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The opportunities, and the ironies, were abounded on Thursday in an organized Connectic core event for their small manufacturers to earn tickets for NASA, Spacex and the billions of dollars related to the return of the United States to the Moon.
NASA has the budget for the last government trip, a flight for four around the Moon next year. But you could only administer the Aerifa Far to Hartford for two of the five representatives originally scheduled to visit to make a network with the possible suppliers in the “Aerospace Alley” of the State.
“We were certainly looking to plan to be there today. And, of course, we are finding ourselves in some situations with trips,” said David E. Brock, manager of the Seller Mentors program at the NASA Marshall Space Flight Center. “But I’m glad we could accommodate, you know, making it a hybrid event.”
These “situations” involve broad restrictions on travel and credit cards as part of the cost reduction initiative supervised by Elon Musk, the multimillion -dollar government volunteer whose daily work includes Supervise Spacex, the winner of more than $ 20 billion in federal contracts, mainly NASA and Pentagon.
Brock went to the audience through videoconference, as well as two others whose experience is to walk the possible suppliers through the machinations of doing business with NASA directly or subcontracting with main contractors, such as Spacex, Blue Origin, Boeing, Northrop Grumman and Lockheed Martin.
Forty -four Connecticut companies are already working on the Artemis program, the ambitious successor of the Apollo program that took 12 Americans to the Moon in six missions, starting with Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin in July 1969. The last one was 52 years ago, in December 1972.
Connecticut companies worked in Apollo, contributing everything from space costumes to the parachutes that floated capsules to safety.
Governor Ned Lamont and the manufacturing director of the State, Paul Lavoie, welcomed NASA’s officials and contractors to an auditorium full at the University of Hartford, where one of the most popular largest is the Aerospace Engineering program launched in 2021.
“We want to be part of the NASA of the team and everything. That means we are doing everything possible in terms of research, training and manufacturing,” Lamont said.
The pairing session was the first with NASA, but not the first in the aerospace industry. The State sponsored a similar meeting last year with Airbus, the commercial aircraft manufacturer.
Lavoie said his work is unique: no other state has a manufacturing director in the executive branch. Connecticut has shown some results with its investments and support for manufacturing growth.
“In February 2022, our manufacturing GDP was 10% of the state’s GDP. Today, we have 12.6%, and we are still growing to a clip of approximately 5% every year, which is a significant taxsence of Connecticut’s growth and Connecticut’s economy,” said Lavoie.
The State has increased the financing of its manufacturing innovation fund, which takes advantage of the investment in manufacturing improvements with subsidies for the first time of 33% of the equipment costs and 25% for later buyers. It has been a blessing for small manufacturing workshops that subcontract with Pratt & Whitney, Sikorsky, Electric Boat and other aerospace and defense contractors.
Attendees did not seem to care that some of NASA representatives seem virtually and remotely projecting slides describing the hiring opportunities, providing personal emails of the right people to contact and advice on the days when suppliers could visit specialists in small businesses.
Paul Gulbin, a commercial development executive that represents Horberg Industries in Bridgeport, scribbled notes and periodically photographed the projected slides. He said he gathered more information and contact in two hours of what would be possible in days.
Horberg uses about 15 people who produce precision bras and spike pins for aerospace, doctors and others that require precise and durable parts, he said. The company’s pieces have been used in airplanes that date back to the first flight days, he said.
“If you fly, you probably have pins,” Gulbin said.
He took abundant notes when John Koelling, director of Aeronautical Research at the NASA Langley Research Center, informed the audience in GRX-810, a new super strong alloy that can survive extreme temperatures produced by planes and rocket engines. Koelling was one of the two NASA officials who attended in person.
Showing photos of airplane prototypes, Koelling said he believes that the aerospace industry is about to make a technical leap forward not seen from the first days of space trips and commercial airlines. He talked about the tremendously productive period from 1958 to 1970, when a modern air trip was established.
“We saw the introduction or the first flight of the [Boeing] 707, 727, 737, 747, DC-9, DC-10, L-1011 in 12 years, “he said.” That was for the birth of the modern aviation industry as we know it today, and I think we are on the cusp of another of those very, very soon. “
Gulbin said he attended the meeting that the Lamont administration organized with Airbus and found him invaluable.
“We change our entire way of observing the supply chain ecosystem after the Airbus meeting,” Gulbin said.
Brock told the audience to think if they are large enough to search for direct contracts with NASA or subcontracts with main contractors.
“If you are looking for opportunities in NASA, in particular here in Marshall, your opportunities can come one or two ways, but I will tell you that in the world of manufacture, in the world of R&D, it will be mainly through the subcontracting programs with these large companies,” Brock said.
While talking, a slide showed that almost $ 4.4 billion in contracts have been granted directly to small businesses. The largest unique contract for a main contractor was Spacex’s work of $ 622.7 million in the human landing system that will eventually take astronauts to the moon surface.
“This is not the end today,” Brock said. “Today is the beginning, and we want to start a collaboration process for this group.”
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