Machine Shop Awarded for Out of This World Parts

In the office of his Simi Valley manufacturing company, George Melamed holds the list of this year’s winners of the Spotbeam Awards given out by the California Space Authority. Among them are Apollo 11 astronaut Buzz Aldrin, the second man to walk on the moon; Google Earth, the popular online mapping program; and Space Exploration Technologies, the Hawthorne-based developer of reusable launch vehicles. And then there is Melamed’s company, UDASH Inc., winner of the Small Disadvantaged Business Award for providing precision machined parts used on the Mars rovers Spirit and Opportunity, and the International Space Station. “It’s not an easy thing to be recognized along with the big guys,” said Melamed, an Iranian immigrant. “We are going to be right among the biggies, like Google and Buzz Aldrin. It is not bad for a bunch of rookies. Compared to them we are rookies.” While a company that has been around nearly 30 years and performed contract work for NASA has passed beyond the rookie status Melamed assigns to UDASH, he does believe that the company is still in a learning phase. It certainly is still in a growing phase, having moved in July to a new 25,000-square-foot building in an industrial park off Tapo Street. Melamed invested the money he had set aside for his retirement to buy the building. The move to a larger space than he had in Calabasas necessitated hiring two more employees, bringing the total to 15 workers. “At a time when everyone else is cutting jobs and hours I do the exact opposite,” Melamed said. “Why” I’m an optimist and hard working.” A precision machining job shop that can do prototype parts and spit out a high volume of components, UDASH falls into the clean manufacturing category that Simi Valley likes to attract to its borders. There are a fair number of similar small businesses doing contract work for aerospace manufacturers or subcontractors that fly below the radar, said Brian Gabler, an assistant city manager and director of economic development. “These (businesses) are valuable to us because they work hard every day and provide vital job opportunities,” Gabler said. UDASH counts Lockheed Martin and the Jet Propulsion Laboratory as main customers, with some work also supplied to Boeing. To diversify its base, Melamed would also like to supply the automotive after-market industry. In 2002 and again in 2005, UDASH was recognized by NASA with national Awards of Excellence in Fabrication for the components provided for the Mars Rovers. The award from the California Space Authority recognizes UDASH for its contributions to the space and aerospace sectors through its manufacturing services. Melamed hopes that the exposure winning the award brings will result in more contract work with other government sectors. Previous Spotbeam recipients include the Antelope Valley Board of Trade and the Mojave Air and Space Port with the Business Development and Retention Award and XCor Aerorspace in Mojave. Roofing to Rockets When NASA launched the Ares I-X rocket on Oct. 28 providing protection to the sensitive instruments inside the vehicle became a priority. For that protection the space agency turned to the coatings typically found on the roofs of commercial and industrial buildings developed by National Coatings Corp., headquartered in Camarillo. It was the first time National Coatings products had been used for an application other than rooftops, said company president Matt Kolb. “For roofs we test up to hurricane strength winds but going to Mach 2-plus that is a test that we could never do on land,” Kolb said. The high reflectivity of AcryShield and RustShield products was just what NASA needed to protect the instruments inside the Ares rocket from heat beating down on the exterior skin. The Ares I-X is the trial version of the rocket being developed that will eventually replace the Space Shuttle and take astronauts into low-Earth orbit. Data captured by the instruments will be used to analyze the rocket’s performance. The scheduled launch of Oct. 27 had to be scrapped due to bad weather and was re-scheduled for the next day. The technical director from National Coatings who had been the point person with NASA got a call a couple of minutes before the launch. They did have keen interest in wanting to make sure we would be dialed in at the last minute,” Kolb said. Also contributing to the Ares I-X rocket was Pratt & Whitney/Rocketdyne in Canoga Park. Pratt & Whitney helped prepare the rocket, which was made with hardware from the Peacekeeper missile program, and designed with Teledyne Brown Engineering the roll control system that kept the rocket from rolling into a corkscrew motion during the flight. Teledyne Brown is a subsidiary of Teledyne Technologies Inc., in Thousand Oaks. Prize Money Awarded Masten Space Systems in Mojave was the winner of the $1 million first prize in the second level of the Northrop Grumman Lunar Lander Challenge. Company founder and President Dave Masten received the money Nov. 5 in Washington, D.C. Masten Space Systems was one of three teams taking part in the lunar lander challenge, which is managed by the X Prize Foundation for NASA to create a commercial rocket capable of vertical take-offs and landings. The start-up firm won the $150,000 second prize in the first level of the competition by completing two successful flights of its Xombie rocket. On Oct. 7, the vehicle went 50 meters in the air and stayed aloft for more than 90 seconds before landing on a second pad at the Masten test site at the Mojave Air & Space Port. The second level involved making the Xoie spacecraft airborne and landing it on a simulated lunar surface with craters and boulders. The launch scheduled for Oct. 29 was delayed after a fire on Xoie (pronounced Zoey). Masten and his team made the necessary repairs to get the craft in the air the following day. The second place winner, Armadillo Aerospace, was unhappy that Masten was given extra time to make the flight. Attempts to reach Masten were not successful. Staff Reporter Mark Madler can be reached at (818) 316-3126 or by e-mail at [email protected].