One AEDCer sees space from a different perspective

Published Sept. 8, 2009
By Janaé Daniels
AEDC/PA

Arnold Air Force Base, Tenn. -- As the chairman of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA) space transportation technical committee, Peter Montgomery had the opportunity to experience a space launch outside of the U.S.

He brought back a better understanding of growing international launch capabilities to the benefit of Arnold Engineering Development Center (AEDC).

"The space transportation technical committee is an international committee that brings together space transportation leaders from across the industry and around the world," Montgomery, AEDC Space and Missiles Deputy Product Branch manager, said. "This includes everything from those that perform ground testing, as in my case, to the folks that build the rockets and those that launch them."

The committee meets four times a year, but at least two of the meetings are onsite at locations conducting work in space transportation.

"We are currently revisiting a lot of the launch sites around the U.S., as well as, in this case, internationally with a trip to French Guiana, South America," he said. "There have been a lot of changes, improvements and new capabilities put into place at these launch sites. As a committee, we need to be up-to-date on these advancements as we deal with the different aspects of what technical committees are all about."

French Guiana is a small country surrounded by jungle, and it is a part of France, considered a French directorate. This is a similar arrangement to the U.S. territories like Puerto Rico, which although not states, are still a part of the U.S. "French Guiana is located in an area that is particularly advantageous for launching rockets," he explained. "The closer you launch to the equator, the greater the boost you get from the Earth's rotation. This is particularly helpful when launching heavy payloads such as large communication satellites."

Montgomery said this is one reason why the U.S. launches from Florida. Located about 29 degrees above the equator, it is the furthest point south in the continental U.S. Likewise the Europeans looked to the south for suitable launch sites, and French Guiana is ideally located just five degrees north of the equator.

"It's as close to the equator as you can get and still be in a country associated very strongly with a European government. And, with the French supporting a large portion of the European Space Agency [ESA] activities, it was a good match for those reasons as well."

Montgomery also pointed out that just like Florida, French Guiana has a large expanse of water available to safely launch over.

"It's an ideal location for rocket launches."

According to Montgomery, the timing for this trip was chosen for three specific reasons.

First, the committee became aware that the Europeans were about to enhance their capabilities in French Guiana, which is their primary launch site, as well as bring in Russian partners.

"A lot of the Russian capabilities will remain in Russia, but they are improving their launch systems significantly and will soon launch out of this location as well," he explained.

Second, the trip was timed in conjunction with a significant launch event. According to Montgomery, an American payload, the largest commercial communication satellite in history, was launched on a European rocket while the committee watched from a little over two miles away.

Finally, Montgomery says there has been an increase in the number of discussions between NASA and ESA leadership about future joint activities in space.

"While those high level leadership meetings are going on, it's always a good idea to try to have discussions also occurring at the mid-to-lower working levels. This helps build support while discussing the technical details in areas where we might work together in the future," he explained. "There was a big meeting between NASA and ESA occurring that week in Europe that we lined up in conjunction with this trip. In fact, we had some discussions with them about future Mars exploration and joint work between the United States and Europe."

Looking back in history, in the early 1960s and 1970s, the United States had the bulk of the commercial launch market between the United States and Russia. Since that time, the pendulum has shifted and the European countries now launch the bulk of the commercial market. In fact, according to Montgomery, the system in French Guiana launches 60-70 percent of all commercial payloads into space today.

"Now they are expanding that capability," he explained. "The launch I saw was their heavy-lift capability - it takes up the big stuff or it takes up multiple payloads at once. They are expanding into the lower end for smaller commercial payloads next. Then they are bringing in the Russians, in the middle, which will be their mid-range launch capability. That significantly expands their range of space launch options."

With that being said, Montgomery thinks it's still important for the U.S. to keep pushing its limits in space.

"We certainly don't want to give away that capability, that drive, or motivation," he explained. "However, with a lot of these big projects, which are being talked about for the future, such as trips to Mars, the size of what you're dealing with, the size of the problem, the amount of things you have to get up into orbit is probably going to require some sort of multi-national collaboration similar to the current effort with the International Space Station.

"Even if we're still leading the effort or leading a significant amount of the technology development, it still makes sense to partner with other countries. I think that's a good thing, too. One benefit of the space program is that learning to work together in space often leads to better relationships here on Earth."

Montgomery thinks there are added benefits from this trip to French Guiana for him, the committee, and also for AEDC.

"I think there are a lot of benefits to trips like this and with involvement in technical committee work in general," he explained. "For one thing, I have always believed that when you travel with people you get to know them much better than when you are sitting across a desk or conference table in meetings with them. You build relationships and make a lot of contacts with multiple organizations. On this trip, there was not just our committee; it was kind of a who's who of the commercial space business with the folks who joined us.

"Those are all either current or potential customers for AEDC. So now they have a name and a face that goes with AEDC from my interaction with them. I, likewise, have people I know a little bit better that I have traveled with, that I can pick up the phone and call or send an e-mail to and talk with a little more understanding about what they are doing and how we can help. Understanding how they are advancing their capabilities gives us an idea of the future test capabilities that we need and greater insight into where the industry as a whole is going."

Montgomery feels going to a place like French Guiana on a trip like this also allows people to experience different cultures in a unique way.

"It gives you a neat perspective on how other countries approach similar problems or technical challenges," he said. "You get all of these different insights and pieces of a puzzle, all while you're getting to know people better. I think all of that benefits AEDC in the long term."