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Aerospace Company Launches Space Innovations PROJECT: Valencia Firm Eyes Future Opportunities

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Aerospace Company Launches Space Innovations PROJECT: Valencia Firm Eyes Future Opportunities Aerospace Company Launches Space Innovations PROJECT: Valencia firm eyes future opportunities. By JESSICA VERNABE San Fernando Valley Business Journal Monday, August 1, 2011 Valencia-based aerospace company Vivace-Spacetron is exploring new innovations in space travel technology, following the final landing of the Atlantis space shuttle last month. The company recently finished designing and building a $1 million transporter, the Cygnus Vehicle Container, for the Cygnus spacecraft, which will travel to the International Space Station. The Cygnus is the new cargo vehicle at the center of NASA’s latest multibillion dollar space exploration project. Co-founder Rick Montoya said working on this project has helped the company to blast off into a new frontier for space exploration. “This is basically a program for the future,” Montoya said. “The company will change.” Vivace-Spacetron designs, manufactures and tests aerospace hardware. The company hired 11 employees to help support the transporter project, Montoya said. It plans to hire about 25 additional employees to support future projects, he said. The project is a bright spot today’s uncertain aerospace industry, said Dave Cochran, co-founder of Vivace- Spacetron. “The project is a big milestone,” he said. Here’s how the project works: The Cygnus spacecraft — containing various necessities such as clothing, food and other maintenance materials — will attach to the launch vehicle, called the Taurus II, and head for the International Space Station. (Taurus II also will serve in launching equipment to support research, as well as other products for NASA, the military and other markets.) But before the two components can meet up and head for outer space, the Cygnus must make a few stops. It is scheduled to go from a cargo loading facility, to a fueling facility, and then on to the launch pad in Wallups Island, Virginia. The Cygnus needs a way to get from point a to point c, Cochran said, and that’s where the company’s transporter comes in. The container, which is 25 feet long and 18 feet wide helps to protect and enclose the Cygnus en route to the launch pad, he said. NASA contracted Orbital Sciences Corp., of Dulles, Va., to design and build the Cygnus and the Taurus II. Orbital approached Vivace-Spacetron last November to design and manufacture the transporter, Montoya said. Orbital’s Vice President of Public Relations, Barron Beneski, said the company’s decision to hire Vivace- Spacetron was based on the company’s knowledge and experience. “They’ve got a background in doing similar products,” Beneski said. Orbital has big hopes for the Taurus II. “It will help us to better understand space and its elements,” Beneski added. The Cygnus and Taurus II will debut at the test flight in December of this year. The first demonstration flight is scheduled for February 2012. Vivace-Spacetron signed an eight-flight contract with Orbital that will run from 2012 to 2015. .
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