Posts Tagged ‘White Sands Missile Range’

In its monthly board meeting of October 21, 2009, the MVEDA Board of Directorsadded two new board members.  Kendall Wallin, Business Banking Manager with Wells Fargo Bank, was elected to fill the unexpired term of Jim Easley. Easley is in the process of relocating to Albuquerque to assume another position with Wells Fargo. Wells Fargo Bank is a Platinum MVEDA Partner.

Gilbert Apodaca, President of the Hispano Chamber of Commerce de Las Cruces, replaces Rachel Garcia-Banegas as the Chamber’s representative to the MVEDA Board.  Apodaca is the Administrative Director for Memorial Medical Center.  Memorial Medical Center is also a Platinum MVEDA Partner.

MVEDA is governed by a board of directors representing both the private and public sectors. Institutional members represent the City of Las Cruces, Dona Ana County, New Mexico State University, Dona Ana Community College, the Greater Las Cruces Chamber of Commerce, the Hispano Chamber of Commerce de Las Cruces, and White Sands Missile Range. Private sector board members represent a wide diversity of business and industry. They serve 3-year terms and are elected by the board.

The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) is holding additional public scoping meetings to seek input and discuss with the public a proposed study expansion area for the SunZia Southwest Transmission Project.

Three open-house public scoping meetings along the expanded study area will be held in the following New Mexico communities. All meetings will be from 5:00 pm to 8:00 pm.

Las Cruces, October 26, 2009 - Court Youth Center, 402 West Court

Alamogordo, October 27, 2009 -First National Bank, 414 Tenth Street

Chaparral, October 28, 2009 -Chaparral High School, 800 County Line Drive

The project is a proposed 460 mile high capacity 500 kilovolt (kV) transmission line (or two parallel lines) across New Mexico and Arizona. The project proponent, SunZia Transmission LLC, is proposing to transport electricity generated by power generation resources, including primarily renewable resources, to western power markets and load centers. The BLM is the lead Federal agency which will oversee the preparation of the Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) that will identify environmental impacts and evaluate alternatives for the project.

Numerous comments during the initial public scoping meetings included requests to consider alternative routes. Suggested transmission line corridors for consideration in New Mexico are potential routes south of the White Sands Missile Range (WSMR) in Dona Ana County and along the eastern boundary of the WSMR in Otero and Lincoln counties. These corridors in the New Mexico area could provide alternative routes between the Midpoint Substation site near Deming, and the proposed SunZia-East Substation termination site in Lincoln County

A map of the proposed expansion area and more information regarding the project are available on BLM-SunZia Transmission Line Project website.

On July 22, 2009, General Dynamics C4 Systems officially opened SpacePlex 2 at New Mexico State University’s Arrowhead Research Park. Chris Marzilli, President of General Dynamics C4 Systems and Gene Milchak, Director of Satellite Ground Systems and Operations were on hand for the ribbon cutting ceremony.

Under an NMSU lease agreement, the General Dynamics C4 Systems SpacePlex 2 adds more than 15,000 square feet of office, laboratory and secure work areas to the company’s existing presence in the research park. SpacePlex 2 is within walking distance of the current SpacePlex facility, which was dedicated in 2001.

For three decades, General Dynamics has supported NASA projects from key New Mexico vantage points including NMSU and White Sands Missile Range. Beginning with a contract to provide ground support for NASA’s TDRSS program in 1978, the company’s space and satellite- related operations have outgrown a number of local facilities.

In its monthly board meeting of July 15th, 2009, the MVEDA Board of Directors elected new officers and board members for the upcoming year. New Board Chairman George Ruth of Citizens Bank of Las Cruces was elected at the June 17th board meeting. He replaces Immediate Past Chairman Bryn Davis of Sapphire Energy.

New officers for the upcoming year are:

• Vice-Chair - Gary Lenzo, First Community Bank
• Secretary - Dolores Connor, City of Las Cruces
• Treasurer - Kiel Hoffman, Pioneer Bank
• Executive Committee Member At-Large - J.B. Pruett, Northrise Ventures, LLC

Re-elected board members are:

• Clay Doyle, El Paso Electric
• Gary Lenzo, First Community Bank
• Gabe Ruiz, New Mexico Gas Company

New board members include:

• Jim Easley, Wells Fargo Bank New Mexico
• Stan Rounds, Ex-Officio, Las Cruces Public Schools

MVEDA is governed by a board of directors representing both the private and public sectors. Institutional members represent the City of Las Cruces, Dona Ana County, New Mexico State University, Dona Ana Community College, the Greater Las Cruces Chamber of Commerce, the Hispano Chamber of Commerce de Las Cruces, and White Sands Missile Range. Private sector board members represent a wide diversity of business and industry. They serve 3-year terms and are elected by the board.

Disaster escape system makes last road stop at Space Museum
BY TODD G. DICKSON - The Las Cruces Bulletin

Call it the first small step to mankind’s next big leap.

It’s the launch abort system for NASA’s new flagship rocket, Orion that is intended to take astronauts back to the moon and even possibly to Mars. And it’s being tested at the place that gave birth to the U.S. space program – White Sands Missile Range.

That’s why, despite dreary rainy weather Monday, March 9, missile range and New Mexico Space Museum officials were giddy to see the system parked in the museum’s lot before taking the final leg of its journey from Langley, Va., to WSMR.

At the missile range, it will be fitted on top of the Orion capsule for a series of stress tests before beginning another series of launch tests from the range this summer. The launch abort system is essentially a carrier holding the capsule that can whisk it away from the rest of the rocket in case something goes wrong with the Ares launch rockets.

These first tests will evaluate how well the system can do that job by evaluating stresses to the capsule from “stacking” it on top, said Gabriel Baca, NASA operations representative at WSMR. The system being tested mirrors the size, shape and mass of the actual system and will be fitted with sensitive equipment to measure the stresses under different conditions, he said.

Tests with actual propellants taking it a mile in to the sky will follow this summer. Baca said more than 100 people will be working out of the missile range on these first tests.

Orion is part of NASA’s shift to have private-sector focus on orbital launches so the space agency can focus on deep space exploration and manned exploration of the local solar system. Once Orion and a new orbital launch delivery system is developed, the space shuttle will be retired, which is scheduled to happen next year.

Both Orion and Ares I are elements of NASA’s Project Constellation, which plans to send explorers back to the Moon by 2020, and then to Mars and other destinations in the Solar System. NASA awarded Lockheed Martin the contract to create Orion.

Orion will launch from Launch Complex 39 at Kennedy Space Center, the same launch complex that currently launches the Space Shuttle. The first Orion flight is scheduled for September 2014. If commercial orbital transportation services are unavailable, Orion will handle logistic flights to the International Space Station.