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| The Tracking and Data Relay Satellite built by TRW for NASA |
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TRW started in the early 1950's as the Ramo-Woolridge Corp, a consultant to the military on their needs in the 20th Century. From there it became a major contributor in the business of command, control and communications, as we called it in the aerospace industry and the military. TRW built all kinds of systems in use by both NASA and the military. I've already mentioned some in this web site. But there were lots more.
Spy satellites built by TRW were so advanced that you could read what a man was reading holding a document in his hand from as high as 100 miles in space. These satellites became the eyes of our military forces in spying on those that might bring harm to our society.
TRW Communications satellites orbited the earth providing the military and thus the government with secure communications anywhere in the world.
In addition, TRW had become one of the leaders in the business of Command, Control, Communications and Information. Major command and control stations of the military were under TRW contract. It was the leader in the software business that supported all these kinds of technology thrusts. I was about to become a part of this great company.
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| TRW Space Systems Group Logo |
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| Spy satellite built at Redondo Beach |
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| TRW Military Communications Satellite |
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One of my former associates at NASA Houston, actually a contractor, the Manager of the IBM people working in the Mission Control Center in Houston left IBM and went to TRW Space Systems Group as a Senior Manager. He and I kept in touch over the years, especially while I was at JPL.
Jim told me one day that TRW was about to embark on a new program integrating the space systems being built by TRW with land systems to enable better control of the battlefields of the world, the new system to be called Worldwide Military Command and Control System (WWMCCS) in the acronym world of the space program.
My tour with NASA had really come to an end as far as I was concerned with the completion of my role in the upgrade of the JPL Mission Control systems to support to the end of the Apollo program, so I decided to accept a senior position that was offered me with TRW at Redondo Beach, California not more than five miles where I had started with the Army Nike Missiles in Playa del Rey. Small world. I was put into the Systems Engineering and Integration Division where I would become a key player with the introduction of the WWMCCS by the Air Force and the Department of Defense.
TRW space systems was a technical company that put ideas into orbit with a combination of the latest in technology. From systems engineering to spacecraft manufacturing to ground station development to space instrument design, TRW's expertise transformed lofty concepts into high-flying reality for communications, surveillance, remote sensing and space science missions. At the time, I had no idea how a for-profit company operated. I needed to get into the industrial world and learn how you ran a company and made profit.
TRW placed its commercial, government and international customers on the high road to the high ground with cost-effective designs, and it was up to we in the company to convince the customer base that what we had was what they wanted. I had never done this before.
Space-based communications systems provided the connections essential for global commerce and military command and control. Spacecraft were becoming the sentry high in orbit, delivering uninterrupted missile warning essential to the nation's security. Earth observation spacecraft help people around the world know their planet better. Space science satellites designed and built by TRW revealed the secrets of the universe, and finely calibrated space instruments extend the boundaries of space. TRW's technology was focused on tomorrow's missions.
Common spacecraft designs were suited to a wide variety of missions and easily tailored to the job at hand. Advanced materials enable engineers to reduce spacecraft weight and accommodate more payload.
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TRW assigned me to the Space Systems Division in Redondo Beach, California where I began my career in the Software and Information Systems area. This was the organization that had the responsibility for all of TRW's efforts in Command and Control which was my thing. I began my work as the Director of Technical Marketing, an assignment allowing me to work across the board in all of the technical systems that the company was developing for a multitude of military and civilian customers. I was able to interact with all the technical staff as well as the customers who were located all over the U.S. and abroad. Quite a challenge because I became, in many cases, the interface for the customer's desires to upgrade or change the concept of their effort, and then work with our technical people to ensure that the requirements were to be met.
Satellite systems were a part of our work. We dealt with all kinds of space probes, in some cases becoming involved in some of the nation's most secret weapons of information collection by spy satellites. Not only did TRW build the satellites, but also we were responsible for the information flow to and from the vehicle in orbit, and in most cases, with the data analysis of the collected information. Quite a challenge to me.
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Within the first year of being with TRW, I was asked to transfer to the corporate marketing offices in Washington, D.C. to be closer to the military and civilian customers who were funding and directing the many efforts of the company. This was a golden opportunity for me to work in the huge Federal system in the greater Washington area, the Pentagon became a daily tromping ground for my duties. I was also involved with the corporate management out of Cleveland and many other sites throughout the U.S. which opened up the opportunity to become involved in much more than my previous positions in Redondo Beach.
My offices were first located in downtown D.C. until TRW built its brand new huge facility in Tysons Corner, Virginia. What a great place to live. I loved it! I bought a five acre piece of land out near Dulles Airport and built a beautiful home in the woods. |
Three years later after a super successful time with TRW, I was approached by Wolf Research and Development Corporation, a Division of a much larger technical company known as EG&G which stood for Edgerton, Germeshausen and Greer, three outstanding physicists that had started this company at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Boston and were now a monsterous contractor to the government, especially in the atomic energy area. And one of my high school and college roommates was one of their key scientists at the Atomic Test Facility at Jackass Flats, Nevada. I called Zolin Burson when I was approached by the corporate management of EG&G and he had nothing but fantastic praise for this huge corporation.
Wolf Research was started by Dr. Bill Wolf, another physicist that I had known during my NASA days in Houston. He had been bought out by EG&G and the company that I had first known in Houston of some ten people had now grown to over 400 physicist, engineers and software people. A very impressive group of people and a very impressive work effort.
With the blessings of TRW who knew that they had to support my growth, I accepted an appointment to EG&G Wolf Research as the Chief Operating Officer located in Greenbelt, Maryland, a short drive from my home in Virginia.
And little did I suspect at this point, that this entry into Wolf Research and EG&G was the lead into my forthcoming position back in the Federal Government as the Assistant to the Director of the National Cancer Institute in Bethesda, Maryland. Read on.
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Time out from TRW Space Systems at this stage of my career for a few more exciting events in my life, which seemed to come and come again. I returned to TRW after EG&G, The National Cancer Institute, and then all the many great things that happened during my departure from normal employment to my own thing, to Science Applications International Corp., the State of Idaho Cancer Effort, and then as if by design, not of my doing, back to TRW for a great finish to my working career in a super position. |
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