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Company Develops Vehicle for NASA Launch System
NORTH LIMA, Ohio – A 6-year-old company best known for manufacturing components for off-road vehicles is part of a new project that can take its business really off-road.
KTSDI LLC, at 801 East Middletown Rd., plans this year to test a vehicle it's designed for NASA that assists with launching balloons carrying payloads such as satellites into space.
"The plan is to do some prototype testing with NASA in New Mexico in mid-to-late summer," reports Ken Timmings, manager. By next year, the company expects to test its first official launch in Hawaii, he said.
The company designed, engineered and is manufacturing a new vehicle for a launch system that would replace the method now used by NASA for delivering scientific instruments into the stratosphere via helium-filled balloons.
With the retirement of the space shuttle program, NASA plans to rely more on this system to deliver instruments into outer space, Timmings said. This method, he added, is roughly "1,000 times cheaper," than the shuttle program.
KTSDI has designed and developed a truck able to pivot and adjust for wind conditions at a launch site, Timmings said. The balloon – 300 feet high and about 100 times the size of a Goodyear blimp – would unwind from a cylinder on the vehicle as it's inflated.
The vehicle is attached to a tether support table measuring 750 feet in length, which runs directly to a launch tower holding the payload. The objective is to use the vehicle to pivot the balloon into place and position it with the wind direction at a 90-degree angle. As the large wheels turn on the truck, the tether table moves with it.
Once the balloon is maneuvered into position, it's released from the vehicle. The payload – up to 20,000 pounds -- is released from the launch tower when the balloon is fully aloft.
"Our product is a key component to the launch," Timmings said.
NASA currently uses a stationary launch pad with the payload tethered at the base of the balloon.
In 2010, a NASA launch in Australia turned into disaster when a shift in high winds caused the balloon to change direction, while its multimillion-dollar satellite was dragged out of control along the desert floor, slammed into parked cars and sent onlookers scurrying for their lives.
While no one was hurt during the incident, the payload was destroyed, Timmings said.
"The entire project is a consortium of companies," Timmings said. "NASA has developed a new launch system that includes a tower, a table and our truck at the end of the table." The system and vehicle was developed in conjunction with NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California.
In the future, these balloon launches may include unmanned missions to Mars, he added.
Timmings said his company has worked on the project in earnest for the past eight months. About a year ago, KTSDI conducted a feasibility study to prove it could work. Once that was demonstrated, NASA gave the go-ahead on development.
KTSDI, he reported, has grown at an amazing rate since it was founded in 2007. "We've grown between 30% and 40% every year," Timmings said. The company has evolved from a one-man operation to 12 employees today.
The entire vehicle is manufactured and assembled at the 12,000-square-foot North Lima plant, while the components – including the vehicle's hydraulic brake system and control panel -- are sourced from other U.S. manufacturers, Timmings said.
KTSDI is also one of the early beneficiaries of the state of Ohio's Learn to Earn program, a training program that allows those who have lost their jobs to apprentice at an employer for six weeks, for 24 hours a week.
Tim Sams, who was busy working on a module for the Port of Washington when reporters visited Monday, reports that he is among the first participants in the program statewide. "I'm in my fifth week of training," he said.
Aside from its NASA prospects, the company manufactures and supplies components and parts used in the off-road vehicle industry, and has experienced growth across the board in all market segments. "We've gained market share every year," Timmings said.
Tim Ross, Gov. John Kasich's representative for eastern Ohio, accompanied reporters on a brief tour of the plant. "It's very interesting to see some of the projects they're doing," he said. "Especially its use of the Learn to Earn program. It's a great success story in Youngstown."
Copyright 2013 The Business Journal, Youngstown, Ohio.
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