March 6, 2017 - No. 019 In This Issue Airbus, Precise Flight Expand Bird-strike Prevention Bell Opens Valencia Training Academy in Spain China Airlines and NORDAM Aerospace Maintenance Group Announces Joint Venture in Taiwan Indian Civil Aviation Authority Certificates L3 Bengaluru MRO Facility Triumph Group Sells APU MRO Business Safran Moving Ahead with Larger Engine Program Airlines could reduce climate impact by 10% by making these small changes to flights Lockheed Martin, BAE Systems Vie For Australia Radar Upgrade Gill Issued PMA for Bell 407 Sealed Lead-acid Battery Don't expect a space race. SpaceX and NASA need each other Airbus, Precise Flight Expand Bird-strike Prevention Airbus Helicopters and Precise Flight (Booth 4317) have been granted an amended supplemental type certificate (STC) for the latter company's Pulselite bird-strike prevention system, which is installed on more than 25,000 aircraft (around 84 percent of the world's business aviation fleet). Some 67 Airbus helicopter models are now covered, including all EC135, H135, EC145, H145 and AS350 models. Pulselite is a controller that alternately pulses the landing and auxiliary lights of the helicopter to increase its visibility. According to Precise Flight, Pulselite is the "only FAA-approved onboard solution proven to reduce bird strikes for commercial aviation." "A growing body of research," the company explained, "including a recent USDA [Department of Agriculture] advisory, confirms that steady-state lights create a false and dangerous illusion that aircraft are stationery or moving slowly. When a pulsing movement is added to an aircraft's exterior lighting, it accentuates the speed and directional movement of the aircraft, thereby increasing aircraft recognition and significantly decreasing bird strikes. "In addition to reducing bird strikes, the Pulselite system also reduces the chance of midair and ground collisions. Pulsing exterior lights makes a helicopter significantly more recognizable to humans, and more accurately reflects its proximity, speed and directional movement." Lindsay Cunningham, v-p of civil programs at Airbus Helicopters, said, "We consider the Pulselite system an important safety option, and we are excited to add these aircraft to the list of models now certified for the system." The Pulselite system is available as both a standard safety option on new aircraft from Airbus Helicopters and as an aftermarket modification. Precise Flight claims studies have found the system to reduce bird strikes by 30 to 66 percent. The company added that the number of bird strike incidents experienced by the industry has increased significantly in recent years, with the resultant effects on safety and repair costs. It said that, according to the FAA, bird strikes to helicopters have increased more that 700 percent since the early 2000s, while HAI has noted that air medical services report an average of one bird strike every week, with the problem steadily getting worse. Meanwhile the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Administration has warned the rotorcraft industry that Canada goose populations in North America increased from 500,000 in 1980 to more than 3.8 million today. During that same period, the snow goose population increased from 2.1 million to 6.6 million. One Pulselite user is Maverick Helicopters, which flies helicopter tours in the Las Vegas, Grand Canyon and Hoover Dam areas. John Mandernach, v-p of maintenance, said the Pulselite system had virtually eliminated what had become a persistent and serious problem with bird strikes. "I preach to everyone who will listen about the effectiveness of the Pulselite system. Since installing the Pulselite system on our fleet, the bird strikes we were experiencing have been virtually eliminated. It's been over seven years and 250,000 flight hours since our last bird strike." Evidence such as this has made Pulselite a prerequisite for Tour Operators Program of Safety (TOPS) certification, according to Precise Flight. Jen Boyer, TOPS executive director, said, "For more than 20 years, [TOPS] has been dedicated to enhancing helicopter tour safety by requiring our members to meet requirements above those set by the FAA." Here at Heli-Expo, Precise Flight also is announcing a new partnership with Rigid Industries/TruckLite for its LEDs to be made available in the aviation industry. "The lights will be certified and sold in the rotorcraft industry under the Precise Flight brand," said Precise Flight CEO Doug La Placa. "The combination of the Pulselite System with [these] LEDs offers rotorcraft operators an entirely new level of aircraft recognition and safety. The LEDs are manufactured in the United States and are backed by a lifetime warranty." https://www.ainonline.com/aviation-news/general-aviation/2017-03-04/airbus-precise-flight- expand-bird-strike-prevention Back to Top Bell Opens Valencia Training Academy in Spain Bell Helicopter's worldwide customer service and support offering took a major step forward on February 14 when it opened its first training center outside the U.S., colocated with Textron's Citation service center facility at Valencia Airport in Spain. The first training being carried out at the new center is initial, type and recurrent training in a new Level D simulator configured as a Bell 429, manufactured by Bell sister company TRU Simulation + Training. The new-design Odyssey H device has a curved, continuous screen/display with 11 projectors creating a 240-degree-horizontal by 80-degree-vertical field of view. It also has a secondary motion base to vibrate the cockpit, making for a more realistic experience. An iPad can serve as the instructor station, and the simulator is designed to swap out the cockpit module with a different helicopter type. The new Bell training academy marks the first step in the company's ambitions to place training and support closer to its customers. The company said that as well as receiving interest from European customers it had been surprised by the interest from South American operators. It is in the process of obtaining Argentinian approval along with consent from a range of other countries, including India, Nigeria, Brazil and Chile. Bell has a growing number of customers in Europe, and it has done particularly well with fleet customers around the periphery of the region, such as the Turkish national police/forestry (fifteen 429s), the Swedish national police (seven 429s) and Air Transport Europe (three 429s). It also has many customers with single aircraft, including in Russia, and in total, it has around seventy 429s in the European region. The second bay in the simulator room remains empty, but Textron is considering placing a device for fixed-wing (Citation) pilot training there. The EASA Bell 429 type rating (IFR) takes two weeks (10 working days) with 24 hours of training, including 12 hours in the simulator and 12 hours of ground school. The recurrent regimen takes seven hours of training over three days (including 4.5 hours in the sim). EASA also requires a minimum of two hours actual flying in the helicopter plus a skills test. "We're trying to get closer to our customers, understand what the customer needs and to know how we can add value," said Glenn Isbell Jr., executive v-p of customer support and services. He forecast that most growth would come in the parapublic and police areas, following the trend already established. https://www.ainonline.com/aviation-news/general-aviation/2017-03-05/bell-opens-valencia- training-academy-spain Back to Top China Airlines and NORDAM Aerospace Maintenance Group Announces Joint Venture in Taiwan Chairman Nuan-Hsuan Ho of China Airlines and Vice Chairman and COO T. Hastings Siegfried of NORDAM signed a memorandum of understanding in Taoyuan today to explore the formation of a joint venture (JV) to provide maintenance repair and overhaul (MRO) services for thrust reversers and other composite aerospace parts in the Asia Pacific region. The JV is intended to be NORDAM's sole commercial MRO facility in Asia and will offer its services under the NORDAM brand name. China Airlines maintenance facility and NORDAM have a long-standing partnership. The consensus to explore the JV model was established after several discussions over a 9-month period. The objectives of setting up the MRO JV are 3-fold: to fulfill the maintenance requirements of the thrust reverser and composite parts fitted on China Airlines fleet; further develop China Airlines maintenance facility's composite repair capabilities for composite parts such as nacelles, exhaust, radomes, flight controls and aerostructures; and enhance the aviation industry capabilities in Taiwan. The two companies have been partnering for more than 10 years with NORDAM providing thrust reverser repair and overhaul services as well as assistance to China Airlines maintenance facility to develop composite repair capabilities thus laying a solid foundation for the cooperation. Thus when NORDAM was looking for a competitive location for a new commercial MRO facility in Asia, both companies engaged in discussions on a new cooperation model to maintain and strengthen its MRO presence in the Asia Pacific region. http://aviationtribune.com/airlines/asia/cebu-pacific-air/ Back to Top Indian Civil Aviation Authority Certificates L3 Bengaluru MRO Facility India's Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) has granted Civil Aviation Requirements (CAR) 145 certification to L3 Aviation Product's maintenance, repair and overhaul (MRO) facility, L3 says. The company can now repair and support civil avionics at its facility in Bengaluru. Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd. (HAL) aircraft can now receive service and support for L3's FA2100/FA2300 flight data recorders, among other commercial and business aircraft avionics. "This service will ensure [original equipment manufacturers] levels of quality and support, reduce turnaround times and provide a best-value, in-country solution to the civil aviation community in India," Krishen Ganase, president of L3's Aviation Products sector, says. "L3 is proud to have a strong commitment and growing presence in India, manufacturing, supplying and supporting avionics products for more than 1,500 aircraft. L3 Aviation Products is one of the first avionics OEMs to establish an MRO facility in India." http://www.aviationtoday.com/2017/03/03/indian-civil-aviation-authority-certificates-l3-bengaluru- mro-facility/ Back to Top Triumph Group Sells APU MRO Business The Gores Group, a global investment firm, and Triumph Group, Inc. (NYSE:TGI) announced on February 9th that Gores Small Capitalization Partners have completed the acquisition of Triumph's U.S. APU MRO business, of Triumph Air Repair and Triumph Engines. The completion of transaction for the Auxiliary Power Unit (APU) Overhaul Operations of Triumph Aviation Services - Asia (TASA) is expected to close in March. The combined businesses have been rebranded as TurbineAero, Inc. ("TurbineAero"). As part of the formation of TurbineAero, industry executive Rob Higby has joined the company as Chief Executive Officer. "This is an exciting new chapter for the TurbineAero team, our industry partners, and our customers," said Rob Higby. "The Gores Group is an ideal partner for TurbineAero as we enter the next phase of growth and expand our portfolio of work. With their growth expertise and the addition of several aviation and service focused executives, we are steadfast in our commitment to further increase industry defining service levels and our breadth of APU MRO service offerings that our customers around the world have come to expect." Rob Wilson, Dom Schiano and John Janitz (former senior executives from Honeywell, Textron, and TRW) have joined the board of directors and will provide strategic guidance to the business. At a press conference for media representatives at the TASA-Chonoburi facility in Thailand, held two days after the kick-off of "Opportunities Thailand 4.0" conference in Bangkok, on 15th February, Rob Higby told AMT Magazine " If it is APU, we can do it!" - clearly stating the TurbineAero goal. Rob Higby was invited by the Thailand BOI (Board Of Investment), by the Ajarin Pattanapanchai, Deputy Secretary General to be a speaker for aerospace seminar on topic of "Thailand's MRO Potential". The press at the Chonoburi facility was first greeted by Remy Maitam, President of the TAS-Asia. Rob Higby described the TurbineAero structure and activities saying than TurbineAero is the world's leading independent aerospace component maintenance, repair, and overhaul service provider focused on APUs and related products. The business provides military, commercial, and regional airline customers with a comprehensive maintenance solution for their legacy and new APU engine models. TurbineAero provides global coverage from two modern facilities located in the U.S.A., in Chandler, and Tempe /Arizona, and now in Chonburi/Thailand. In addition, it is a provider of hot- section component manufacturing and repair services for original equipment manufacturers, aircraft operators, and repair and overhaul providers, offering extensive and unique capabilities, including complex machining, engineering, inspection, non-destructive testing, and thermal coatings in its Tempe, Arizona facility. According to Rob Higby the TurbineAero has 200+ employees and is worth approx. $100M USD in annual revenues, and over 10,000 APU's and 200,000 accessories serviced. About The Gores Group: The Gores Group, founded in 1987 by Alec Gores, is a global investment firm focused on acquiring controlling interests in mature and growing businesses which can benefit from the firm's operating experience and flexible capital base. The firm combines the operational expertise and detailed due diligence capabilities of a strategic buyer with the seasoned M&A team of a traditional financial buyer. Over its 30 year history, The Gores Group has become a leading investor, having demonstrated a reliable track record of creating value in its portfolio companies alongside management. Headquartered in Los Angeles, The Gores Group maintains offices in Boulder, Co., and London. For more information, please visit http://www.gores.com. About Triumph Group: Triumph Group, Inc., headquartered in Berwyn, Pennsylvania, designs, engineers, manufactures, repairs and overhauls a broad portfolio of aircraft structures, components, accessories, sub- assemblies and systems. The company serves a broad, worldwide spectrum of the aviation industry, including original equipment manufacturers of commercial, regional, business and military aircraft and aircraft components, as well as commercial and regional airlines and air cargo carriers. http://www.triumphgroup.com/ http://www.aviationpros.com/news/12311665/triumph-group-sells-apu-mro-business Back to Top Safran Moving Ahead with Larger Engine Program Safran Helicopter Engines CEO Bruno Even called 2016 "a challenging year," with flat deliveries and customers flying significantly fewer hours, putting a big dent in support revenues. But there were also bright spots that included the formal announcement of a new larger-engine program and several first flights. "In 2016 we achieved great commercial success with five first flights," Even noted. These include the Airbus H160 flying for the first time with Arrano engines; first flight of the Russian Helicopters Kamov Ka-62 on April 28 powered by Ardiden 3Gs; the July 27 first of Avic's AC312e in China with the Arriel 2E; India's first flight of the single engine HAL light utility on September 16 with the Shakti 1U (Ardiden 1H); and at the end of December, first flight of the Chinese Avicopter AC352, powered by the WZ16. The WZ16 engine is the Chinese variant of the Safran Ardiden 3C, and it was co-designed and co- produced with Safran's Chinese partner, which includes CAPI and Dongan, parts of the new Aero Engine Corporation of China consortium. Safran said the new-generation 1,500- to 2,000-shp turboshaft features compact modular architecture, a best-in-class power-to-weight ratio, low cost of ownership and 10 percent lower fuel consumption than competitive engines. "On the Airbus H135, a helicopter in which we are in engine competition, we finished the year with 74 percent market share," Even said. "We think the market will be flat in 2017," he said, "and our new engine programs will remain stable. We are committed to certifying the Arrano by the end of 2018, and continue to mature the engine in both ground and flight tests. We continue our partnerships in the developing countries and in the long-term we believe that the growth in the helicopter market will come from countries including India and China. We are already in strong positions in these countries with our strategic partnerships. We are continuing with the certification of the Ardiden for our Indian and Chinese partners." Safran formally took the wraps off its long-anticipated new engine program last year. Even said that work continues on developing a new powerplant based on the previously disclosed Tech 3000 program in the output range of 2,500 shp, to be ready by 2020, and a higher powered 3,000-shp variant to be ready by 2025. Currently Safran's 2,100-shp Makila 2A1, which powers the Airbus H225, is the company's most powerful engine. The new engines are expected to provide competition to GE's CT7 series, which are aimed at the super-midsize and large helicopter markets, including the still under wraps Airbus X6. Even said the company's goal is to be able to offer a full range of powerplant choices between 500 and 3,000 shp. For Safran, Even said, innovation not only means providing more powerful new engines, but also engines that are demonstrably more efficient that the competition's, perhaps by as much as 18 percent. And that means "finding a way to optimize the fuel consumption in all phases of cruise conditions," he said. Even said he was gratified by the company's high ranking in customer satisfaction and support surveys and that Safran plans to continue investing in maintaining and improving customer service. https://www.ainonline.com/aviation-news/general-aviation/2017-03-05/safran-moving-ahead- larger-engine-program Back to Top Airlines could reduce climate impact by 10% by making these small changes to flights Airlines could reduce their climate impact by up to 10% by making small changes to some flight routes, research by University of Reading scientists has shown. Their new study shows airlines could make a large positive impact on climate change by altering flight routes to avoid areas where emissions have the largest impact. The changes would be comparatively small - resulting in only around a 1% increase in operating costs. An international research team, including Professor Keith Shine and Dr Emma Irvine from Reading's Meteorology Department, alongside experts from the DLR Institute of Atmospheric Physics in Germany, Eurocontrol in Brussels, and the Center for International Climate and Environmental Research (CICERO) in Oslo, published their results today in the journal Environmental Research Letters. Professor Shine, Regius Professor of Meteorology and Climate Science, said: "Climate-friendly routing of aircraft has an exciting potential to decrease the climate impact of aviation, without the need for costly redesign of aircraft, their engines, and airports. "With more targeted research, it could become a reality in the next 10 years." Lead author Volker Grewe, from the DLR-Institute of Atmospheric Physics and Professor at the Delft University of Technology, said: "Around 5% of man-made climate change is caused by global aviation, and this number is expected to rise. However, this impact could be reduced if flights were routed to avoid regions where emissions have the largest impact. "Aviation is different from many other sectors, since its climate impact is largely caused by non- CO2 effects, such as contrails and ozone formation. These non-CO2 effects vary regionally, and, by taking advantage of that, a reduction of aviation's climate impact is feasible. "Our study looked at how feasible of such a routing strategy is. We took into account a representative set of weather situations for winter and summer, as well as safety issues, and optimised all trans-Atlantic air traffic on those days." Large benefit for small cost Using calculations of emissions, climate change functions, and air traffic simulations, the research team evaluated 85 alternative routes (17 horizontal and five vertical) for each of the roughly 400 flights crossing the North Atlantic in either direction each day. Professor Grewe said: "Our results show that under appropriate framework conditions and regulations, cost-effective climate-optimized routing has the potential to significantly reduce the climate impact from aviation. "We adopted a detailed modelling framework to estimate the benefits and costs of air traffic routing options over the North Atlantic. The results for five representative winter and three representative summer situations show the potential to reduce the climate impact of aviation by roughly 10% at relatively low costs of 1%." The study showed that, in all-weather situations, routes could be found that reduced the climate impact at low costs, though the intensity in climate impact reduction varied. "Although cost increases were low, they probably constitute a barrier to implementation, since the airline's return on investment is also in this order of magnitude," said Professor Grewe. "However, with a market-based measure in place, which includes also these non-CO2 effects, costs for climate-optimized routing could be traded with costs for equivalent CO2 emissions. That would allow climate-optimal routing to become beneficial for both climate and airlines." Four hurdles that must be overcome However, the study raised questions and potential concerns, regarding the maturity level, scientific uncertainties, and political and ethical questions. Professor Grewe said: "The concept of climate-optimal routing is not mature enough to be directly implemented in the real world, basically for four reasons. "First, the calculation of the climate-change functions must be robust, and fast enough to become operational, and we must have high confidence in the forecast weather conditions. Second, consensus needs to be achieved on to what extent additional contrail formation should be allowed, which - over a chosen time span - cools the global climate more than the additional CO2 emitted by climate-optimized routing warms. "Third, the implications on air traffic management have to be identified. Although safety issues do not limit the results for the North Atlantic flight corridor, they might limit the applicability in areas of higher air traffic densities. And finally, a market-based measure or alternative measures, including these non-CO2 effects, are needed to foster climate-optimal routing. "Our study clearly shows the benefits in climate impact reduction, if these barriers can be overcome." https://phys.org/news/2017-03-airlines-climate-impact-small-flights.html Back to Top Lockheed Martin, BAE Systems Vie For Australia Radar Upgrade GEELONG, Australia-Australia is close to choosing between Lockheed Martin and BAE Systems to upgrade the Jindalee over-the-horizon radar system by implementing technology developed by the country's defense department. Significant but undisclosed performance improvements to these giant radars of the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) are likely to result from the program. The effort will cost at least hundreds of millions of Australian (or U.S.) dollars for implementation and will be followed by a sustainment effort of similar expense over the 35 years of intended operation, industry sources say. The winning contractor will initially undertake sustainment, though that work will be subject to periodic competition. The upgrade is due to begin next year and be completed by 2020. The department is in the comfortable position of having a choice between two major contractors that are each highly familiar with the system, because Lockheed Martin maintains two of the radars while BAE maintains the other. Both companies confirmed to Aviation Week at the Avalon Australian International Airshow that they were bidding. A decision may be only weeks away. The sensors, with arrays kilometers long, are placed in the Outback and peer thousands of kilometers to the north and west of the continent by bouncing high-frequency radio energy off the ionosphere. They detect targets by Doppler shift, the slight change in frequency caused by movement toward or away from the antennas, and are therefore most effective against aircraft. Although Jindalee development began in the 1970s and the system became operational in 2003, considerable improvements in performance are still possible, a program source says, declining to elaborate. As with earlier stages in the Jindalee program, the technology for the upgrade has been largely developed by the department's Defense Science and Technology Group. The chosen contractor will further develop the technology for operational application and install it. The upgrade, Project Joint 2025 Phase 6, is coming hard on the heels of the previous improvement effort, Phase 5, which was done by BAE Systems and Lockheed Martin and increased the speed, sensitivity and precision of the sensors and knitted them into the RAAF's command and control system. For Phase 6, low-power radio-frequency elements-the signal generator and the receivers-will be upgraded, while signal processing equipment and software is also renewed. Another change will be further improvements in command and control, to facilitate the tasking of the radars by operational commanders. The radars are controlled from RAAF Edinburgh, a base at Adelaide, where tracks are extracted from raw data. The tracks go to RAAF Williamtown, at Newcastle, where they are fused with other sensor information to create the national tactical air picture. http://aviationweek.com/avalon-airshow/lockheed-martin-bae-systems-vie-australia-radar-upgrade Back to Top Gill Issued PMA for Bell 407 Sealed Lead-acid Battery The FAA has issued parts manufacturer approval (PMA) to Teledyne Technologies division Gill Batteries for its 7407-28 sealed lead-acid battery for all models of the Bell 407. Bell has also selected the 7407-28 battery as standard equipment on new Bell 407 GXPs. In addition to costing less than competing batteries, Gill's sealed lead-acid batteries are simpler to maintain compared to nickel-cadmium batteries. The 7407-28 can be used for up to 18 months or 1,800 hours before requiring removal for charging and a capacity check, according to Gill. It also offers more initial startup power, more residual power after engine start and up to 50-percent faster recharge rates. Gill Batteries plans to seek FAA approval for the 7407-28 battery on Airbus, Leonardo and Robinson helicopter models. "Our plan is to continue to add FAA STCs and PMA approvals for our 7000 series/LT sealed lead-acid batteries for these rotorcraft throughout this year," said Gill Batteries general manager Armando Chacon. Gill Batteries is based in Redlands, Calif., and has been manufacturing lead-acid batteries since 1920. Unlike Gill's dry-charged batteries, which must be filled with electrolyte and charged before use, sealed lead-acid batteries are already charged at the factory and ready for installation in the aircraft without further charging or servicing. Gill's 7000 series batteries feature high IPP and IPR ratings, which are measurements of starting power and capacity after engine starting, according to Chacon. "The 7000 series rates much higher than the competition for a similar footprint [battery]," he said. This is especially useful for short flight durations, where the battery needs to be recharged in a short period of time. "Our batteries have that higher IPR so you will be able to restart and do short hops." The Gill LT sealed batteries have a two-year, 1,200-hour warranty. While sealed batteries cost more than dry-charged batteries, the lower maintenance costs can offset that higher price. "When you factor in the lack of maintenance required for the 7000," he said, "I believe you're getting a better value." Gill Batteries also offers chargers for all of its batteries, both for maintenance (trickle charging when not flying) and for recovering a battery from a deep discharge. "That's a unique feature of the 7000 series," he said. "If it's deeply discharged, we have the equipment and we provide the training to maintain our batteries to properly bring them back to life. We want our customers to get the full life of the battery." https://www.ainonline.com/aviation-news/general-aviation/2017-03-05/gill-issued-pma-bell-407- sealed-lead-acid-battery Back to Top Don't expect a space race. SpaceX and NASA need each other SpaceX, the upstart company, and NASA, the government agency, both have plans to venture to Mars and orbit the moon. But that doesn't mean they've launched a new space race. In fact, NASA has long been SpaceX's most important customer, providing contracts to deliver cargo and eventually astronauts to the International Space Station. And the Hawthorne company will need NASA's technical support to achieve the first of its grand ambitions in deep space. SpaceX Chief Executive Elon Musk acknowledged as much last week, shortly after announcing that SpaceX would launch two private, paying individuals on a weeklong lunar flyby in 2018. "SpaceX could not do this without NASA," Musk tweeted. "Can't express enough appreciation." NASA, on the other hand, has come to rely on SpaceX and other companies for transport to the space station as its funding has tightened. In today's dollars, the agency's budget is about half what it was at the peak of the 1960s, and down from the 1990s. In the wake of the SpaceX news, NASA issued a statement that said it is "changing the way it does business through its commercial partnerships," in part to "free" the agency to focus on rockets and spacecraft to go beyond the moon into deep space. "The whole idea is that NASA is at the point of a spear," said Howard McCurdy, professor in the school of public affairs at American University. "It's like exploration of any terrestrial realm. This is the way the model is supposed to work." Indeed, the rapid ascent of Musk and other space industry pioneers is validation of the public- private partnership envisioned when Congress passed the Commercial Space Launch Act of 1984. By the mid-2000s, NASA was signing contracts with the private sector to fill in for its own funding constraints and the impending retirement of the space shuttle program. In 2006, SpaceX won its first NASA award for $278 million to help develop the company's now- workhorse Falcon 9 rocket and Dragon space capsule. It later received an additional $118 million, and SpaceX contributed a total of about $454 million of its own funds to finish development, according to a NASA report. Two years later, SpaceX won a $1.6-billion NASA contract to transport cargo to the space station. The deal came as the fledgling company of about 400 employees was starting to successfully launch the Falcon 1 from an atoll in the Marshall Islands. It was not just NASA's financial resources and technical support that helped SpaceX, said company President Gwynne Shotwell, but also the agency's trust. "We would not be the company that we are today without that early support from NASA," Shotwell said. "We would have made it, but it would have been more of a struggle, it would have taken us longer." A major milestone for the partnership came in 2012 when SpaceX launched its first NASA cargo load, making it the first private company to send a spacecraft to the space station. Marco Caceres, senior space analyst at the Teal Group, said the NASA supply missions gave SpaceX "almost instant credibility." "Having NASA as an anchor client allowed them to have enough revenue flow so that they could establish themselves and eventually diversify and get some commercial contracts and eventually to be able to get into the military establishment," he said. Today, SpaceX and Boeing Co. are developing separate crew capsules as part of NASA contracts to transport astronauts to the space station. SpaceX noted that this NASA program provided most of the funding to develop the Dragon 2 spacecraft, which will make the moon trip. It is planning to conduct the first test flight of the Dragon crew capsule in November, followed by a flight test with humans in May 2018. Once operational crewed flights to the space station are underway, the company said it would launch its Dragon capsule atop the Falcon Heavy rocket, which was developed with SpaceX funds, for the lunar mission in late 2018. Other well-known, newer space companies have also recently been awarded NASA contracts, including Amazon.com Inc. founder Jeff Bezos' Blue Origin and British billionaire Richard Branson's Virgin Galactic. Both of those companies intend to target the suborbital space tourism markets, though Blue Origin has also unveiled plans for a launch vehicle called the New Glenn, which the company has said could lift astronauts to low-Earth orbit or even beyond. Blue Origin is interested in developing a lunar spacecraft and lander, and eventually, a delivery service for the moon, according to a white paper obtained by the Washington Post that the company sent to NASA officials and President Trump's transition team. Virgin Orbit, which recently split from Virgin Galactic, is focused on launching small satellites. NASA's role as a "development catalyst" has been part of the agency's objectives since its earliest days, said Sean O'Keefe, a former NASA administrator and current university professor at Syracuse University. "The idea was to spin that into opportunities for commercial market potential for other discoveries, for those who would build on the knowledge base of what was determined, discovered or invented as a means to overcome obstacles and take it to another level," he said. Phil McAlister, division director for commercial spaceflight development at NASA, called the recent advances of the space companies "really positive." "Moving human presence deeper into space is going to require the best of NASA and the private sector," he said. Over the last 10 years, he added, NASA's private partners have become more technologically mature and capable. It's unclear whether NASA will provide any further assistance for the SpaceX moon shot, though Musk emphasized that the agency would have first priority if it wanted to work with SpaceX on a lunar orbit mission. NASA also has its own plans to fly around the moon with a crew in tow. Last month, NASA said it would look into the feasibility of putting a crew on the first flight test of its Orion spacecraft and heavy-lift rocket, Space Launch System, in 2019. That mission is set to go around the moon to test maneuvers that would be necessary to eventually go farther into deep space. While both SLS and Falcon Heavy will have heavy-launch capabilities, they may not necessarily be redundant, said Dava Newman, former NASA deputy administrator and Apollo program professor of astronautics at MIT. "If in the next two years there's two capabilities for heavy-lift, that'd be awesome," she said. "Having one system leaves you vulnerable" to system failures. The nature of NASA's mission, and its funding, is up in the air under the new Trump administration, however. The agency is still waiting on Trump to appoint a new administrator, and there has been debate in Washington about whether NASA should go back to the moon or venture ahead toward Mars. SpaceX's private moon mission could influence that debate, McCurdy said. "It certainly complicates the argument that the moon-firsters would like to make." Both SpaceX and NASA plan flights to Mars. Last year, Musk unveiled plans to colonize the Red Planet, sending up to a million people on more than 1,000 spaceships, stretched over decades. He called for a public-private partnership, but the nature of any collaboration was unclear. The two entities will team up on at least one launch - SpaceX's first Red Dragon uncrewed mission to Mars, now aimed at 2020, two years behind Musk's original timeline. NASA has more than 50 years of experience with Mars exploration and will provide SpaceX with technical support during the mission, which could include help with data transmission from deep space, flight systems and engineering, and mission design and navigation. In exchange, NASA is interested in the entry, descent and landing data from the capsule. SpaceX has started testing some of that supersonic retro-propulsion technology by landing its first- stage rocket booster on floating platforms and on land, a technique that could be important for future Mars landings, said Ellen Stofan, former NASA chief scientist. NASA has successfully landed rovers on Mars weighing up to almost a ton. The robots have dropped to the planet's surface in air bags, using rockets, and with the assistance of cables extended from a "sky crane" - all methods that are problematic for landing humans. A human mission would weigh considerably more, somewhere between 10 and 20 tons, Newman said. "It is an order of magnitude greater than we've ever done," she said. "We all want to figure out how to get to Mars. And one of the things we need to figure out is to get humans there safely." http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-spacex-nasa-20170301-story.html Curt Lewis