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Whether designing a launch vehicle, spacecraft, or satellite, industry mainstays and New Space start-ups choose The Lee Company to provide the miniature precision fluid control components necessary to guarantee mission success. Serving the differing needs of New Space and traditional aerospace customers successfully requires an innovative approach. In this article, Mathew French, Technical Marketing Manager, Aerospace and Energy, and Brian Feuerstein, Business Development and Inside Sales Manager, share their insights on how The Lee Company has evolved our proven capabilities to meet the needs of the emerging New Space market.
Traditional aerospace companies have existing products, revenue streams, and profit. As such, they typically follow a philosophy of being deliberate, reducing risk, and getting it right the first time. When a problem occurs, these companies will carefully evaluate all options in close detail and implement additional verification steps to avoid repeating previous malfunctions, relying on decades of experience. They will put together a cross-functional team and draw up a specification outlining the requirements for the parts needed to solve the problem, then will send that specification to multiple vendors who must show exactly how they will meet those requirements. Only then will traditional aerospace companies build production-ready hardware and subsequently test it, first as an individual component, then a subsystem, and finally as a complete system. The component is subjected to similar testing, which is supported by reams of documentation and engineering hours (a process that could potentially take years to complete).
New Space companies are dependent on generating capital from investors as they try to develop technology to enter the market and begin generating revenue. They follow a philosophy of “design quickly, test, learn, and repeat.” They are comfortable giving design authority to talented, yet inexperienced individuals – and accept the risk of the initial system failing in exchange for data. New Space companies assemble the system and test it (often in weeks). If it fails, data and analysis will identify the component creating the issue. They will redesign, assemble, and test again until they have a system that works. They believe that moving quickly with a lower-cost system and then upgrading it will be faster and less expensive overall.
New Space companies require constant, detailed customer support. They are fighting a clock to achieve performance milestones before funding runs out. Constant communication is critical when they are working to resolve a problem – detailed technical information is the best way to help lower the risk of failures. If their success results in additional investments, their teams grow quickly and may have higher turnover. Our Sales Engineers need to remain in constant contact, or the relationship can fade quickly as people and system designs change.
Production capacity is a significant concern for the New Space market. New LEO satellite constellations require hundreds or thousands of satellites and dozens of launches when space suppliers were previously accustomed to two to three satellites and launches per year. As an aircraft supplier, we are accustomed to New Space build rates and can easily exceed demand.
Our ability to scale production, combined with our deep history in the space industry makes us uniquely qualified to support the industry with proven hardware and high-volume production capacity.
New Space is building hardware for the first time, often without well-defined performance requirements. To support them early in the process, our team must make recommendations with incomplete information and embrace the higher level of risk that they are willing to accept. This is very unlike the validating and verifying of every potential aspect of performance that is required for manned aircraft.
We created a cross-functional team internally to better understand the market’s distinct system, application, and material compatibility needs and share learning across product types. This effort accelerates the time needed to launch new products intended to meet future requirements.
The team also performed extensive research for material compatibility with many of the fluids used in innovative propulsion technologies. We are developing and qualifying solutions specific to these fluids so they’re available to meet customers’ future needs. We’ve also brought many capabilities in-house, like higher-performing thermal cycle and cryogenic testing. Soon, we’ll add new shock and vibration test equipment. Subcontracted testing tends to have long lead times and an increased risk of set-up issues, by doing everything in-house we can test and respond quickly.
New Space companies must take a fast, incremental approach to stay viable unless backed by other revenue streams. They have to prove to their investors that they are making good progress, and documentation is more difficult to understand when compared to hardware. Traditional, legacy aerospace companies have the advantage of pedigree and politics. That is why Boeing received a larger value contract than SpaceX to carry astronauts to the ISS. However, when companies are industry leaders for an extended time, they may be slower to enact change and more risk averse. SpaceX achieved the goal much faster and more economically. New Space companies are hungry, but their philosophy isn’t necessarily better…too much risk and they will go bankrupt.
Space companies must balance risk and speed, deciding which risks are worth taking and where excessive red tape is not creating value.
Currently, New Space is dominating.
Today, New Space companies such as SpaceX and Rocket Lab execute with products that are substantially less expensive to operate. Time will tell if traditional aerospace can offer a competitive response. When rockets become manned, additional qualification, documentation, and production quality checks are required for certification. Companies need to know that a system is going to work every time, in every possible combination of temperature and pressure. There can’t be a variance in the performance of the product. Some of the costs that were bypassed will resurface.
At The Lee Company, we specialize in transforming complex problems into deliverable solutions. As a world leader in miniature precision fluid control technology since 1948, we supply millions of products worldwide for industries including aerospace, automotive, diagnostics, industrial, medical equipment, scientific instruments, motorsports, and more. Our aerospace products are produced in our state-of-the-art manufacturing facility in Connecticut, USA. We pride ourselves on our unwavering commitment to quality, research, development, and continuous innovation. This enables our customers to improve their designs, increase profitability, and advance their industries. Our in-depth application knowledge lets us collaborate with customers and provide personalized technical support through a wide network of experienced Lee Sales Engineers ready to address any challenge. EXPLORE LEE PRODUCTS IN SPACE
Always verify flow calculations by experiment.
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