
The Baseline Report captures range and spaceport capabilities at five sites: KSC, CCAFS, VAFB, Wallops, and Kodiak. The Baseline depicts a future state that relies on existing technology, planned upgrades, and straight-line recapitalization at these sites projected through 2030. The report presents an inventory of current spaceport and range capabilities at these five sites. The baseline is the first part of analyzing a business case for a set of capabilities designed to transform U.S. ground and space launch operations toward a single, integrated national "system" of space transportation systems. The second part of the business case compares current capabilities with technologies needed to support the integrated national "system". The final part, a return on investment analysis, identifies the technologies that best lead to the integrated national system and reduce recurring costs..Numerous data sources were used to define and describe the baseline spaceport and range by identifying major systems and elements and describing capabilities, limitations, and capabilities
Most businesses recognize that people will make mistakes and assume errors are just part of the cost of doing business, but does it need to be? Companies with high risk, or major consequences, should consider the effect of human error. In a variety of industries, Human Errors have caused costly failures and workplace injuries. These have included: airline mishaps, medical malpractice, administration of medication and major oil spills have all been blamed on human error. A technique to mitigate or even eliminate some of these costly human errors is the use of Human Reliability Analysis (HRA). Various methodologies are available to perform Human Reliability Assessments that range from identifying the most likely areas for concern to detailed assessments with human error failure probabilities calculated. Which methodology to use would be based on a variety of factors that would include: 1) how people react and act in different industries, and differing expectations based on industries standards, 2) factors that influence how the human errors could occur such as tasks, tools, environment, workplace, support, training and procedure, 3) type and availability of data and 4) how the industry views risk & reliability influences ( types of emergencies, contingencies and routine tasks versus cost based concerns). The Human Reliability Assessments should be the first step to reduce, mitigate or eliminate the costly mistakes or catastrophic failures. Using Human Reliability techniques to identify and classify human error risks allows a company more opportunities to mitigate or eliminate these risks and prevent costly failures.
This report is intended to help NASA program and project managers incorporate Small Business Innovation Research/Small Business Technology Transfer (SBIR/STTR) technologies that have gone through Phase II of the SBIR program into NASA Science Mission Directorate (SMD) programs. Other Government and commercial project managers can also find this information useful.
This report is intended to help NASA program and project managers incorporate Small Business Innovation Research/Small Business Technology Transfer (SBIR/STTR) technologies that have gone through Phase II of the SBIR program into NASA Aeronautics and Mission Directorate (ARMD) programs. Other Government and commercial program managers can also find this information useful.
This document is intended to enable the more effective transition of NASA Glenn Research Center (GRC) SBIR technologies funded by the Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) program as well as its companion, the Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) program into NASA Aeronautics Research Mission Directorate (ARMD) projects. Primarily, it is intended to help NASA program and project managers find useful technologies that have undergone extensive research and development (RRD), through Phase II of the SBIR program; however, it can also assist non-NASA agencies and commercial companies in this process. aviation safety, unmanned aircraft, ground and flight test technique, low emissions, quiet performance, rotorcraft
This report is intended to help NASA program and project managers incorporate Small Business Innovation Research/Small Business Technology Transfer (SBIR/STTR) technologies that have gone through Phase II of the SBIR program into NASA Human Exploration and Operations Mission Directorate (HEOMD) programs. Other Government and commercial project managers can also find this information useful.
Will discuss how their organization is trying to streamline workflows and the change management process with business rules. In looking for ways to make things more efficient and save money one way is to reduce the work the workflow task approvers have to do when reviewing affected items. Will share the technical details of the business rules, how to implement them, how to speed up the development process by using the API to demonstrate the rules in action.