HUNTSVILLE, Ala., December 15, 2009 – Dynetics announced today it has purchased Orion Propulsion, Inc. (OPI), a Huntsville aerospace company that specializes in spacecraft and rocket propulsion design and fabrication, testing services, ground support equipment and launch operations support. The addition of OPI will expand Dynetics’ capabilities to develop space-related hardware.

OPI, founded by Tim Pickens in 2004, has 35 employees. Pickens, who was chief technology officer, will serve as chief propulsion engineer for Dynetics. Mark Fisher, who has been acting president of OPI, will serve as head of the propulsion department within the space systems division. “Dynetics is very fortunate to bring in a company with such an outstanding reputation and significant experience,” said Dr. Marc Bendickson, Dynetics CEO. “Orion has established itself as an innovative, rapid and low-cost provider of rocket propulsion products. As Dynetics continues to pursue opportunities related to space, the integration of Orion will strengthen our capabilities in space technologies and hardware development.”

David King, executive vice president of Dynetics, added, “Tim Pickens is one of the most creative, energetic and ‘lean thinking’ propulsion experts in the United States. He is well-known in the local and national space communities. We are excited to bring Tim on board – along with Mark Fisher, who has 20 years of experience in NASA, DoD (Department of Defense) and commercial propulsion and management – as well as the rest of the OPI team.

“Orion is the only Huntsville-based propulsion company with full life cycle capabilities,” King continued. “Its low-cost, rapid design, build and test approach is synergistic with our developing in-house space vehicle capability. Most space vehicle firms outsource for rocket propulsion. Having this capability in-house will greatly enhance our integrated space offerings.”

The mission of Dynetics’ space systems division is to deliver a wide array of space products and services to meet the needs of the civil, military and space sectors, including capabilities in propulsion; orbital systems, including the FASTSAT satellite; space sciences; atmospheric systems; advanced sensors; and rapid prototyping.

About Dynetics
Dynetics Inc., with headquarters in Huntsville, Ala., and offices throughout the United States, has delivered highquality, high-value engineering, scientific and information technology solutions to customers within the U.S. government and a range of other market segments since 1974. Our mission is to bring expertise, integrity and tenacity to every relationship and to demonstrate our commitment to customers by providing powerful solutions to their technical challenges. Visit www.dynetics.com for more details.

Copyright 2009 Dynetics Inc. Dynetics is a registered trademark. Other brands and product names are trademarks of their respective owners. All rights reserved.

By Shelby G. Spires
September 27, 2009, 11:35AM
al.com

HUNTSVILLE, AL -- If appearance reveals anything, a robotic lander concept being tested at Marshall Space Flight Center would strike fear into humans.

Good thing then that the moon is not inhabited, because that’s the ultimate destination for the program.

NASA is working to smooth out development kinks for a program that might place a similar robot on some distant world.

“We are designing a flight mission to go to the lunar surface. We are looking at different scenarios that would develop a lander to be small but would have a large power need because of a variety of instruments it would contain,” said Marshall’s Julie Bassler, robotic lunar lander project manager.

Marshall is developing and testing a robotic lander to aid in the development of a new generation of multiuse landers for robotic space exploration on places such as the moon, Mars and asteroids.

“We are looking at going to the poles, but also we would design landers to set down in the mid-regions of the moon,” she said.

NASA and researchers at Brown University announced the finding of water molecules on the moon last week. A lunar lander would be a natural follow-up to the discovery more water on the moon.

Since August, a prototype has been tested using compressed air as a propellant to check out the placement of thrusters and guidance software.

Large, oval-shaped tanks on the craft are used to store fuel for thrusters. The test article is equipped with thrusters that guide the lander, one set controlling the vehicle’s altitude and landing. On the test lander, an additional thruster offsets the effect of Earth’s gravity so that the other thrusters can operate as they would in a lunar environment.

“Specifically, what we are doing at Marshall is identifying the terminal – or the final – phase of landing and designing a robotic lander to meet those needs,” said Brian Mulac, a test engineer at Marshall. “That last part is the highest risk of setting down on the moon. So much can go wrong, and we want to design around that.”

NASA has sent landers to the moon, but that was four decades ago, Bassler said. “These would be so much more capable, but smaller. We are going to leap forward beyond what those programs did,” she said.

Rovers are now crawling around Mars, too, but putting probes on the Red Planet is different, Mulac said. “It has an atmosphere, and the moon doesn’t. The moon is a whole different subject,” Mulac said. “You have to have landers that use thrusters to set down, because you cannot use a parachute.”

Marshall is partnered with Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory and the Von Braun Center for Science and Innovation for this project.

Orion Propulsion in Huntsville, working as a subcontractor for Teledyne Brown Engineering here, designed, built and tested the propulsion system for the lander, said Tim Pickens, Orion’s chief technical officer.

Excerpt from Mike Gold
Space News Profile
August 31, 2009
www.spacenews.com

Bigelow Aerospace is known for leveraging existing technologies. What other innovations have aided the company’s success?

We hired Aerojet to build our aft thrusters and it was expensive, roughly a $24 million program. On the forward thrusters, we contracted with an entrepreneurial company, Orion Propulsion in Alabama, and they built an innovative propulsion system for much less money — about $5 million — that could take wastewater or reprocess urine and end up using it for fuel.

Upper Stage (US) US Reaction Control System (RCS) Subsystem: The 2009 NASA/Marshall Space Flight Center (MSFC) Propulsion Academy class, sponsored and funded by the US RCS subsystem, recently achieved a major milestone by completing a successful thruster development and test activity. Propulsion Academy is a 10-week, residential summer research and educational experience for high-achieving college sophomores, juniors, seniors, and graduate students interested in propulsion-related careers. The emphasis is on preparing young professionals for future employment in aerospace positions. Research Associates (interns) work in teams of four, guided by propulsion engineers at MSFC, local commercial entities, and local universities. The team lead is an advanced undergraduate or graduate student with a curriculum background in propulsion relevant courses. In addition to their research activities, students participate in site visits, tours, and lectures by practicing experts in state-of-the-art propulsion development. The objective of the Academy this year was to test, verify, and document performance of a 100-pounds force (lbf) liquid oxygen-liquid methane RCS thruster designed by Orion Propulsion Inc. (OPI) via a NASA Small Business Innovative Research (SBIR) contract. The interns’ task included performing a test readiness review of the thruster and test facilities, performing a hazards analysis and various calibrations, and creating a test matrix. Testing was conducted at OPI’s test facilities in Huntsville. Test results will be documented by the team as part of this effort.

By Tim Pickens
July 26, 2009
For The Huntsville Times

Nearly 60 years ago, Wernher von Braun and a team of German rocket engineers arrived in Huntsville to develop missile and rocket capabilities for the Army. The U.S. and Soviet Union were locked in the midst of the Cold War and an arms race that came to define this superpower standoff.

By 1957, with the successful launch of Sputnik 1, the world's first Earth-orbiting artificial satellite, the conflict had ascended beyond Earth and become a full-blown space race.

With that, Huntsville became ground zero for America's quest for leadership in space.

Von Braun's aspirations to pursue human space exploration quickly became a reality when his team at NASA's newly created Marshall Space Flight Center developed the Saturn rocket they dreamed would propel astronauts to the moon and assert America as the unquestioned leader in space.

That dream was realized 40 years ago, when the Apollo 11 Eagle Lunar Module touched down on the Sea of Tranquility and astronaut Neil Armstrong took the first human step on the lunar surface.

Today, global leadership is still defined by a nation's capabilities in space, but the playing field has expanded beyond the U.S. and Russia to include China, India, Europe, and an emerging commercial space flight industry. And the goal is no longer military superiority but technological and therefore economic leadership in a global economy.

At the Space Economy Symposium held in March in Washington, Henry Hertzfeld, research professor of space policy and international affairs at George Washington University, noted the size of the space economy is impressive - approximately $250 billion per year - and called the extensive infrastructure in space an "economic utility" that enables a wide variety of services and applications that is critical to our security: defense, homeland, and environmental.

In a study conducted for NASA last year, the international consulting firm Oxford Analytica finds that "holding a central role in the space economy is to command the high ground of global competitiveness." The study concludes that "to ensure a place at the heart of this activity rather than on its periphery - to ensure the ability to influence and shape events - is at the crux of 21st century economic power."...

HUNTSVILLE, AL – August 4, 2009 – Orion Propulsion, Inc. (OPI) today announced the recent acceptance of delivery by The Boeing Company of a Reaction Control System Development Test Article (ReCS SDTA) built by OPI as part of Boeing’s Ares I Upper Stage Production Contract (USPC). The delivery of the hardware, which was built by OPI at its production facility in Madison, Ala., follows the successful completion of a hardware acceptance review.

“As a proven leader in propulsion system development and test infrastructure, the Orion Propulsion team is proud to have reached this milestone with Boeing,” noted Tim Pickens, OPI founder and CEO. “This accomplishment signals our commitment, as a lean supplier, to delivering quality hardware for the Ares project in a timely and cost effective manner. We look forward to continuing our work with Boeing as the Ares I Upper Stage moves towards qualification and production.”

“This impressive test article is our first hardware delivery by Boeing to NASA under the USPC and is its first ‘build-to-print’ implementation of NASA engineering under the USPC model,” said Jim Chilton, Boeing vice president and Ares I upper stage program manager, “The hardware delivery is the culmination of months of hard work by the Boeing and OPI team.” The ReCS SDTA consists of flight-similar tankage, system valves, and thruster valves and has plumbing simulating flight geometries. The objectives of the development test program using the SDTA are to obtain fluid system performance data for a flight-representative configuration, evaluate integrated system-level performance characteristics, and verify analytical models as a part of the critical design activities.

The successful completion of a hardware acceptance review and delivery of the hardware is a critical step for OPI as the company develops its Mentor-Protégé relationship with Boeing. The relationship was formalized last year as the first such relationship under NASA's Mentor-Protégé program.

About Orion Propulsion
Orion Propulsion is a leading engineering and test provider of high-reliability rocket propulsion systems enabling government, commercial space, and the defense industry to access space at a dramatically lower cost. Orion Propulsion is a small, woman-owned business headquartered in Huntsville, AL. For more information about Orion Propulsion, visit www.orionpropulsion.com.

HUNTSVILLE, AL – June 22, 2009 – Orion Propulsion, Inc. today announced completion of a qualification test program for the Forward Propulsion System (FPS) of Bigelow Aerospace’s Sundancer Project, the world’s first commercial space habitat. The innovative Orion Propulsion thruster system uses hydrogen and oxygen that are produced from Bigelow’s proprietary Environmental Control Life Support System (ECLSS) as propellants for the spacecraft’s attitude control system . This truly “people-powered” space craft, which burns hydrogen and oxygen generated from water, sweat, and urine, eliminates the need for more toxic propellants such as hydrazine and nitrogen tetroxide that are more costly to use and harmful to the environment - on Earth and in space.

Tim Pickens, CEO of Orion Propulsion said, “We are excited to complete this critical demonstration that will move Bigelow Aerospace one step closer to creating a self –sufficient commercial human habitat that is safer and more environmentally friendly than any other system in use. I am proud of our team for delivering a best-in-class solution for this landmark project. We look forward to completing production and flying critical flight hardware on the world’s first commercial space habitat.”

“Orion Propulsion has been an excellent partner and has met every delivery date and performance milestone,” said Bigelow Aerospace Program Manager, Eric Haakonstad. “Their team worked with our very specific and demanding requirements to put together an elegant and “green” propulsion system that is safe, cost efficient, powerful and reliable - these are critical elements that will enable Sundancer’s success over its 15 year life cycle in space.”

The test program was a thorough evaluation of the propulsion system and included thermal cycle vacuum testing, electro-magnetic interference testing, acoustic and vibration testing. In addition, an accelerated life test program was conducted simulating space environments including vacuum, and temperature swings. The culmination of the qualification period was a Design Certification Review held with Bigelow Aerospace May 27-28, 2009. The review presented the results of the qualification test program and documented the requirement verification process for the FPS. The review was passed and authority has been given to proceed with assembly of the flight hardware. The assembly of flight hardware began June 1, 2009 and will continue through the summer. The first flight ship-set should be completed in August of this year.

The Orion Propulsion “green propulsion” system provides environmental benefits through eliminating the need to launch into the atmosphere other highly toxic propellants such as hydrazine or nitrogen tetroxide, thus reducing weight and launch costs. It also creates a safer, cleaner work environment for humans on Earth and in space. In addition, it can be adapted for other uses including “roll control” for small launch vehicles and propulsion or attitude control on other space craft.

About Bigelow Aerospace
Bigelow Aerospace is dedicated to developing next-generation crewed space complexes to revolutionize space commerce and open up the final frontier to all of humanity. At Bigelow Aerospace, we're building the future today! For more information, visit www.bigelowaerospace.com.

About Orion Propulsion, Inc.
Orion Propulsion is a leading provider of reliable, affordable rocket propulsion systems and test infrastructure solutions to commercial and government organizations. Founded in 2004 by CEO Tim Pickens, Orion Propulsion specializes in rocket propulsion design and fabrication, engine testing services, ground support equipment, and launch operations support. Orion Propulsion is a woman-owned business, headquartered in Huntsville, AL. For more information, visit www.orionpropulsion.com.

HUNTSVILLE, AL, June 12, 2009 – Orion Propulsion, Inc., was one of the corporate sponsors of the 28th Annual International Space Development Conference (ISDC), held at the Omni Resort at ChampionsGate near Orlando, FL from May 28-31, 2009. Hosted by the National Space Society, it is the largest annual conference of grassroots space activists and professionals from the NASA, DoD, and commercial space industry. Orion Propulsion CEO, Tim Pickens, was in attendance and gave a couple of presentations including one on the “Greening the Aerospace Community.” David Hewitt, an Orion Propulsion engineer, also attended and worked the exhibit booth where he explained Orion’s capabilities and showed off hardware such as a 100 Lbf RCS Thruster from the Boeing Ares I program to the numerous attendees. Throughout the conference the Orion Propulsion booth received great foot traffic, lots of questions, and was even interviewed by FOXNews for an upcoming segment to air on July 20th. We were proud to have such an active role in this year’s ISDC conference.

In addition to spending some time in the exhibit hall, Tim Pickens gave two presentations to large and enthusiastic crowds at the conference. The first, “So you want to start a space company”, was part of the Business Track and highlighted Orion Propulsion, Inc.’s quick growth as well as all the challenges and rewards found in a vibrant and growing aerospace company. Among the topics discussed were the overall business model, highlights of commercial activities with Bigelow Aerospace, some of our DoD efforts, and the ongoing evolution of Orion Propulsion, Inc. into a certified for AS9100 quality process company through the Mentor-Protégé partnership with Boeing on NASA’s Ares I Upper Stage production contract. Pickens stated, “I had a good time presenting to what will probably be many of our future aerospace leaders and business owners. I had a very interesting crowd with lots of good questions.”

Orion Propulsions, Inc. has a strong track record in research and development and Picken’s second presentation, “Greening the Aerospace Community,” highlighted this capability as well as introduced new, exciting propulsion technologies under development at OPI that use green propellants. Orion Propulsion, Inc. just completed CDR and Qualification testing thrusters to be used on the manned rated Sundancer Spacecraft being produced by Bigelow Areospace. It utilizes hydrogen and oxygen propellants that are generated from the Bigelow waste water reclamation/gasification generator system. Truly a green and efficient use of resources available in orbit.

The hands-on approach of the Orion Propulsion booth allowed the many visitors to be able to see and touch some of the real-world hardware. The highlight of the hardware that was brought was the 100 Lbf RCS Thruster Module that was built and test fired in 2007 under a rapid development schedule. Other pieces that were brought included an injector for the 100 Lbf RCS Thruster, and a nozzle and a developmental injector from the Bigelow Aerospace thruster program. Both Pickens and Hewitt made themselves available to the college students from all areas of the country. “They were smart young folks with lots of cool and varying projects. Interests varied from propulsion to payloads. These discussions went on way into the early morning on several nights,” Tim said.

About Orion Propulsion, Inc.
Headquartered in Huntsville, AL, Orion Propulsion, Inc. (OPI), is a small woman-owned aerospace company specializing in spacecraft and rocket propulsion design and fabrication, testing services, ground support equipment, and launch operations support. For more information about OPI, visit www.orionpropulsion.com.

HUNTSVILLE, AL, May 1, 2009 – Teledyne Brown Engineering (TBE) and Orion Propulsion, Inc. (OPI) successfully demonstrated the Lunar Lander Test Bed (LLTB) today, capping the delivery of this unique hardware to the Von Braun Center for Science and Innovation (VCSI). The LLTB was presented, complete with rocket engine firings, at the dedication of TBE’s Space Systems Manufacturing Center. The LLTB will be used to demonstrate and mature technologies required for future NASA robotic space exploration.

OPI conceived, designed, built, tested, and delivered the LLTB propulsion system in only 14 weeks, providing an innovative solution to customer requirements both on-schedule and on-budget. OPI designed the complete propulsion system, designed and fabricated new components not available commercially, managed vendors and subcontractors, tested all components and subassemblies, verified system performance against requirements, and delivered a complete acceptance data package with the hardware to TBE, the prime contractor and vehicle integrator.

OPI developed the propulsion system at its facilities in Madison, Alabama. TBE completed vehicle integration in Huntsville, Alabama. VCSI will conduct LLTB flight testing at Marshall Space Flight Center later this spring and summer.

About Orion Propulsion, Inc.
Headquartered in Huntsville, AL, Orion Propulsion, Inc. (OPI), is a small woman-owned aerospace company specializing in spacecraft and rocket propulsion design and fabrication, testing services, ground support equipment, and launch operations support. For more information about OPI, visit www.orionpropulsion.com.

HUNTSVILLE, AL, Jan 30, 2009 -- Orion Propulsion, teamed with Teledyne Brown, was awarded the contract to develop a Lunar Lander with an integrated propulsion system. OPI will be developing the propulsion system at the facility on Commerce Circle. Teledyne Brown will be building the demonstrator at their Sparkman Drive facility. Development of the lander will be done under the guidance of the Von Braun Center for Science & Innovation, Testing will be done in the Lunar Lander Robotic Test Bed Facility at Marshall Space Flight Center. The lander is scheduled for delivery by April and will begin hover flight tests.

About Orion Propulsion, Inc.
Headquartered in Huntsville, AL, Orion Propulsion, Inc. (OPI), is a small woman-owned aerospace company specializing in spacecraft and rocket propulsion design and fabrication, testing services, ground support equipment, and launch operations support.For more information about OPI, visit www.orionpropulsion.com.