Selected Articles from the
May 2000 Odyssey
Editor: Craig E. Ward
Inside Look at a Rocket Factory
by Craig E. Ward
On April 29, OASIS members and guests were treated to a tour of the new Microcosm facility in El Segundo. Chapter Vice President and Microcosm employee Steve Bartlett arranged for and hosted the tour.
Microcosm is attempting to find new, less expensive, ways of getting material into orbit. Its approach is more like that of an automobile manufacturer than a traditional aerospace corporation. It attempts to use industrial parts and methods where most current manufactures strive for much finer tolerances.
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| Microcosm tour photograph courtesy Craig E. Ward. |
The El Segundo facility is new. Previously, the manufacturing plant was in Torrance. (OASIS also had a tour of that facility.) The new building combines both manufacturing and business office facilities.
Scorpius is the name of the current line of Microcosm launch vehicles. A sub-orbital prototype was successfully launched in January 1999. (See the February 1999 Odyssey.) The vehicle being built now is a big, better version of that rocket. Microcosm hopes to launch this vehicle this summer.
Many of the techniques and approaches were discussed during the tour. Members on the tour were given an enticing glimpse into the future possibilities of space launch capabilities. Many thanks to Steve for arranging for the tour and for being an excellent tour guide!
Additional photographs of the tour can be found online in the Gallery section.
OASIS Co-Sponsors
"Ten Things The Aerospace Industry Can Do To Better Meet The Needs
of Commercial Customers"
By Steve Bartlett
To highlight the need for a healthy aerospace industry for building a
spacefaring culture, OASIS co-sponsored the talk "Ten Things The Aerospace
Industry Can Do To Better Meet The Needs of Commercial Customers"
on April 19. Bruce Elbert of Hughes Space and Communications presented
the talk at the TRW S-Forum in Redondo Beach. The Los Angeles section
of the Society for the Advancement of Materials and Process Engineering
(SAMPE) and the Los Angeles chapter of the American Institute of Aeronautics
and Astronautics (AIAA) co-sponsored the event with OASIS.
Mr. Elbert, a well known executive and technologist in the satellite communication
industry, gave the following recommendations for industry to meet the
changing needs of the market, technology, and the current financial climate:
- Focus on Strengths, particularly in brands, customers and relations.
- Don't let slip what an organization does well.
- Maintain communications and find out what the customer thinks of the organization.
- Learn what others are doing inside and outside of the industry.
- Bring all levels of the organization and the supplier chain into the development and support process.
- Converge like (or with) a "dot.com": In other words, remake the industry for faster response and greater flexibility.
- Don't believe the negative talk: Recognize what the organization can and cannot do.
- Spin-off but don't spin out: Experiment and create new businesses but protect the core competencies.
- Do (much) more than what's expected: Stay one step ahead of the customer and show committment to the technology and to the customer.
- Balance commercial and government markets.
Elbert used the development of the Boeing 777 airplane as a case study in the way that these techniques can and were applied to produce a state-of-the-art commercial airliner.
Prior to his recent retirement, Mr. Elbert was a Senior VP at Hughes and directed many successful programs including the Galaxy satellites and the GEO mobile satellite services. He is the author of six industry texts, including the widely used Introduction to Satellite Communications and The Satellite Communication Application Handbook. As an instructor in the UCLA Extension Program, he taught many short courses in satellite communications technology and high-tech marketing to a whole generation of satellite professionals. He is now a full-time consultant, author and lecturer in satellite and broadband communications.
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