August 13, 2018 - No. 064 In This Issue F5: HAECO Composite Services After Spirit AeroSystems Divested Aviation document management company is first in flights Yulista Holding opens new fixed and rotary wing facility CSAT Plans Capacity, Technology Investments Amid cash crunch, Jet Airways to face safety audit by aviation regulator. FL Technics Lands Comair Limited as a New Client Chorus Eyes More Part-out Business Northeast seeking federal certification of aviation program, lawmakers' help Emergency procedures not followed in Wonderboom plane accident: CAA. Colorado Aviation Expert: Theft Of Seattle Aircraft Will Provide Safety Lessons SpaceX is quietly planning Mars-landing missions with the help of NASA and other spaceflight experts F5: HAECO Composite Services After Spirit AeroSystems Divested Spirit AeroSystems announced its intent to sell its share of HAECO Spirit AeroSystems in April to its JV partner HAECO. With the transaction now complete and the company rebranded to HAECO Composite Services, Aviation Week speaks with Sunny Mirchandani, the company's director and general manager, who says the company's business objectives will remain the same, and "we will continue to expand our portfolio of maintenance services for nacelles, flight control surfaces, radomes and other composite structures for narrowbody, widebody and regional aircraft." What are your biggest business drivers of revenue? Are there particular products that are in great demand now? The biggest business drivers by revenue have been repair/overhaul of nacelles, and they will continue to be so for the foreseeable future. However, since our capability set-up of flight control surfaces and radomes, we have seen a sizeable growth in revenue from these product lines over the last two years. There are a lot of narrowbody aircraft (both Boeing and Airbus) in the Greater China/Asia-Pacific region and we are seeing higher frequency of component removals. Also, with the increasing number of widebody aircraft in the Greater China region (along with increased cargo traffic), we expect to see significant growth in revenue from repair of nacelles and flight controls for those aircraft. HAECO Composite Services's website says the company is an authorized repair station for Safran Nacelles. Is the company seeking any additional partnerships? HAECO Composites' business model is very OEM centric and we are an authorized repair station and/or preferred service provider for multiple OEM's including Safran Nacelles. Forming strategic long-term partnerships with major OEMs will always be a part of our growth strategy. Is most of the work you do for Chinese customers? Our customer base is global and consists of operators, OEMs, lessors, and third-party MROs. Our business volume from China continues to grow and is driven by (a) increased work from airlines in the Greater China region and (b) repair opportunities from global airlines that fly into China and/or get their aircraft maintenance done in the Greater China region. Given the projected growth in Chinese airlines, how will your company keep up with the demand? Is it hard to find enough manpower to do this? Yes, the growth in this region has been unprecedented. The demand is not only fueled by the growth of Chinese airlines, but also by the increased air traffic in this region by other international airlines. Both these aspects have been key contributors to our revenue growth from China. Our existing facility was purpose built for this growth and we see no constraints in terms of facilities and equipment to keep up with the increased demand. When expansion is needed, we have access to land adjacent to our existing facility. As for manpower, we have an in-house training program and we recruit regionally. We remain focused on staff welfare and continued training to increase staff retention. Your career has been very global. Given this, how do you think the tariff and trade wars will impact aviation? Like many other industry peers, I believe the impact of a potential trade war on aviation still remains to be seen. There are tariffs on over 1,000 products, which could impact major OEMs' parts in the Chinese supply chain. Although the fears of Chinese retaliation continue, our industry has not yet seen any slowdown or pullbacks. However, that does not mean that a potential trade war is a non-threat to aviation. https://www.mro-network.com/advanced-materials-composites/f5-haeco-composite-services-after-spirit-aerosystems-divested Back to Top Aviation document management company is first in flights Flightdocs founder and CEO Rick Heine moved his groundbreaking internet-based aviation maintenance tracking system from New York to Southwest Florida in 2009, intending to reinvest tax savings and take advantage of fewer regulations. The company, back then, moved to Bonita Springs with a staff of 10. Nearly a decade later, Flightdocs is grappling with another issue, a good-to-have business challenge: managing rapid growth. It does that, says Heine, through paying better for better talent, then utilizing its workforce to stay ahead of trends and competitors with new products. Flightdocs recently opened a second office near its headquarters in the Riverview Center office park to house its new technology center and accommodate up to 35 additional software developers. The 7,500 new square feet will double the space the company previously occupied and free up space in the main office to expand its customer support operations. Over the past five years, Flightdocs has seen on average 30% to 40% growth in revenue year-over-year; officials decline to disclose specific revenue figures. In addition to growth, the company has a 98% customer retention rate, currently supporting several thousand aircraft worldwide across more than 250 models in several aviation segments. More than quadrupling personnel in nine years with plans to double it again in the next three presents challenges Heine says are better facilitated in Florida than in New York. The company has some 65 employees today, with plans to surpass 120 by 2021, about 60 of them software developers. It attracts developers, he says, by offering nationally competitive salaries and benefits and providing creativity-inspiring, collaborative workspace. "The standard challenges of scaling our team, building out new facilities and constantly innovating are things we deal with every day," says Heine. "We expect significant growth over the next 10 years. We are the only company to provide fully paperless operations that meet the requirements of all air regulatory agencies around the world. With the velocity it's growing, we're just getting started." Flightdocs provides cloud-based aviation maintenance, compliance and inventory management under a software-as-a-service model. The company's software enables aircraft owners and operators to track and manage the maintenance and airworthiness of their aircraft, comply with safety rules and regulatory guidelines, reduce costs, mitigate risk and minimize asset downtime. Practically alone in its space, Flightdocs is racing to keep up. "The economy has been picking up," Heine says. "Business has been booming along, and we've introduced some new products that have really taken off." Heine says the company invested millions of dollars developing its Enterprise system, which debuted in 2016, then followed up with its release of HMX - exclusively for the helicopter community. A new mobile app provides seamless document streaming between flight crews and maintenance and inventory personnel for real-time reporting and repair of mechanical issues. Next is a new program that incorporates flight scheduling, which will allow, for the first time says Heine, 100% paperless aviation operations. That product is expected to launch in October. More companies going paperless means more business, and a need for continued innovation. To keep up with the increasing demand while simultaneously developing new products, Flightdocs recruits developers locally and nationally, enticing talent with large-market pay and benefits. In addition to bringing in experienced developers, the company offers an internship program in association with Florida Gulf Coast University that trains talent in real-world situations, preparing them to be job-ready at graduation. Flightdocs has 17 FGCU graduates on its technology team. "We pay New York salaries," says Heine. "When these guys deliver and deliver big-time, they're worth it. We're going through a big growth spurt. We have the capacity to handle what we're going through, but we don't exceed that barrier. When we get to the point where we're really growing and we have to expand again, we'll make the big investment to make the jumps, but we will never grow beyond our ability to service our customers." The competitive pay and benefits attract talent. That puts Flightdocs in the enviable position of being selective. "We have a very good vetting structure. I'd probably be afraid to try to go through the rigor," says Heine. "It's all very friendly, but before you come in you have to have the ability to do the job because we serve a market where you can't put errors into it. The code has to be solid." As commercial aviation trends ever more toward paperless operations, Flightdocs is poised to take advantage of that shift. While there are no currently plans to enter the commercial airline market, Heine says "it's on our radar." https://www.businessobserverfl.com/article/aviation-document-management-company-is-first-in-flights Back to Top Yulista Holding opens new fixed and rotary wing facility Yulista Holding LLC opened its new fixed and rotary wing facility located at the Southern Alabama Regional Airport in Andalusia on Aug. 10. The complex was designed specifically for C-130 and B-737 aircraft but easily accommodates rotary and tilt rotor aircraft. With a close proximity to Eglin AFB and other military installations, the Andalusia Aviation Complex opens opportunities for new contracts and provides large bay hangar space to support our aviation customers. "Yulista is excited to be working with SARA and becoming a part of the Covington County and Andalusia communities," said CEO Josh Herren. "Our SARA facility is going to be instrumental in serving our customers by increasing our capacity and giving us the ability to support different customers, their missions and platforms. We are truly proud of the family of professionals that make up the SARA and Yulista team. We are committed to quality, safety, and operational excellence." The new expansion will potentially increase jobs and revenue for Andalusia and its surrounding areas within Covington County. The aviation complex consists of two hangars, main office, and manufacturing and integration space. Yulista is a recognized leader in the modernization and service life extension of rotary and fixed wing aircraft. Yulista capabilities include aircraft technology insertion, modification and maintenance, and aircraft training simulators and devices. We are certified as a Federal Aviation Administration Certified Repair Station, meeting Combined Federal Regulations Part 145 requirements for qualification of repair parts, authorized tools and equipment, calibration standards and procedures, training requirements, and FAA maintenance records. Yulista's Quality Management System is certified to Aerospace Standards AS9110, AS9100 and ISO 9001:2015. Yulista's wide range of core competencies include engineering and manufacturing, maintenance and modification, integrated logistics support, and training solutions. http://blog.al.com/press-releases/2018/08/yulista_holding_llc_announces_1.html Back to Top CSAT Plans Capacity, Technology Investments Czech Airlines Technics (CSAT) plans to roll out several investments over the next year across its maintenance operation, including additions to its base maintenance and parts repair divisions along with upgrades to its IT infrastructure. Pavel Hales, chairman of the board of directors, Czech Airlines Technics, says its component maintenance operation receives regular annual investments for equipment renewal and this will continue in future. Having opened its new line maintenance base in Prague in March of this year, Hales says it is also planning a hangar for base maintenance at the Czech capital's Václav Havel Airport. Base maintenance services account for more than half of CSAT's revenues. Following the addition of A320neo and 737 MAX line maintenance services in recent years, expansions to existing base maintenance and component services should soon follow, Hales adds. As it seeks greater efficiencies in its shops, CSAT has also prioritized upgrades to its IT setup. "Next year, we will invest in the RFID technologies and continue in stages, purchase new software for job and human resources planning and invest in mobile devices, alongside other projects." The past three years have seen investments in machinery, including grinding and shot peening machines, along with four complete sets of spare landing gear sets. "In 2019, we will also invest in a painting box and in other machines to ensure that we provide our customers with even higher quality and shorter turnaround times," Hales adds. https://www.mro-network.com/maintenance-repair-overhaul/csat-plans-capacity-technology-investments Back to Top Amid cash crunch, Jet Airways to face safety audit by aviation regulator The Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA), the aviation regulator, has decided to conduct an audit of Jet Airways, which is facing a severe liquidity crisis. Sources said the audit would focus on whether the financial stress was affecting the airline's operations and maintenance. Jet said it was aware of the proposed inspection. "The airline is prepared for it (audit). At Jet, safety is of paramount importance," a source said. A senior DGCA official said the audit was necessitated according to the guidelines of the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), which recommends the regulator to check security and safety standards of airlines. "We normally do periodic audit to ensure that they (airlines) are not compromising on passenger safety due to financial stress," said the senior DGCA official. Asked if the decision was taken in the light of the airline's financial crisis, the official said the current situation had influenced the audit call. "Financial difficulties and their impact on operations and maintenance call for an audit to check if the airline is facing an issue on payments to vendors, oil companies, and aircraft lessors," the official said. State Bank of India Chairman Rajnish Kumar had said last week that the bank had put Jet's account under watch for a possible loan default. "We have exposure to Jet. It is part of the watchlist SMA 1 and 2 in the June quarter," Kumar said. According to an Icra report, net debt of the airline as on March 31, 2018, stands at Rs 81.49 billion, with a heavy repayment schedule. The rating agency feels that the airline's current operating performance does not suggest enough cash flow accruals, hence, the scenario of a refinancing of payment is a good possibility. Jet, however, has clarified that despite the financial difficulties, there have not been any default in payment to banks and vendors. The airline has implemented a pay cut of up to 25 per cent for the senior management as part of its cost control. However, the airline has rolled back pay cut decisions for pilots and engineers. A PTI report quoting a source said: "We (the DGCA) will conduct the audit from August 27. A similar audit of Air India has been completed." The loss-making Air India, which has failed to attract any buyers, is awaiting Rs 9.80 billion additional funding from the government. Three banks and two lessors have served default notices on Air India in July. However, Business Standard could not immediately verify if Jet had been issued a similar notice. Explaining the process of the audit carried out on Air India, a senior official of the airline said the company was asked to submit details of the last checks done on each aircraft and guarantees from vendors that they have confidence in the airline's current management and financial health. https://www.business-standard.com/article/companies/amid-cash-crunch-jet-airways-to-face-safety-audit-by-aviation-regulator-118081200487_1.html Back to Top FL Technics Lands Comair Limited as a New Client FL Technics, a global provider of integrated aircraft maintenance, repair and overhaul services, has announced the signing of an agreement with Comair Limited, a private domestic airline operator in the Republic of South Africa listed on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange (JSE). Comair Limited is a South African aviation and travel company, offering scheduled and non-scheduled airline services within South Africa, Sub-Saharan Africa and the Indian Ocean Islands, as its main business. The company operates under its low-fare airline brand, kulula.com, as well as under the British Airways livery, as part of a license agreement. According the agreement, Comair Limited will receive extended Base maintenance services. "The first aircraft, a Kulula.com Boeing B737-800 is being completed a 6YR C Check", - said Zilvinas Lapinskas, CEO at FL Technics. https://www.aviationpros.com/press_release/12424525/fl-technics-lands-comair-limited-as-a-new-client Back to Top Chorus Eyes More Part-out Business Chorus Aviation is finding success with its fledgling part-out business and could expand it beyond out-of-production Bombardier Dash 8s and CRJs to newer aircraft, executives report. The company, which is diversifying its strategy to rely less on the regional flying its Jazz Aviation subsidiary does for Air Canada, has parted out 10 aircraft, and recently purchased two more--both Dash 8s--to support its Avparts business. "We generate healthy margins on this business, and we see potential for growth," says Chorus President and CEO Joe Randell Chorus's MRO work also includes performing Dash 8-300 extended service plan (ESP) upgrades under a deal with Bombardier. Chorus subsidiary Jazz Technical Services recently completed the seventh of what is expected to be at least 19 aircraft getting the ESP work, which adds about 15 years to an airframe's service life. Chorus has 26 Dash 8-300s and 18 CRJ200s in its fleet that benefit from its current part-out strategy, and sees the potential to broaden its scope. "The types of aircraft that we've been purchasing and parting out are very old...Dash 8 turboprop, some CRJs that we bought without engines," says Jolene Mahody, Chorus CFO."As we grow the business... we would like to move more toward in-production aircraft and start to part out those." The push into MRO is part of a broadening of a portfolio that relies heavily on Air Canada. Jazz operates 116 aircraft to 78 destinations for the Canadian carrier--work that earned Chorus 89% of its second-quarter revenue. While still substantial, the figure is down from the 93% share from the year-ago quarter--a sign that the strategy is beginning to pay off. Chorus's strategy includes growing its third-party leasing portfolio, which now stands at 23 aircraft. https://www.mro-network.com/maintenance-repair-overhaul/chorus-eyes-more-part-out-business Back to Top Northeast seeking federal certification of aviation program, lawmakers' help BLOUNTVILLE - Northeast State Community College plans to earn Federal Aviation Administration certification for its airframe program in 2019 and after that certification for its powerplant program. Those endorsements will allow people who complete certifications or associate's degrees in aviation from NSCC to make more money in an industry booming in the Southeast. In seeking grants to reach FAA certification, the head of the college's Aviation Technolgy program would like the help of federal lawmakers. On Aug. 1, U.S. Rep. Phil Roe (R-Tenn.) and representatives of U.S. Sens. Lamar Alexander and Bob Corker, both R-Tenn., attended an information session about the program. "In the future, we may ask them for letters of support for our grant applications," Richard Blevins, associate professor and Aviation Department head at NSCC, said in a recent interview. A big advantage of the certification is that it allows those who finish a certified program to work without being under a certified employee. It also means certified program graduates and certificate holders could oversee non-certified employees. After certification, Blevins said, "They can basically work on any United States-registered aircraft virtually anywhere in the world." He said that the TCATs (Tennessee Colleges of Applied Technology) in Morristown, Nashville and Memphis operate aviation certification programs. He said an articulation agreement with the TCAT in Morristown already allows those who earn a certificate there to earn a two-year degree online through NSCC. That requires five classes online and opens up East Tennessee as the only region in the nation to offer a no-cost certification program through the Tennessee Promise program, which provides up to two years of free education to high school graduates. Blevins said NSCC intends to expand the articulation agreements to TCATs in Nashville and Memphis. WHAT IS THE CERTIFICATION TIMELINE? The plan is to get FAA certification for the airframe program, which would allow graduates and certificate holders to work on about 90 percent of an aircraft without working under someone certified, in 2019. The cost is about $70,000. Phase two, to start after that first certification is completed, would earn a powerplant certification to work on aircraft engines. Since that requires setting up a facility at Tri-Cities Airport next door, a new hangar and equipment, Blevins said phase two would require $650,000. In addition to helping students and filling demand for aviation jobs, Blevins said, the facility would help show potential aviation firms looking to locate, relocate or expand in the Tri-Cities that a ready workforce would be available or could be trained. The airport's pending Aerospace Park, which is to have construction started this year, will seek to attract such businesses. HOW IS THE PROGRAM PROGRESSING? NSCC's aviation program started as a certificate program in 2015, followed by the associate's degree offering in 2017. Originally starting with five students, the program has grown to 116 registered for the fall term starting later this month. To date, Blevins said, 14 students have graduated in aviation - eight with associate's degrees and six with certificates. Among graduates, he said, one has gone to work for Gulfstream Aerospace, which makes corporate jets, in Savannah, Georgia; another for Wysong Aviation, based at Tri-City Airport; and a third to a northern California aviation company. Although Bell Helicopters operates in Piney Flats, Blevins said to his knowledge no graduate has gone to work there yet. WHAT IS THE DEMAND FOR AVIATION WORKERS? Blevins said the demand for aviation and aviation maintenance jobs is not being met, especially in the Southeast. For instance, he said the website avjobs.com recently reported than 21,000 such jobs are open in Tennessee, Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina and Georgia. "The Southeast of the United States is becoming an aviation hub of the world," Blevins said. And he said CEOs of aviation businesses looking for a location at the airport or in the region want to know about the pool of skilled labor. http://www.timesnews.net/Business/2018/08/12/Northeast-seeking-federal-certification-of-aviation-program-with-lawmakers-help.html?ci=stream&lp=1&p=1 Back to Top Emergency procedures not followed in Wonderboom plane accident: CAA Emergency procedures were not followed after the crew of a vintage aircraft which crashed on July 10 near Wonderboom Airport in Pretoria were made aware that one of the engines had caught fire. This is one of the preliminary findings made by the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) in its investigation into the crash of the aircraft, a Convair 340/440. The twin-engine aircraft took off with two crew and 17 passengers for a scenic flight from Wonderboom aerodrome to Pilanesburg aerodrome in Rustenburg when the accident occurred. Both aircraft pilots and two passengers were seriously injured and one passenger was killed. Four other people on the ground sustained serious injuries and another four suffered minor injuries. "The aircraft continued with the left engine on fire throughout the flight and during the accident sequence," the preliminary report read. The report said there were a number of detailed procedures to be followed by pilots after identifying the engine that was on fire. "Based on the wreckage examination including the propeller and cockpit GOPRO recording, the ... procedures were not followed by the crew when the left engine caught fire," the report said. The report also said the aircraft required two pilots to operate it and both needed to be rated for the aircraft. However, the CAA said the documents and the licences made available to the investigation team indicated only the captain was rated on the aircraft. The CAA said the captain had a valid Australian Air Transport, Commercial and Private Licence and he was type-rated on the aircraft. "However, the validation issued by the (South African Civil Aviation Authority) was for Private Pilot Licence under visual flight rules which was valid until May 5 2021," the report said. It said the first officer had a valid Australian Air Transport, Commercial and Private Licence, however, he was not type-rated on the aircraft. It said the first officer's validation of his foreign licence was only limited to single-engine landing aircraft. The report said the Licensed Aircraft Maintenance Engineer (LAME) had been issued with the aircraft maintenance licence with the appropriate rating endorsed and was valid at the time of the accident. "The aircraft is certified for two crew operation, however the engine controls were also operated by LAME who is not part of the crew according to the aircraft flight manual and he is not rated on the aircraft as a pilot." The report also said the Pilanesberg aerodrome was closed for fixed-winged aircraft as indicated in the Notice to Airmen that the runway was under construction. The report said at the time of take-off, neither the crew nor the Wonderboom Airport air traffic controller were aware of the notice. https://www.sowetanlive.co.za/news/south-africa/2018-08-12-emergency-procedures-not-followed-in-wonderboom-plane-accident-caa/ Back to Top Colorado Aviation Expert: Theft Of Seattle Aircraft Will Provide Safety Lessons People in Seattle got a surprise Friday evening when a 29-year-old man stole an empty plane and took it for a joyride over the city. The man was followed closely by two F-15 jets and seemed to do tricks in the air. Police said he appeared to be suicidal. Audio captured of the man as he talked to air traffic control seems to back that theory up. The man says, "I'm just a broken guy got a few screws loose." The man was an airline employee. Colorado aviation expert Steve Cowell says it's not unusual for someone who works in the airport operations area to have access to a plane in order to do their jobs. For that reason, airlines are very careful about who they hire for those positions. "You need to undergo a 10 year background check, which includes everything from a criminal history all the way through employment," Cowell said. Cowell says that learning the basics of flying an aircraft like the one taken in Seattle isn't as hard as you may think. There are tutorials online for pilots, but you should leave the flying to the pros. "Anybody can fly an airplane in nice blue sky weather," said Cowell. "That's not why you go through the training that you do (as a pilot). You go through the training that you do to acquire the judgement. To acquire the skills necessary in case something does go wrong." The man who stole the plane in Seattle ended up crashing on an island in Puget Sound. He is presumed dead, but no one else was injured. Cowell says that balancing airport security with the ability of airlines to operate smoothly is a tall order, but events like this help aviation experts like him figure out how to keep everyone safe. "What I believe will happen now is there will be a re-examination by every airport and every airline of their policies and procedures when they have an airplane parked at the gate as well as parked at a hangar area for maintenance. Because not only do we have the external threat to worry about, but now we have internal threats," he said. https://denver.cbslocal.com/2018/08/11/colorado-aviation-expert-theft-of-seattle-aircraft-will-provide-safety-lessons/ Back to Top SpaceX is quietly planning Mars-landing missions with the help of NASA and other spaceflight experts. It's about time. SpaceX, the aerospace company founded by Elon Musk, held a hush-hush conference in Colorado this week to formulate a plan for landing people on Mars and building an outpost. The inaugural "Mars Workshop," first reported by Eric Berger at Ars Technica, happened Tuesday and Wednesday in Boulder, Colorado. SpaceX reportedly sent invitations to about 60 scientists and engineers, asking them not to publicize the event or their attendance at the workshop. Leaders of NASA's Mars exploration program reportedly attended, but the agency did not answer Business Insider's questions about who from its staff was there. Workshop attendees were asked to participate in "active discussions regarding what will be needed to make such missions happen," according to Ars Technica. According to Ars Technica, the workshop may be "the first meeting of such magnitude" in SpaceX's quest to land humans on and ultimately colonize the red planet. (Though a SpaceX representative told Business Insider in an email, "we regularly meet with a variety of experts concerning our missions to Mars.") It's about time for these discussions, especially if Musk wants to meet his "aspirational" timeline to launch the first human crew toward Mars in the mid-2020s. "We already have the technology to build rockets and land vehicles on Mars. We've been doing that for decades," D. Marshall Porterfield, the former director of NASA's Space Life and Physical Sciences Division, told Business Insider. "The main hindrance is the human factor. If you really are going to land a person on Mars, you have to feed them, keep them healthy, and build them habitats." What we know about SpaceX's Mars mission plans Musk launched SpaceX in 2002 in part because he was frustrated that NASA didn't have any actionable plan to land people on Mars. Ever since, his company has been building larger and more cost-effective rockets, accruing staff and cash, and working toward the ultimate goal of colonizing Mars. Musk first presented an outline for reaching Mars in September 2016, then elaborated on it in October 2017. The plan called for an enormous, fully reusable spaceflight system called the Big Falcon Rocket, or BFR. The 35-story-tall system would have two main parts - a giant spaceship atop a gargantuan booster - and be able to carry up to 100 people to Mars. SpaceX plans to launch an uncrewed mission to Mars in 2022, followed by the first human explorers in 2024 - a timeline Musk said he felt "pretty optimistic" about at the 2018 South by Southwest festival. He also elaborated on the idea of setting up a permanent Martian colony. "It will start off building just the most elementary infrastructure, just a base to create some propellant, a power station, blast domes in which to grow crops - all of the sort of fundamentals without which you cannot survive," Musk said. "And then really there's going to be an explosion of entrepreneurial opportunity because Mars will need everything from iron foundries to pizza joints. I think Mars should really have great bars: the Mars Bar." Long before trying to colonize Mars, SpaceX will need to pull off its first landings there. Each will require about half a dozen BFR flights to get a spaceship into low-Earth orbit and refuel it. Construction of a prototype spaceship for the BFR system is now underway and may be test-launched as soon as mid-2019. Even if that effort goes well, SpaceX will still need to secure scores of durable supplies and high-tech equipment - and formulate well-laid plans to use it all. Workshops with top experts in the spaceflight world could help SpaceX work toward those goals. Why SpaceX needs a great plan - and likely lots of help - to reach the red planet To pull off its initial Mars plans and seed an off-world economy, SpaceX will likely need tens of billions or hundreds of billions of dollars. SpaceX was awarded about $3 billion in US government awards and contracts to develop its Falcon 9 rocket and Crew Dragon spaceship, with much of that spent to meet NASA's exacting specifications for flying astronauts. But a Mars mission is far more ambitious - and dangerous. Musk has not been shy about the high risk of failure. In 2016 he said"the likelihood of death is very high" for the first Mars missions, and for that reason he probably wouldn't fly there himself. "Being unafraid to fail has really been what's helped SpaceX advance so quickly," Steve Nutt, an aerospace and mechanical engineer at University of Southern California, told Business Insider. "Historically, engineers have learned more from their failures than they have their successes. By far." Still, multilateral support from space agencies and aerospace companies won't come easy; SpaceX will need a very detailed proposal that doesn't sound like a suicide mission. How, exactly, Mars missions would play out and which technologies would be used to keep people alive on the red planet have yet to be described publicly by the company or shared with Business Insider. (We've asked SpaceX and Musk, to no avail.) "They seem to have tackled a huge aspect of it - the rockets, the propulsion, the landing," Ray Wheeler, an advanced life support researcher at NASA's Kennedy Space Center who wasn't invited to SpaceX's Mars workshop, told Business Insider. "But having an efficient and appropriate habitat for the human, reliable life-support systems, the right spacesuits, and so on? That all demonstrates the complexity of this whole idea." Porterfield said he admires SpaceX's reusable rockets and growing disruption of the rocket-launch industry. But he said that as late as 2016, before Porterfield left NASA to become a professor at Purdue University, SpaceX had "moderate to minimal" interaction with the agency about how to keep people alive in space. The "Mars Workshop" conference may be SpaceX's first major attempt to discuss "the elephants in the room," he said. Porterfield acknowledged that few people know what SpaceX's 6,000-plus employees are doing, but said that from his recent perspective on the outside, it seems the company has until now not given much thought to deep-space crew survival and mission planning. "All the contact I've had was with aerospace engineers and rocket people," Porterfield said of NASA's communication with SpaceX in previous years. "I didn't see any life support or human health and medicine people." The problem of surviving a mission to Mars The main hurdles to existing on Mars - having enough food, air, and water - are not surprising, but that doesn't make them any less daunting. Mars is an average of 140 million miles from Earth. The two planets line up in their orbits about once every two years, which shortens a yearslong trip between Earth and Mars to six or nine months. "In a baseline Mars mission, if you go to the surface, you have to stay there. It's a three-year mission. You have to wait on the surface before the planets realign," Wheeler said. By comparison, Apollo missions to the moon took about a week. Missions to the International Space Station can last months, but it can be resupplied with relative ease at 250 miles away. Porterfield said that the food alone required to feed a ragtag Mars mission crew would amount to 10 tons, based on previous NASA planning. One possible solution to that weight challenge would be to predeliver food supplies years in advance, but that could lead to health problems. Vitamin C, for example, degrades fairly rapidly, so deep-space astronauts might risk developing scurvy. Water is also very heavy, as are the filters and machinery needed to scrub poisonous carbon dioxide from a spaceship or Mars habitat. "I don't now if they've assumed all this other stuff is less complex, or if it's already available, or NASA or other space agencies are already doing this," Wheeler said of multiple technologies SpaceX will need to pull off a Mars outpost. "Those might be incorrect or somewhat incorrect assumptions." A technology called bioregenerative life support, which Wheeler has worked on for decades, could help alleviate or even solve these issues. The concept is to use biology - an ecosystem of microbes, plants, and even small animals - to scrub carbon dioxide from the air, regenerate oxygen, break down waste, and grow food. A small system could provide productive activities for long, cramped missions (such as gardening) and vital nutrition, Wheeler said. A larger system might constantly supply most of the crew's air and food, negating the need for resupply missions every couple of years. "We're really talking about technology that replaces what the Earth does," Porterfield said. "This is our current bioregenerative life-support system." But prototypes of this technology, such as China's Lunar Palace-1 experiment, are very heavy, energy-inefficient, and far from a ready-to-launch state. NASA had plans to do similar experiments, but President George W. Bush's administration defunded those projects in 2004, and funding for related work has been scarce or nonexistent since. Keeping the human body healthy in space is another challenge that Porterfield said SpaceX needs to figure out. Floating in microgravity causes bones to weaken and muscles to atrophy, among other physiological problems. Deep-space radiation could be a big problem, so developing effective shielding is necessary. It also leads to body-wide genetic changes that researchers are just barely beginning to detect, let alone understand. The longest time any person has consecutively lived in space isabout a year- not three - and the longest mock mission to Mars lasted about 500 days. (The crew got extremely bored.) "We really don't have a lot of data on what happens to a human in microgravity beyond a year," Porterfield said. Despite his worries, Porterfield said he's excited that SpaceX is holding a workshop (and likely more in the future) to tackle the company's greatest challenges yet with some of the world's leading experts. He's even hopeful that SpaceX - pending "substantial" investments in funding and staff - might pull off a viable crewed Mars mission within a couple years of Musk's 2024 target. "They're not hindered by politics or government bureaucracy," he said. "They're capable of being much more nimble than NASA." https://www.businessinsider.com/spacex-meeting-mars-mission-planning-workshop-2018-8 Curt Lewis