Allowing private businesses to manage themselves... that's had a great track record of success in the past.
Enron... Worldcom... Merrill Lynch... On Wed, Aug 4, 2010 at 11:58 PM, brent wodehouse < brent_wodeho...@thefence.us> wrote: > > > (Note: The CEO and president of the company is a sister!) > > ------------------------------------ > > http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-aerospace-corp-20100804,0,742731.story?track=rss > > Pentagon's space partner eyes new frontiers > > Secretive Aerospace Corp., which makes sure that contractors' work on > classified government space projects is being done properly, could find a > new niche in the private sector. > > By W.J. Hennigan, Los Angeles Times > > August 4, 2010 > > Aerospace Corp.'s warren of low-rise office buildings in El Segundo offers > little clue to the work that goes on behind the double security doors, > where thousands of scientists and [ > > http://www.latimes.com/topic/unrest-conflicts-war/defense/u.s.-air-force-ORGOV0000126141145.topic > ]U.S. Air Force officers toil in secrecy. > > The company, which gets almost all of its funding from the Pentagon, is > responsible for overseeing many of the nation's most classified programs, > including the development of multibillion-dollar spy satellites and > rockets that lift them into space. > > "I've spent most of my life keeping secrets in this business," said Joseph > F. Wambolt, 76, a rocket propulsion engineer who joined Aerospace the year > it was founded 50 years ago and still won't divulge what he's working on, > even to his wife. "At Aerospace, we've always tried to keep a low profile." > > But the days of lying low may be over. > > Wanda M. Austin, president and chief executive of Aerospace, said she saw > the El Segundo-based research center taking on new roles that could > increasingly bring it out from under the shroud of secrecy. > > Under President Obama's proposal to outsource more space missions to > private ventures, the government will want more oversight of missions > carried out by private businesses, such as Hawthorne's Space Exploration > Technologies Corp., or SpaceX. > > Aerospace could be the organization to do that, Austin said. > > "There's a new energy and a new direction for space," she said. "We're > excited about the promise that the industry holds for us." > > Aerospace is neither a defense contractor nor part of the Air Force, which > manages military space programs. > > Rather, Aerospace is a federally funded brain trust for the Pentagon's > $26-billion space program, which far exceeds [ > > http://www.latimes.com/topic/science-technology/space-programs/nasa-ORGOV000098.topic > ]NASA's budget of $18 billion and has increased almost 90% since 2000. > Although it's not well known outside defense circles, it is regarded as > one of the nation's most important assets. > > Aerospace scientists oversee the technical side of contracts awarded to > defense firms to make sure the work is being done properly. A separate > Pentagon agency audits the contracts. > > The firm also provides consultation and advice to both the government and > the defense industry on how to best develop spacecraft. In all, 87% of its > budget comes from military contracts and the rest from civilian government > agencies such as NASA. > > "Aerospace is the glue to the Pentagon's space infrastructure," said John > Pike, director of Globalsecurity.org, a website for military policy > research. "It's an independent voice that's has become a vital component > to national security." > > Despite proposed cutbacks in Pentagon spending, Aerospace's budget > increased to $868 million last year — its largest — and Austin believes it > will be busier than ever in the coming years. > > In addition to its potential new role for private space ventures, the > National Reconnaissance Office, or NRO, the umbrella organization that > operates spy satellites, has said it's set to begin "the most aggressive" > launch schedule it has undertaken in 25 years. That is expected to keep > Aerospace engineers and scientists busy for a while. > > The research center was formed in 1960 at the height of the Cold War as a > way to avoid a potential conflict of interest. At the time, a technology > company was about to begin development of a spacecraft, but it was also > advising the Pentagon on what kind of space systems it should consider > funding. > > That company, Thompson Ramo Wooldridge Inc., or TRW, spun off its Space > Technology Laboratories, the predecessor to Aerospace. > > Simon Ramo, co-founder of TRW, which was later acquired by Century > City-based [ > > http://www.latimes.com/topic/economy-business-finance/manufacturing-engineering/aerospace-manufacturing/northrop-grumman-corporation-ORCRP017308.topic > ]Northrop Grumman Corp., said he wanted to begin making space hardware but > that it posed an obvious conflict of interest for the company. > > "We couldn't tell the Air Force what to do in space on one side of our > mouth, and then on the other side tell them that we'd build it for them," > Ramo said. > > Since it was formed, Aerospace has built a reservoir of talent that's more > comparable to a major university. Aerospace has produced more than 68,000 > scientific papers on a wide variety of space-related topics. Its staff now > features 831 scientists and engineers with doctorate degrees. > > Aerospace also helps the Air Force monitor rocket launches. Engineers pore > over data and the fine print to make sure everything is in its right > place. A misplaced decimal point can turn billions of dollars' worth of > intricate hardware into blazing debris in just a fraction of a second. > > The company's 41-acre campus sits across the street from Los Angeles Air > Force Base, which oversees military rocket development. The two complexes > are linked by a 135-foot bridge over El Segundo Boulevard. > > Aerospace recently built a $66-million building with a space launch center > in the basement. Resembling NASA's mission control center in Houston, the > facility allows Aerospace engineers to keep real-time tabs on rocket > launches at [ > > http://www.latimes.com/topic/travel/tourism-leisure/cape-canaveral-PLREC000051.topic > ]Cape Canaveral, Fla., or Vandenberg Air Force Base. They monitor incoming > data streams looking for anomalies and can order the launch to be scrubbed > if there are any. > > Since Aerospace has kept a close watch, the Pentagon has had a string of > 65 consecutive successful launches stretching back to 1999. > > "That kind of reliability is unprecedented," said [ > http://www.latimes.com/topic/sports/gary-payton-PESPT005719.topic ]Gary > Payton, who last week retired as deputy undersecretary of the Air Force > for space programs. > > It may cost $20 million to $30 million more in launch costs for the type > of "mission assurance" that Aerospace provides, but it's well-worth it, he > said. "I would like to save money on a launch. But if the launch vehicle > fails, I splash a $2-billion satellite." > > In May, the Air Force launched the first of a new generation of GPS > satellites, part of an $8-billion upgrade designed to make the system more > reliable, more accessible and much more accurate. A failure could have set > the GPS upgrade back a year or more and cost taxpayers hundreds of > millions of dollars. > > "Aerospace has the kind of expertise to help ensure our launches" are > successful, Payton said. "It's a brain trust that's unmatched." > > william.henni...@latimes.com <william.hennigan%40latimes.com> > > Copyright © 2010, [ http://www.latimes.com/ ]Los Angeles Times > > > -- "If all the world's a stage and we are merely players, who the bloody hell wrote the script?" -- Charles E Grant http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fQUxw9aUVik
