AEROSPACE
were right . They sold a giant pile of TVs and it was really great . I don ’ t know why . I still don ’ t understand it , but I learned not to question it .”
Russ Carlson , founder and aerospace chief technology officer and strategy for Folsom-based Valley Tech Systems , which does rocket propulsion , as well as intelligence , surveillance and reconnaissance work , says things have been changing since Voyager Space acquired controlling interest in his company in September 2021 . “ We are being challenged to transition our technologies to advanced space applications ,” Carlson says .
Sacramento-based Vacuum Process Engineering of Sacramento does applications engineering and contract manufacturing for fabrication of aerospace parts . The company has worked with Raytheon Technologies , Lockheed Martin and Northrop Grumman among others , according to Chief Engineer Aaron Wildberger .
“ We have parts in space , we ’ ve put parts on Mars ,” Wildberger says .
Sacramento-based TECMA is working on NASA ’ s Artemis program that plans to put a woman and person of color on the moon by 2025 , says Sonia Susac , president and owner . On a project that includes Aerojet Rocketdyne , Boeing and Blue Origin , Susac says her company is making parts for the power head section of liftoff rockets . “ The power head is what essentially ignites the whole thing .” Christopher Belle is chief executive officer of Tri Tool Technologies in Rancho Cordova , which helps with precision cutting on rockets , among other things . Belle sits on the board of the California Manufacturing and Technology Association , whose President and CEO Lance Hastings says , “ They make things that are on probably every single rocket that goes up into space and they certainly supply the major companies in the defense industry with their product .”
Elon Musk ’ s Space X and Jeff Bezos ’ s Blue Origin relies on UC Davis ’ Mc- Clellan Nuclear Research Center . Dr . Wesley Frey directs the center , which houses a nuclear reactor at McClellan that takes micro X-rays of parts to test them before a rocket is launched .
“ We ’ ve only gotten more busy as the years have gone on ,” Frey says . “ We ’ re doing work now with pretty much all the major aerospace companies , from Blue Origin , Space X , some stuff directly with NASA , to all the Lockheed Martin , Northrop Grumman . All those folks have pretty much come through at this point .”
Powell ’ s worked with big players like Lockheed Martin , too . “ When they ’ re over budget they come to us and ( say ), ‘ Here , can you fly some of our stuff ?’” he says . “ It ’ s a bargain for them but good money for us kind of deal .”
Aerospace companies in the region often work for the U . S . Department of Defense , which might be another reason these companies receive less recognition than they should . The defense industry isn ’ t exactly known for transparency , with Susac saying the government keeps things on a needto-know basis . Its vendors sometimes only know part of a project and never see assembly all put together .
A rich history
When John Powell was 17 , he and some high school friends bid on a NASA contract , getting down to a selection round of three bidders . When Powell and his friends met with national officials , their age and the fact that they couldn ’ t legally sign a contract was discovered and “ we were told on no uncertain terms not to be bidding again .” That ’ s how Powell ’ s Rancho Cordova-based research and development company , JP Aerospace , was born .
For some of his early personnel , Powell turned to an unusual source : the pipeline of retired Apollo workers who lived in the Sacramento region in the late 1970s . Some of these men had worked locally for Douglas Aircraft Company building the second stage of the Saturn rockets for the Apollo missions , but were now at a looser end with that program having wound down .
“ You could literally get a guy that worked , you know , the primary engine developer on the Saturn V rocket , take him out to lunch and have him take a look at your engines , see what he thought about it ,” Powell says . “ You can ’ t pay for an experience like that , and that was commonplace in Sacramento .”
Sonia Susac of TECMA remembers the work her father Fred Schwarz did after founding her company in 1957 . TECMA made blades and casings for the guillotine cutter that cut communication cords between the first and second stage of the lunar lander . “ My dad would always point to the moon and say , ‘ Our part ’ s up there ,’” Susac says .
California has long been a hub for aerospace
“ I grew up in the Midwest and I went to school on the East Coast
42 comstocksmag . com | September 2022