So the military wants to shoot down a spy satellite to save the public from hydrazine.
Let's begin with some facts: hydrazine, while unhealthy at best, is hazardous primarily in long-duration, low level exposures. Its ammonia smell makes it an unlikely candidate for an accidental overdose by drinking or extended inhalation. Its low vapor pressure reduces the inhalation hazard as well. Its relatively high reactivity means that it will not persist in the environment for long.
All in all, not exactly as dangerous as, say, a truckload of gasoline. Or, for that matter, a truckload of hydrazine...it is an industrial chemical after all.
So why the willingness to spend real money to take a potshot at a dead spy satellite?
The cynics among us might suspect a desire to send someone a message...
Saturday, February 16, 2008
Sunday, October 28, 2007
Joy!
It's not quite worth a party, but after months of work, GoVentures finally has a General Services Administration (GSA) Professional Engineering Services (PES) contract; we were notified last week and it's a relief to have that part of the paperwork behind us.
There's still work to do, of course. Updating the website is high on the list. so is passing the news along to our Government customers at the Naval Research Laboratory (NRL) and the NASA Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC). We'll also have to check to find out whether or not our friends at the Applied Physics Laboratory (APL) can use the schedule.
After the announcing, we'll also have to get cracking on some serious marketing. Being on the Seaport-e contract (as a sub to SP Systems) hasn't done us any good so far as we've been too busy working to go "chat up" the potential customers in the DC area and find out what opportunities are on the horizon. Now it's really time to get to work on all of that.
There's still work to do, of course. Updating the website is high on the list. so is passing the news along to our Government customers at the Naval Research Laboratory (NRL) and the NASA Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC). We'll also have to check to find out whether or not our friends at the Applied Physics Laboratory (APL) can use the schedule.
After the announcing, we'll also have to get cracking on some serious marketing. Being on the Seaport-e contract (as a sub to SP Systems) hasn't done us any good so far as we've been too busy working to go "chat up" the potential customers in the DC area and find out what opportunities are on the horizon. Now it's really time to get to work on all of that.
Wednesday, September 12, 2007
Air Filter Sensor A&D moving forward
An exciting event has occurred in the Barney Gorin/ GoVentures air filter sensor kit patent research and development project. A student group at Tri-State University (Barney's alma mater) has taken on developing a prototype sensor as a senior project. GoVentures will provide funding for hardware development including purchasing electrical/ electronic components and custom circuit boards.
Barney will be visiting TSU for discussions about the project on September 21st.
In a related event, we've started looking for licensing or other marketing arrangements and are reviewing packages submitted by specialty firms.
Barney will be visiting TSU for discussions about the project on September 21st.
In a related event, we've started looking for licensing or other marketing arrangements and are reviewing packages submitted by specialty firms.
Back in harness
The GoVentures management team is back from Spain and hard at work. The way things look, we'll be reasonably busy between now and the end of the year with the possibility that we'll be very busy indeed. Very busy would be much better as billings for this year are down a bit.
The most immediate activity is the initial work on the Goddard PAAC III procurement supporting Jackson and Tull. J&T expects to be a major subcontractor/ teammate on the Digital Management team.
The Draft RFP is out and we're hard at it with the initial step being a detailed compliance matrix/ annotated outline. We're leaving schedule and kickoff planning to the Digital Management folks.
In our spare time, we're also supporting J&T on the Johnson Space Center Constellation Technical Services Contract (CTSC). That work is at a lower level of effort as the Draft RFP isn't out yet.
The most immediate activity is the initial work on the Goddard PAAC III procurement supporting Jackson and Tull. J&T expects to be a major subcontractor/ teammate on the Digital Management team.
The Draft RFP is out and we're hard at it with the initial step being a detailed compliance matrix/ annotated outline. We're leaving schedule and kickoff planning to the Digital Management folks.
In our spare time, we're also supporting J&T on the Johnson Space Center Constellation Technical Services Contract (CTSC). That work is at a lower level of effort as the Draft RFP isn't out yet.
Thursday, August 2, 2007
Business is heating up
Things were a bit slow in May and June, but July was a very good month.
New projects include supporting a Broad Area Announcement response with Orbital Sciences, the Marshall Engineering Technicians and Trades Support (METTS) proposal, and a variety of Delivery Order proposals for the Air Force.
Upcoming work includes the Program Analysis and Control III proposal for Goddard; we're talking to people but nothing firm as yet.
GoVentures will be operating at a reduced level of activity for the second half of August as a result of vacations. We expect to be back at full level immediately after Labor Day, however.
New projects include supporting a Broad Area Announcement response with Orbital Sciences, the Marshall Engineering Technicians and Trades Support (METTS) proposal, and a variety of Delivery Order proposals for the Air Force.
Upcoming work includes the Program Analysis and Control III proposal for Goddard; we're talking to people but nothing firm as yet.
GoVentures will be operating at a reduced level of activity for the second half of August as a result of vacations. We expect to be back at full level immediately after Labor Day, however.
Sunday, July 15, 2007
Joint Propulsion Conference
Barney is just back from the AIAA Joint Propulsion Conference, a trip to Cincinnati that lasted all of last week. He was representing GoVentures' ARDE client in the Exhibit area, leading the Liquid Propulsion Technical Committee short course on Thursday and Friday, co-author on several papers, and generally schmoozing potential ARDE customers.
Mike Hersh, ARDE's West Coast rep, was also in attendance. Watching him talk about tanks is like attending a master's class in aerospace sales.
The conference was reasonably busy but attendance looked to be down about 10% (Barney's guess) from last year in Sacramento. Opinion: this was probably due to there being a lot of propulsion work, and therefore propulsion engineers, in Southern California.
The Exhibit area was noticeably less populated than last year, however, with both Lockheed and Orbital Sciences among the "big displays" missing. The combination of lower attendance and fewer exhibits equated to significantly less traffic for the ARDE booth.
The winner of the ARDE door prize, a model of the Space Shuttle, was Harvey Maclin of the Ohio Center for Advanced Propulsion and Power. Harvey was still in the OCAPP booth when we drew his name so he got the model in time to take it home with him. Congratulations, Harvey!
Mike Hersh, ARDE's West Coast rep, was also in attendance. Watching him talk about tanks is like attending a master's class in aerospace sales.
The conference was reasonably busy but attendance looked to be down about 10% (Barney's guess) from last year in Sacramento. Opinion: this was probably due to there being a lot of propulsion work, and therefore propulsion engineers, in Southern California.
The Exhibit area was noticeably less populated than last year, however, with both Lockheed and Orbital Sciences among the "big displays" missing. The combination of lower attendance and fewer exhibits equated to significantly less traffic for the ARDE booth.
The winner of the ARDE door prize, a model of the Space Shuttle, was Harvey Maclin of the Ohio Center for Advanced Propulsion and Power. Harvey was still in the OCAPP booth when we drew his name so he got the model in time to take it home with him. Congratulations, Harvey!
Friday, June 29, 2007
Training
GoVentures' Vice President, Barney Gorin, spent Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday of this week attending the Accelerated Shipley Consultant Orientation & Training (ASCOT) course in Virginia. The course included a lot of excellent proposal management information and best practices information that we hope to put to use in the immediate future.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
