"By all means believe those who have ‘zero’ actual flying hardware and infrastructure in place today, requiring systems never before used on prior rockets just to keep from vibrating the crew to death on ascent. If NASA said using synchronized fleas glued to the side of Winnebago would work from a technical perspective, while still fulfilling all the political/budgetary objectives, that plan would be approved our elected representatives....Many congressional staffers are among the smartest, quick minded and politically astute people I know. In fact a lot of what I know and how I think is due in no small part to their influence....Those with a high level of interest, openness to alternate ideas, good engineering knowledge, and political experience are definitely in the DIRECT camp at this point...everytime you say that we have no influence and are technically not credible makes what is coming up that much sweeter. So I guess we have a win win... History will at least be able to use all these great quotes as an example of how far off everyone elses thinking was."
Quotes above are credited to DIRECT 2.0 Leader Stephan Metschan
______________________________ ______________________________ ______________________________ __________
Stephen Metschan, the leader of small software company TeamVision Inc, is usually described as an, "
engineer and former NASA contractor" in the web and media reports about his DIRECT 2.0 project.
Even New Scientist online published the claim that Metschan's company, "designed the software NASA uses to test it's models". I can find no proof of that claim. Even if NASA tested some models with his software, those models would have been business decision models, not rocket models. Metschan sells decision support software, not engineering software for his small company located inside a multiple occupancy an office building in Federal Way, Washington
. Tye office building is shared with accountants, and insurance agent, a mortgage broker and other business concerns.
Metschan has been publicly challenging the work of the NASA ARES team of professional propulsion engineers. One would expect that it would require another propulsion engineer to challenge the quality of Ares engineering and Ares program management.
So far, I have learned is that Metschan is a pretty creative dreamer and apparently is a pretty good software developer/programmer. It has been reported that he holds a B.S. degree in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Portland. What I have not found is any sort of substantial background experience or professional qualifications in the area of rocket propulsion or booster development in Metschan's background. I cannot find any record of Metschan ever having worked in any sort of space vehicle program. If somebody knows something I don't, please fire that information back to me.
Do the words,
"former NASA contractor", add weight to the claims of Metschan regarding the viability of ARES I? There are thousands of former and current NASA contractors, including painters, plumbers, caterers, other computer programmers, security guard services and vending machine companies. Is Metshcan more qualified than
any of those other current and former contractors to pass judgment on the ARES I design? Metschan may or may not be more qualified to judge in comparison to a good carpenter, for example, but if one were to judge by his own NASA contractor experience, the seemingly implied background in rocket booster development is simply non-existent.
So what kind of a
working engineer is DIRECT 2.0 leader Stephen Metschan? His TeamVision web site does not offer a description of Metschan's experience in spaceflight technology or any professional licenses held, so I will leave it up to him to reveal that information. The TeamVision web page that contains the link to the Direct 2.0 proposal documents and presentations indicates only that Metschan is an
Associate Member of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA). According to the AIAA, an
Associate Member of AIAA is available for any, "Person interested in the development or application of aeronautics and astronautics". The
Associate Membership is basically a membership for individuals who
do not hold a university degree in, "science or engineering, or equivalent qualifications through professional practice", in the AIAA's own words. In other words, anybody with $85 dollars to pay for the AIAA
Associate Membership, can purchase that very same
qualification claimed by Metschan on his DIRECT 2.0 web page and receive a subscription to the AIAA magazine. So for 85 bucks, you too can have some gullible members of the media trumpet your
qualification as a rocket propulsion system expert.
The astounding reality is that not a single one of the credited DIRECT 2.0 proposal authors and producers- Stephen L Metschan, Cyril A Longton, Ross B Tierney, António H F Maia, or Philip J Metschan-- holds sufficient professional engineering credentials in propulsion systems or relevant fields according to the author credits listed on the TeamVision Space Exploration Optimization web page that contains the links to DIRECT 2.0 proposal and documentation!
______________________________ ______________________________ ______________________________ ________
"The Jupiter design is being reviewed by a team of 57 volunteer engineers, from line engineers up to NASA middle managers"
Quote above from DIRECT 2.0 spokesman Ross Tierney reported by the Associated Press
______________________________ ______________________________ ______________________________ ________
Well, Metschan might actually be considered a
working software engineer, judging from his business offerings. Whatever his professional qualifications are, it does not appear that Metschan has ever actually worked on a real NASA or military launch vehicle as a qualified professional engineer in the areas of mechanical, propulsion, thermodynamics, aerodynamics, materials, chemical, electrical or otherwise.
It is one thing to write about or review NASA activities, it is quite another thing to suggest that NASA is headed in the wrong direction with technical/engineering decisions. Any ordinary citizen can fill the role of journalist these days thanks to the power of the World Wide Web. A few professional journalists have done a fantastic job of familiarizing themselves with the basic concepts of rocket engineering and space travel. Metschan has obviously acquired a high degree of understanding about space systems, but is he professionally qualified to challenge the engineering quality of Ares I? Or alternatively, is he just an envious outsider who allows the media and public to trumpet his vague experience as a
former NASA contractor.
______________________________ ______________________________ ______________________________ ___________
"Doug Cooke, NASA deputy director for exploration, told the (Orlando) Sentinel in a letter to the editor that Ares appears at least two times safer than alternatives like Metschan's."
from The Cleveland Plain Dealer on July 25, 2008
______________________________ ______________________________ ______________________________ ___________
An examination of NASA contracts and abstracts reveals the documentation shown below. There are only two available documents that mention Metschan or his small software company! These job possibilities came to Metschan's company under the auspices of the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) Office of Technology program known as the Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR). That program was created to assist smaller business organizations obtain a share of government funded work.
The documentation shows that Meschan is involved with selling business productivity software that could possibly help NASA and other business and organizations perform business tasks more efficiently. Specifically, Metschan and his software company wanted NASA to "research the feasibility of incorporating an adaptive object based optimization system into an existing multi-user object oriented application integration framework" and to " The proposed innovation is to combine traditional and cutting edge optimization techniques into an existing powerful object based organic enterprise decision network called FrameworkCT."
All of that sounds more like software selling/engineering work than rocket engineering to me. Perhaps Metschan is angry at NASA simply because he is a
former NASA contractor. Read on and draw your own conclusions. To me, it looks like this DIRECT 2.0
team is merely a disgruntled collection of wannabes that has been able to leverage real ARES I development updates into a self-sustaining rumor recycling and exaggeration mill. It is unfortunate that some members of the media were drawn into the bogus ARES I controversy by the rumors, fast-talk, and slick, authentic appearing computer presentations.
Metschan's budget GDSS software package can be purchased online for the astonishing prices of $99.99 for the one-year license or $199.99 for the three-year license! I wonder if NASA opted for the $99.99 box or the $199.99 box? Did NASA keep the software or toss it out after trying it out? Well, NASA and the DOD apparently did purchase quite a few packages of TeamVision's software for a few years, but the federal dollars stopped coming in in 2007 according to the US Office of Management and Budget.
TeamVision was one of thousands of small contractors who have done business with NASA. Their billing totals would rank them alongside catering services, painting contractors, roofers, and other small service companies that win contracts with government agencies. In 2002 NASA spent $196,000 with TeamVision. In 2003 TeamVision did not win a single sale to NASA. In 2004, NASA paid TeamVision a total of $99,458. In 2005, NASA paid Metschan's company $270,000 for software. TeamVision got zero from NASA in 2006, although the USAF made a small purchase (less than $100,000) from the company. The available U.S. Office of Management and Budget records for the first three quarters of 2007 show that the NASA dollars had stopped flowing to TeamVision for the second straight year. So far it appears that TeamVision is having no luck with selling to NASA for a third straight year. Is it possible that Metschan is angry at NASA for cutting off the cash flow? Is the entire DIRECT 2.0 insurrection driven by Metschan's anger at NASA for cutting him off? Draw your own conclusions. (Source for contract awards is the US Office of Management and Budget)
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"The agency, before they embarked, did a very comprehensive study to come to the Ares," Wessel said. "There's no intent and no need to modify that."
Bill Wessel, associate director of NASA Glenn Research Center to the Cleveland Plain Dealer
______________________________ ______________________________ ______________________________ ____________
This is the link to Metschan's software company web page:
[Only Registered Users Can See LinksClick Here To Register]
I find it revealing that Metschan placed a link to his February 17, 2008
The Space Show appearance on the home page of his company web site. What sort of company owner would publicize a link to a web cast that certainly irks so many decision makers who are potential purchasers of his company software? I would think that it would be a pretty small operation with either few full-time employees or an on-call team of job contractors. It appears that the company uses a rented space located in a commercial building that is listed as the home of The Shield Financial Group, an insurance agent of two, a temporary staffing agency, and a variety of small businesses.
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| 12 | 03-II F1.02-9941 |
| PHASE-I CONTRACT NUMBER: | NNM04AA77C |
| SUBTOPIC TITLE: | Systems Architecture and Infrastructure Modeling |
| PROPOSAL TITLE: | Collaborative Object Framework for Adaptive System Optimization |
SMALL BUSINESS CONCERN (Firm Name, Mail Address, City/State/Zip, Phone)
TeamVision Inc.
33305 1st Way South B207
Federal Way ,WA 98003 - 4554
(253) 661 - 9765
PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR/PROJECT MANAGER (Name, E-mail, Mail Address, City/State/Zip, Phone)
Stephen L Metschan
[Only Registered Users Can See LinksClick Here To Register]
33305 1st Way South B207
Federal Way ,WA 98003 -4554
(253) 661 - 9765
U.S. Citizen or Legal Resident:
Yes
TECHNICAL ABSTRACT (LIMIT 200 WORDS)
The proposed innovation is to combine traditional and cutting edge optimization techniques into an existing powerful object based organic enterprise decision network called FrameworkCT. This combination would represent not only a leap in the field of optimization itself but also in the methods by which these models are produced for optimization process in the first place. This will be the first time ever that (i) multidisciplinary model integration, (ii) distributed parallel processing, (iii) statistical simulation, and (iv) optimization algorithms will be put together to solve complex systems engineering optimization problems.
In our Phase I research we have not only demonstrate the feasibility of the proposed innovation but in our preliminary tests we uncovered important synergies between the existing neural network database foundation of FrameworkCT and neural network optimization as well as between the current massive parallel processing capability and genetic optimization algorithms. Or overall effort is closely aligned with NASA's new initiative of going back to the moon, mars and beyond. This alignment with a current enterprise decision system will help insure the ultimate usefulness of the proposed innovation to NASA as well as industry and result in a tangible benefit during and immediately following the conclusion of the project.
POTENTIAL NASA COMMERCIAL APPLICATIONS (LIMIT 100 WORDS)
The need for focused investments in the area of the enterprise decision process is imperative for the success of all other investments being made by NASA. At present, large organizations like NASA's, expend a great deal of time and money making enterprise decisions. In addition, the long term impact associated with poor decisions can adversely effect an organization for many years in to the future. Millions of dollars could be saved by placing enterprise decision technologies like FrameworkCT at the forefront of NASA's investment priorities.
POTENTIAL NON-NASA COMMERCIAL APPLICATIONS (LIMIT 100 WORDS)
The problems faced by NASA in the enterprise decision process are not unique, but shared by all medium to large system integrators throughout the government, industry and even the world. The significant improvement of combining optimization within an existing enterprise class decision network is substantial. Successful implementation of this combined system would save NASA and industry billions of dollars annually by reducing significantly the false starts, redundant effort, long lead times and globally non-optimal solutions characteristic of the early enterprise decision process of complex systems.
| PROPOSAL NUMBER: | 03-F1.02-9941 (For NASA Use Only - Chron: 033059) |
| SUBTOPIC TITLE: | Systems Architecture and Infrastructure Modeling |
| PROPOSAL TITLE: | Collaborative Object Framework for Adaptive System Optimization |
SMALL BUSINESS CONCERN (Firm Name, Mail Address, City/State/Zip, Phone)
TeamVision Inc
33305 1st Way South B207
Federal Way ,WA 98003 - 4554
(253) 661 - 9765
PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR/PROJECT MANAGER (Name, E-mail, Mail Address, City/State/Zip, Phone)
Stephen Metschan
[Only Registered Users Can See LinksClick Here To Register]
33305 1st Way South B207
Federal Way ,WA 98003 -4554
(253) 661 - 9765
U.S. Citizen or Legal Resident:
Yes
TECHNICAL ABSTRACT (LIMIT 200 WORDS)
TeamVision proposes that we research the feasibility of incorporating an adaptive object based optimization system into an existing multi-user object oriented application integration framework. Successful implementation of such a system would save NASA and industry billions of dollars annually by reducing significantly the false starts, redundant effort, long lead times and globally non-optimal solutions characteristic of the early decision process of complex systems. Fortunately, recent breakthroughs in software engineering have demonstrating a practical and proven strategy to this seemingly intractable problem. The wide spread adoption of Object Oriented languages like C++ in the last ten years has created a revolution in modern software development. This move away from serial and procedurally based languages to Object Oriented languages has allowed teams of software programmers to collaborate on large and complex software development projects unthinkable under the old language paradigms. TeamVision is the first company, through a previous NASA-SBIR?s and private funding, to develop and commercialize a software solution that utilizes this approach in the early decision process. The proposed innovation builds on this successful track record and would significantly expand the field of optimization into new areas.
POTENTIAL NASA COMMERCIAL APPLICATIONS (LIMIT 150 WORDS)
Successful implementation of such an innovative technology throughout NASA and their subcontracts would save millions of dollars annually by reducing significantly the false starts, redundant effort, long lead times and globally non-optimal solutions characteristic of the early decision process of complex systems.
POTENTIAL NON-NASA COMMERCIAL APPLICATIONS (LIMIT 150 WORDS)
Successful implementation of such an innovative technology throughout industry would save billions of dollars annually by reducing significantly the false starts, redundant effort, long lead times and globally non-optimal solutions characteristic of the early decision process of complex systems.
Who is DIRECT 2.0 Leader Stephen Metschan?
Surferastra, you have hit the nail squarely on the head. You are head and shoulders above quite a few news editors in the critical thinking-deep thought department. DIRECT 2.0 stories belongs in the comic section alongside the Big Foot costume and the alien mask used in that Nebraska CE3K video that is being publicized in Denver.
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