2011-12-13

Innovative Air Launch System Project Includes Small Businesses like TriVector

Stratolaunch Systems, with corporate headquarters in Huntsville, AL, publicly announced today their quest to pioneer an air-launch space transportation system through design and development of the largest aircraft ever flown.  This revolutionary air launch space transportation system will be accomplished with a collaborative effort lead primarily by three companies:  Scaled Composites, Space X, and Dynetics.  Included on the Dynetics team is Huntsville-based small business TriVector Services.  TriVector is tasked to provide vital support in Systems Engineering, Integration, Test and Operations.

Scaled Composites located in Mojave, CA, is responsible for the Carrier Aircraft.  Space X located in Hawthorne, CA, is responsible for the Multi-Stage Launch Vehicle, and Huntsville-based Dynetics is responsible for the Mating and Integration System, and Technical Integration of the Air Launch System.  TriVector Services was recruited to help setup and manage the Systems Engineering and Integration of the ALS throughout the lifecycle of the program.  Marc Verhage, TriVector's Chief Operating Officer, former Constellation Ares Upper Stage Chief Engineer and recipient of the 2010 Aerospace Engineer of the Year Award, was selected by Dynetics to play a key role in leading and managing Systems Engineering and Integration.  Other TriVector employees lead efforts in defining requirements, interfaces and technical management of key SE&I products.  Dr. Marc Bendickson, Dynetics CEO, said, "We are proud to have two local small businesses supporting our efforts."  Verhage commented, "TriVector is excited about being part of such an innovative aerospace effort in support of outstanding companies like Stratolaunch and Dynetics."

Visit the Stratolaunch Web site at http://www.stratolaunch.com to learn more.

2011-09-29

NASA Small Business Subcontractor Excellence Award presented to TriVector

The FY 2011 Industry and Advocates Award Ceremony took place at the Davidson Center in Huntsville, AL, as part of NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center's Small Business Alliance meeting.  TriVector was recognized with a MSFC Small Business Subcontractor Excellence Award for their "exemplary support to Teledyne Brown Engineering under the Systems Development and Operations Support Contract."  After accepting the award, TriVector's CEO/CFO Tim Kauffman commented, "We are proud to be able to partner with firms such as Teledyne that share our commitment to provide high-caliber engineering services to our customers."

2011-08-16

TriVector Employees Honored by NASA for Outstanding Work

In separate ceremonies in July 2011, two TriVector employees were recognized by NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center for their outstanding work.

Bill Anglin received a "Certificate of Appreciation Honor Award" for his outstanding configuration management leadership in support of the Ares Project, and for invaluable dedication to the furtherance of the configuration management discipline.  Bill has nearly 40 years of experience in Configuration Management.  He has received numerous awards for his work at NASA, including the coveted Silver Snoopy Award presented by astronauts.  Bill has been with TriVector for three years this month, and has also served in the U.S. Army Reserves for 35 years.

David Ledbetter was recognized by his peers in NASA's Stage Systems Engineering and Integration Division as the "Employee of the Year."  His outstanding teamwork, professionalism, and ability to effectively balance work, family and other commitments were cited.  David graduated from Auburn University with a Bachelor of Industrial and Systems Engineering degree.  Prior to joining TriVector, David worked in the Systems Engineering group for the Missile Defense Agency and the U.S. Army's PEO Aviation Group.

2011-05-10

TriVector Expands UAS Operations to Washington, DC Area

Trivector Services, Inc., has expanded their Unmanned Aircraft Systems operations into the Washington, DC area.  TriVector currently provides engineering and program management support services to the UAS Program Office within the National and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), located in Silver Spring, MD.

Retired Rear Admiral Philip Kenul is joining TriVector as Senior Vice President of Aviation and Operations.  Admiral Kenul has several decades of experience with NOAA ranging from overseeing the maintenance of NOAA aircraft fleet, to leading NOAA's Homeland Security Program office, to managing the NOAA Aircraft Operations Center, as well as the Office of Marine and Aviation Operations Centers.  He also served as Deputy Chief for the Military Operations Branch of the Naval Research Laboratory, overseeing and coordinating the planning, logistics and execution of global oceanographic data collection.  Admiral Kenul is a qualified P-3 pilot and has flown numerous hurricane monitoring missions.  He received a B.A. in Biology from State University of New York at Cortland, and a M.S. in Civil/Environmental Engineering from the University of Texas at Austin.

Retired U.S. Navy Commander John "J.C." Coffey joins TriVector as Vice President of Unmanned Systems.  Commander Coffey finished his Naval career as the Chief Staff Officer and Director of Military Operations at the Naval Research Laboratory, and has logged over 4,500 flight hours in numerous aircraft including flying P-3s during hurricane monitoring missions.  Commander Coffey is a commissioned member of the Honorable Order of Kentucky Colonels and is authorized to wear the Meritorious Service Medal (four awards), Air Medal, Joint Service Commendation Medal, Navy and Marine Corps Commendation Medal (three awards), Navy and Marine Corps Achievement Medal, Metorious Unit Commendation (two awards), as well as various other unit, service, and campaign decorations.  Coffey earned a B.S. in Electrical Engineering from Notre Dame, and an M.B.A. from Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University.  He is a member of the Acquisition Professional Community and is Level III certified in Systems Engineering, Test & Evaluation and Program Management.

 "We are extremely excited to have Admiral Kenul and Commander Coffey as leaders at TriVector, and to have them as part of our TriVector family.  It is a privilege to have them on our team," said Dr. Joey Shelton, Chief Technical Officer.  

2011-05-10

TriVector to Present at MATLAB(R) Signal Processing Virtual Conference

Along with several others from industry-leading companies, Kerry Alexander will represent TriVector Services, Inc., at the MATLAB(R) Signal Processing Virtual Conference.  Mrs. Alexander, a senior engineer with TriVector, has been invited to present her use of the MathWorks(R) software in analyzing the time latency of health and status and commanding for the communications systems aboard NASA's Ares I rocket.

The MATLAB(R) Signal Processing Virtual Conference will take place on Wednesday, May 18, 2011, from 7 a.m. to 3 p.m. EDT.  For additional information, including how to register for the virtual conference, please visit the conference Web site. 

2011-04-19

TriVector Engineer Simulates Rocket Communication System Using MathWorks

The Challenge:  Analyze the Time Latency of Health and Status Information aboard NASA's Ares I Rocket.

The Solution:  Use MathWorks Simulink and SimEvents to model packet-level communications, run discrete-event simulations, and access end-to-end latencies.

The Results: 

• Requirements validated one year sooner.  "By modeling discrete events with SimEvents, we were able to simulate packet-level transactions well before hardware was available," says Kerry Alexander, senior engineer at TriVector Services, Inc.  "If NASA had to build hardware first, verification of the timing requirements could have been delayed by a year."
• Timing specification problems uncovered.  "Our SimEvents model provided a picture of the entire system as well as detailing timing results that would have been impossible to obtain using a spreadsheet," says Alexander.  "This approach enabled us to report missing requirements to NASA for refinements."
• Latency analysis results communicated visually. "We created MATLAB plots that made it much easier to visualize and communicate our results," notes Alexander.

Read the full story at Desktop Engineering, USA Today, and the MathWorks Web sites.

2011-04-07

TriVector Employee Selected as the Caring in Action Program Recipient of the Month

As reported in the April 7, 2011, issue of Marshall Star, Bill Anglin has been selected as the Caring in Action Program Recipient of the Month.   Caring in Action Program recipients are nominated by their peers, and are selected by the Marshall Space Flight Center's Safety Action Team.  Bill is a configuration management specialist, supporting the MSFC's Engineering Directorate. 

On Jan. 11, Bill noticed that Pete Allen, an engineering project manager in Ares Projects, had fallen in the parking lot.   Another team member called for help, and Bill hurried into the building to get a blanket for Mr. Allen to keep him warm and help with shock issues while they waited for the ambulance.   Tim Kauffman, TriVector's CEO, commented, "We're proud that the TriVector family includes people like Bill who are not only recognized for the great work they do, but also for their compassion for others." 

Read the full story at the Marshall Star. 

2011-02-04

The NASA Effect: What the Constellation Confusion Means for a Local Business

The confusion of both the new and current direction of NASA has had a huge impact on contracting firms in Huntsville, Alabama, including TriVector Services, Inc.   Fortunately, TriVector recognized early on that troubling times were coming and began focusing on opportunities outside the NASA domain.  They've begun to increase their work with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and pursue engineering work for the U.S. Geological Survey, the Department of Homeland Security and the Missile Defense Agency.  They've also turned their attention overseas towards more international work in Asia. 

Read the full story on the Celebrate Huntsville Web site.  

2011-01-25

Former NASA Engineers to Train 40 Local Students

In June, 2011, a TriVector International developed curriculum and instructors will be used to train 40 Singapore cadets from the National Cadet Corps (NCC).  The rigorous five-day training camp will engage the selected cadets in learning more about space technologies including satellites, rovers, unmanned aerial vehicles and rocketry.  The new Space Wing program is the result of a partnership between the Singapore Space and Technology Association (SSTA) and the National Cadet Corps (NCC) Singapore, and targets cadets with a certain aptitude in math and science who have a high potential for pursuing a career in the space domain.  

Read the full story at THE STRAITS TIMES. 

2011-01-08

Engineering a Love for Engineering

Twenty-six Singapore students between the ages of 15 and 20 got an experience of what it might feel like to be an astronaut at a Space Academy organized by TriVector International, the Singapore Space and Technology Association (SSTA) and Ngee Ann Polytechnic (NP). 

TriVector curriculum, designed to show the fun side of engineering and encourage young people to consider engineering as a career option, included building and firing mini-rockets, exploration with rovers, and downloading and analyzing data from a weather satellite. 

Marissa Yeo, 16, a recent graduate of Tanjong Katong Girls' School, was one of the campers whose opinion about engineering was swayed.  Coming into the camp thinking that engineering was a 'dry and complex field,' Marissa said at the conclusion of the week-long camp, "Now, I may consider engineering and space as career options, because of the infinite possibilities and breakthroughs that mankind can achive through space."

Read the full story at THE STRAITS TIMES. 

2010-07-22

Lincoln Elementary Students learn about rockets from real rocket scientists.

A group of engineers from TriVector Services held a four-day Space Science Academy at Lincoln recently to teach students about planetary exploration, satellites and rocket science.

"We're running through a basic space science lesson," said Tim Kauffman, CEO of the company that provides engineering services to NASA.

Students learned about the history of rockets and some basic orbital mechanics. They also got to maneuver a miniature rover around the floor of the science lab at Lincoln.

http://blog.al.com/breaking/2010/05/lincoln_elementary_students_le.html

2010-07-21

The AIAA Alabama-Mississippi Annual Section Awards

AEROSPACE ENGINEER OF THE YEAR AWARD HONOREE FOR 2009-2010: Joseph M. Verhage

Mr. Verhage is primarily the TriVector Services Inc. Chief Operating Officer and Test Engineer Contractor to the Marshall Space Flight Center. As the NASA test engineer, he is responsible for the coordination of multi-organizational disciplines for technical tasks and problem resolution for NASA. Additionally, he is directly responsible for and has key technical authority for the Ares I upper stage cryo/structural testing of the common bulkhead. He has direct responsibility for developing requirements, design of tooling, processes, and methods to accomplish this task. In this capacity he provides solutions to these complex issues and works with the MSFC technical personnel to drive the solutions. He and his design team have developed a workable solution to fully, cryogenically test and certify the Ares I Upper Stage composite common bulkhead, which was truly a daunting technical challenge. In this task, he personally led a team to develop the test requirements, to provide tooling concepts and preliminary designs, and to document the processes that will result in fully certifying a common bulkhead as flight worthy. He was personally responsible for insuring that this complicated task was fully analyzed, the test tooling concept adequate to meet all requirements, and that the test and certification process would not damage the expensive and challenging to manufacture bulkhead.

Additionally, he developed and published a Test Design and Development Process and Procedures Handbook for the NASA Stage Hardware Test and Flight Integration Branch. While developing this Handbook, he also served as the lead test integrator for the critical path design, development, analysis, and test of the Ares I upper stage critical hardware.

Mr. Verhage holds a Bachelor of Science in Aerospace Engineering from Mississippi State University, a Masters of Science in Aerospace Engineering from the University of Alabama in Huntsville, and an Engineering Fellowship from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.