The Space Laser Business Model
Industrial Productivity/Manufacturing Technology
Originating Technology/ NASA Contribution
Creating long-duration, high-powered lasers, for satellites,
that can withstand the type of optical misalignment
and damage dished out by the unforgiving environment
of space, is work that is unique to NASA. It is complicated,
specific work, where each step forward is into uncharted
territory.
In the 1990s, as this technology was first being created,
NASA gave free reign to a group of “laser jocks” to
develop their own business model and supply the Space
Agency with the technology it needed. It was still
to
be a part of NASA as a division of Goddard Space
Flight Center, but would operate independently out
of a remote office.
The idea for this satellite laboratory was based on
the Skunk Works concept at Lockheed Martin Corporation.
Formerly known as the Lockheed Corporation, in 1943,
the aerospace firm, realizing that the type of advanced
research it needed done could not be performed within
the confines of a larger company, allowed a group of
researchers and engineers to essentially run their
own microbusiness without the corporate oversight.
The Skunk Works project, in Burbank, California, produced
America’s first jet fighter, the world’s most successful
spy plane (U-2), the first 3-times-the-speed-of-sound
surveillance aircraft, and the F-117A Nighthawk Stealth
Fighter. Boeing followed suit with its Phantom Works,
an advanced research and development branch of the
company that operates independent of the larger unit
and is responsible for a great deal of its most cutting-edge
research.
NASA’s version of this advanced business model was
the Space Lidar Technology Center (SLTC), just south
of Goddard, in College Park, Maryland. Established
in 1998 under a Cooperative Agreement between Goddard
and the University of Maryland’s A. James Clark School
of Engineering, it was a high-tech laser shop where
a small group of specialists, never more than 20 employees,
worked all hours of the day and night to create the
cutting-edge technology the Agency required of them.
Drs. Robert Afzal and Joseph Dallas were directors
of the SLTC, and led the development and production
of active spaceborne, remote-sensing, optical instruments.
As a pioneer in the area of photonics, Dr. Dallas led
basic research, development, and production of semiconductor
laser diode products, improving coupling efficiency
through novel physical optics modeling and intracavity
phase-correction techniques. He worked for NASA for
15 years, 11 of which were as a civil servant, and
4 of which were as a contractor.
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Laser packaging
manufactured by Avo Photonics. |
In the years at the SLTC, Dr. Dallas and the team delivered
flight-ready lasers to NASA. The Geoscience Laser Altimeter
System (GLAS) space flight lasers, for example, were
designed, developed, and assembled at the SLTC. These
lasers were integrated at Goddard as part of the Ice,
Cloud, and Land Elevation Satellite (ICESat), NASA’s
benchmark Earth Observing System mission for measuring
ice sheet mass balance, cloud and aerosol heights,
as well as land topography and vegetation characteristics.
Subsequently, the Mercury Laser Altimeter laser was
similarly developed and assembled at the facility and
left Earth on August 3, 2004, aboard the MErcury Surface,
Space ENvironment, GEochemistry, and Ranging (MESSENGER)
spacecraft heading to Mercury to measure the topography
of the northern hemisphere.
The photonics work performed at the SLTC was on the
forefront of a relatively immature branch of scientific
study. Contrary to electronics work where engineers
have decades of advanced research and flight qualified
experience to draw upon, the understanding of issues
facing long-duration operation of lasers in space is
in
its infancy.
Partnership
Drs. Afzal and Dallas and their team of experts, consisting
of a specialist in each discipline, managed to do the
type of work that could not be performed within a large
firm. Eventually, the group disbanded. People left.
Programs changed. The amount of work NASA supplied
was not steady enough to keep this band of specialists
busy or to make the SLTC a viable long-term project.
In 2003, Dr. Dallas used the knowledge gained at NASA
to found a company, Avo
Photonics, in Horsham, Pennsylvania.
Product Outcome
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Geoscience Laser
Altimeter System (GLAS) testing at NASA’s Space
Lidar Technology Center, where the founders
of Avo Photonics “cut their teeth.” |
Dr. Dallas learned how a tech company should run from
the unique opportunity of working with a team of specialists
performing cutting-edge photonics work. He assembled
a new team of hard-working experts to drive Avo Photonics.
Because he was supplying more than one customer, NASA,
his team would have enough projects to keep themselves
busy, while also still being able to promise the same
quality of work to its regular customers. And when
NASA needed a laser team in the future, it would be
able to rely on Avo Photonics, rather than have to
assemble a new team every time the need arose.
An aerospace and military center, for example, might
need a new photonic instrument every 7 years. It can
turn to the same provider each time, a group that knows
the specific needs of the customer and has worked on
their projects before. And, because it is only after
7 years that it requires a new laser, it need not maintain
its own laser shop. Avo Photonics can then rotate business
to supply its other customers.
Avo Photonics provides advanced contract manufacturing
services for photonic and microelectronic customers
in the communications, military, aerospace, medical,
and industrial markets. With its state-of-the-art equipment
and design expertise for optical and radio frequency
products, Avo Photonics is able to support product
development from concept through production. Prototyping
through volume manufacturing, electro-optic performance
testing, high-value design, qualification testing for
ruggedness and reliability, fixture development, and
lower-cost manufacturing are all part of the company’s
standard offerings.
Avo Photonics emphasizes a system engineering approach
toward the development of solutions for its customers.
The strong optical, mechanical, electrical, thermal,
and materials engineering design, modeling, and analysis
work is continuously guided by the system needs of
performance, quality, cost, and schedule. The company
understands its customer and meets them at their current
level of product design: from fundamental component
laser physics to demonstrated product. The engineering
and science tools are utilized to move toward cost-effective
product realization. This could include aerospace lasers,
deployed sensor systems, volume communication lasers,
modulators, detectors, industrial ranging systems,
or commercial imagers.
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With over 6,000
square feet of cleanroom space and high-resolution
tools such as automated component placement
machines, wire bonders, laser welders, lid
sealers, optical fiber attach stations, lasers,
high-accuracy optical mounts, 20-gigabyte network
analyzers, precision cleaning equipment, and
optical inspection tools, Avo Photonics is
fully capable of seeing a design through to
production. |
Avo Photonics is unique in its combination of high-level
engineering support and prototype-to-production facility
capabilities. Its customers have a one-stop-shop to
see their visions realized. With over 6,000 square
feet of cleanroom space and high-resolution tools such
as automated component placement machines, wire bonders,
laser welders, lid sealers, optical fiber attach stations,
lasers, high-accuracy optical mounts, 20-gigabyte network
analyzers, precision cleaning equipment, and optical
inspection tools, Avo Photonics is fully capable of
seeing a design through to production.
Understanding and testing designs, processes, and products
for various environments is critical to realization
of active and passive photonic systems. Avo Photonics
has in-house equipment for thermal cycling, high-humidity
exposure, hot/cold storage, optical inspection and
measurement, gross and fine leak checking, and shear
and pull mechanical strength test, along with numerous
standard photonic tools such as power meters, spectrum
analyzers, thermal sensors, and electrical drivers
all customized into LabVIEW-controlled test stations.
Customers of Avo Photonics see the company as an extension
of their own engineering and production team. The company
takes great care in every aspect of product development,
from finite element analysis through supply chain management,
to detailed reporting and failure analysis. The philosophies
realized and nurtured at NASA continue to guide the
quality and pride of Avo Photonics.
LabVIEW™ is a trademark of
National Instruments Corporation.
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