Daily Business Report-Feb. 20, 2018
Employees at San Diego Composites in 2016 showcase their 16-foot diameter, 30-foot long autoclave and a completed shipset of Launch Abort System Fillet panels to Orion delegates from NASA and Lockheed Martin. (Photo Credit: San Diego Composites Inc.)
San Diego Composites Wins Subcontractor
of Year Award for Work on NASA’s Orion Spacecraft
San Diego Composites has won the 2017 Small Business Subcontractor of the Year award from NASA’s Johnson Space Center in recognition of its support work on Orion spacecraft development efforts. Orion is the country’s next-generation space vehicle designed to carry astronauts into deep space — even to Mars — and return them home to Earth.
SDC produces components for Orion as a subcontractor to the spacecraft’s manufacturer Lockheed Martin, the space agency said. The San Diego-based company supplied the Launch Abort System Fillet and Ogive panels for NASA’s Orion space vehicle.
The launch abort system is designed to protect crew in the event of a high-risk situation at launch or during the spacecraft’s ascent. SDC’s ogive will function as a protective shell around the crew module and guard the structure from environmental conditions, while the cone-shaped fillet will work to connect the launch abort system to the ogive.
NASA said the company also helps characterize materials and supports acceptance tests of Orion’s structural parts in a push to ensure the components comply with NASA standards.
Founded in 2002, San Diego Composites began working with NASA more than 10 years ago when it helped invent a double-bag vacuum assisted resin transfer molding process to address the volatility that can occur when infusing high-temperature polyimides. In 2009, the company began working on Orion as a subcontractor to Lockheed Martin, which manages and leads the Orion program for NASA.
The company made more than 1,000 parts for Orion’s first unmanned Exploration Test Flight, EFT-1, which orbited earth in December 2014.
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SDSU Anthology Professor
Named University History Curator
SDSU anthropology professor Seth Mallios has been appointed as the official university history curator by Provost and Senior Vice President Chukuka S. Enwemeka. Since joining the faculty more than 20 years ago, Mallios has been the unofficial gatekeeper of SDSU artifacts and antiques.
While the university has both formal library archivists and informal exhibitors of lore and legend, in this new position Mallios will be charged with not only collecting and protecting, but also and more importantly, interpreting objects of historical and aesthetic importance.
“I came from the University of Virginia where there’s lots of history and tons of historians,” said Mallios. “When I arrived here two decades ago, I found there was plenty of static SDSU history but no one was telling our stories.”
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TEGNA Completes Acquisition
of CBS Affiliate KFMB-TV
TEGNA Inc. has completed its acquisition of Midwest Television Inc.’s broadcasting stations in San Diego —KFMB-TV, the CBS affiliated station in San Diego, KFMB-D2 (CW) and radio broadcast stations KFMB-AM and KFMB-FM in San Diego.
As a result of the completed sale, TEGNA, based in Virginia, owns or operates 47 television stations and two radio stations in 39 markets. KFMB is the long-standing leader in San Diego and adds a strong market to TEGNA’s portfolio of big four affiliates in top markets. KFMB leads San Diego in audience ratings and share across all demographics and is No. 1 in news across all major time slots.
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Pioneering Scripps Earth Scientist Selected
for Award by the European Geosciences Union
Meinrat “Andi” Andreae, a geoscientist at Scripps Institution of Oceanography, has been selected to receive the 2018 Alfred Wegener Medal & Honorary Membership of the European Geosciences Union (EGU). These are prestigious honors awarded annually to scientists who have achieved exceptional scientific achievements and international standing in atmospheric, hydrological, or ocean sciences.
Andreae is being recognized by the EGU for his “pioneering research, ground-breaking work and outstanding achievements in the atmospheric, biogeochemical, climate, and Earth system sciences.” He will receive the medal and be honored at the EGU 2018 General Assembly, which will take place in Vienna, Austria from April 8-13.
Andreae, a German native, is an alumnus of Scripps Oceanography, having received his PhD in oceanography in 1978. He is also director emeritus of the Max Planck Institute for Chemistry in Mainz, Germany, where he has worked for the past three decades. Read more…
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General Atomics Delivers 1st LiFT
Batteries for New Submersible
General Atomics Electromagnetic Systems announced that it has delivered the first shipset of Lithium-ion Fault Tolerant batteries for the U.S. Special Operations Command’s new Dry Combat Submersible, a long endurance delivery vehicle capable of transporting personnel in a dry environment. San Diego-based General Atomics is under contract with Lockheed Martin Corporation to provide LiFT batteries to power the DCS propulsion and internal support systems.
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World’s Most Venomous
Spiders are Actually Cousins
SDSU NewsCenter
Two groups of highly venomous spiders might be seeing more of each other at family reunions. A new study led by San Diego State University biologist Marshal Hedin has found that two lineages of dangerous arachnids found in Australia—long classified as distantly related in the official taxonomy—are, in fact, relatively close evolutionary cousins. The findings could help in the development of novel antivenoms, as well as point to new forms of insecticides.
The spiders in question are those from the families Atracinae and Actinopodidae and include Australian funnel-web spiders and eastern Australian mouse spiders, respectively. One member of Atracinae, Atrax robustus, is considered by many to be the most venomous spider in the world.
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Scientists Receive $15 Million
to Study Viral Outbreak Survivors
With a new $15 million grant, scientists at The Scripps Research Institute (TSRI) are gearing up for an in-depth study of survivors of viral outbreaks. The grant from the National Institutes of Health’s National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases will support the efforts of the TSRI-led Center for Viral Systems Biology to fight Ebola and Lassa viruses.
“Our goal is to help eradicate these diseases by building better diagnostics, designing new drugs and informing vaccine design,” says principal investigator Kristian Andersen, assistant professor at TSRI and director of Infectious Disease Genomics at the Scripps Translational Science Institute.
While Ebola virus outbreaks are rare, the 2013–2016 epidemic in West Africa infected more than 28,000 people, killing more than 10,000. Lassa virus causes recurring outbreaks in West Africa, killing thousands of people a year.
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Amid Proxy Battle, Qualcomm Reports
Successful 5G Test in South Korea
Despite the ongoing proxy battle with Broadcom for its control, Qualcomm continues to move forward with 5G technology, announcing a successful test Monday in South Korea.
The San Diego-based wireless pioneer said it tested multi-vendor operation of new 5G cellular radios with Samsung Electronics and KT Corporation, demonstrating multi-gigabit download speeds. Qualcomm hailed the test as “a significant milestone” in the rollout of 5G.
“As the industry works toward the goal of commercial launches of 5G NR products and networks in 2019, close collaboration among global mobile industry leaders on testing and successful trials are necessary to validate the technologies and continue to build and improve our capabilities,” said Cristiano Amon, president of Qualcomm. “We are proud of our achievement with Samsung and KT and look forward to further collaboration on the path to making 5G a commercial reality.”
The live demonstration was held in Samsung’s lab in Suwon, South Korea.
Some industry observers have said that Broadcom’s hostile takeover attempt could slow the roll out of 5G, which Qualcomm has promised by 2019.
Broadcom, which is based in Singapore but moving to San Jose, is offering $120 billion for Qualcomm, a bid that has twice been rejected by Qualcomm’s board.
5G stands for 5th generation wireless system and promises a tenfold increase in speed from the current 4G. For example, with 5G a full HD movie can be downloaded in a matter of seconds.
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SDSU Says it has Basically Run out of Space
to Add Students to Main Campus
San Diego State University says it won’t be able to meet growing demand for enrollment or evolve into a top 50 public research school unless it opens a satellite campus on the site of SDCCU Stadium in Mission Valley.
“There’s no room left for significant growth on main campus,” said Bob Schulz, SDSU’s university architect.
He said the university could conceivably knock down one or more smaller buildings and put up a larger ones. But Schulz adds that such change could be prohibitively expensive while making main campus more crowded.
The university’s comments contradict recent claims by FS Investors of La Jolla that SDSU has ample room to grow on main campus and only wants the SDCCU property as the site of a stadium, at least in the short term.
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Wilson Turner Kosmo Partner Vickie Turner
to Receive Career Achievement Award from USD
The University of San Diego will present Wilson Turner Kosmo LLP partner Vickie Turner, a 1982 graduate of the USD School of Law, with the Author E. Hughes Career Achievement Award. Turner is one of 10 alumni who will be honored by USD at the annual Alumni Honors gala on April 28.
Turner, a complex litigation attorney for over 35 years, is an adjunct professor at the USD School of Law and California Western Law School. She serves on the USD School of Law’s Board of Visitors and annually funds a scholarship for its diverse law students. In 2009, she received the school’s Distinguished Alumni award.
Created in 1995, the Author E. Hughes Career Achievement Awards are named for USD’s first president, Author E. Hughes, who oversaw the consolidation of San Diego’s College for Women and College for Men less than a year into his leadership..
Turner joined Wilson Turner Kosmo, California’s largest certified women-owned firm in 1998. Over the course of her career, Turner has earned national recognition defending complex product liability claims for sizeable manufacturers, distributors and retailers in California and 12 other western states.
Alumni Honors will take place Saturday, April 28, at USD’s Joan B. Kroc Institute for Peace and Justice.
