By Lori J. Connors

AMIIC Celebrates with a Ribbon Cutting for Its Workforce Development Hub

By Lori J. Connors Photos by Lori J. Connors

Many area luminaries and civic leaders, along with those from the neighboring Huntsville and Madison communities, were on hand to celebrate the official opening and ribbon cutting for Advanced Manufacturing Innovation and Integration Center’s (AMIIC) new facility and lab.

Greg Brown, Chairman Huntsville/Madison County Chamber of Commerce Chairman and Co-CEO & CFO of Brown Precision, Inc. led the event by praising AMIIC and the technologies that they will be providing to help develop a mission-ready, modernized workforce for Huntsville, Madison, and the entire North Alabama region.

“AMIIC was established to accelerate the adoption of state-of-the-art manufacturing technologies and support building the North Alabama workforce of tomorrow,” said Brown. “AMIIC will work to stimulate Alabama’s economy, workforce, and advanced manufacturing sector through its state-of-the-art demonstration facility, where we’re at today.”

Among those in attendance were Huntsville Mayor Tommy Battle, Madison Mayor Paul Finley, and Madison County Commissioner Chairman Dale Strong; Huntsville City Council members Jenny Robinson and Frances Akridge; County Commissioners representing Madi-

Pictured from L to R: UAH Interim President Dr. Chuck Karr, Madison Mayor Paul Finley, Huntsville Mayor Tommy Battle, AMIIC Executive Director John Schmitt, Drake State President Dr. Pat Simms, Madison County Commission Chair Dale Strong, HSV/Madison County Chamber of Commerce Chairman Greg Brown

son and Limestone Counties; Alabama State Senator Sam Givhan; representatives for Congressman Robert Aderholt, US Senator Tommy Tuberville, and US Congressman Mo Brooks.

From the academia sector were Dr. Chuck Karr, interim President for The University of Alabama in Huntsville; Matt Massey, representing Alabama School of Cybertechnology and Engineering; Dr. Jimmy Hodges, interim President at Calhoun Community College; Dr. Pat Simms, President of Drake State, and Dr. Ahsan Choudhuri, Associate Vice President for the Aerospace Center at The University of Texas, El Paso.

Members from the National Center for Defense Manufacturing and Machining (NCDMM) Executive Leadership team were also on hand to celebrate the historical event.

“Thank you all for being here. I’ll be honest, I’m blown away, we are absolutely humbled by your presence and your support,” said John Schmitt, AMIIC’s Executive Director. “What a testament to how this community shows up for each other, it’s truly astounding.”

Schmitt, having served in his role since last April, is charged with overseeing the strategic planning and operations, providing leadership and direction to the advisory board and board of directors, as well as working to establish AMIIC as a Regional recognized Advanced Manufacturing center of excellence in North Alabama.

“As we’ve had this opportunity and the privilege to work on AMIIC as a project for our community, we really got a chance to see how special North Alabama and Huntsville really are,” said Schmitt. “But we wouldn’t doing our job and setting out what we’re doing if we didn’t do it within context. And that’s the context of our personal and professional lives, the shifting demographics of our workforce, and the incredible growth of our region.

“There are often conversations across our community about the power that can be harnessed when government, business, community, industry, and education all collaborate,” said Dr. Pat Simms, President of Drake State. “This facility is a shining example of what that looks like. This is how we meet our statewide goals of putting 500,000 skilled, reliable workers into Alabama’s workforce by 2025.” w

Constellation, Huntsville’s ‘Front Door’, Now Well Underway

By Dawn Suiter / Photos courtesy of Scott McLain

The Constellation Huntsville development, a project 22 years in the making, is coming closer to completion. Located on approximately 11 acres at the former site of the old Heart of Huntsville Mall between Memorial Parkway, Clinton Avenue, and the Von Braun Center, Constellation Huntsville’s prominent location has earned it the nickname of ‘Huntsville’s Front Door,’ greeting visitors as they enter the downtown Huntsville area.

According to Constellation developer D. Scott McLain, CCIM, CRE of Coldwell Banker Commercial McLain Real Estate, the project is “proceeding very vigorously now. We’re currently building 219 apartments. They’ll be the nicest in town until someone builds something nicer.”

“Our goal with this office would be to build the tallest office building in town, which is not a particularly heavy lift since the tallest building in downtown Huntsville now is 12 stories”

McLain stated that the apartment community will feature one-, two-, and three-bedroom units with “very fine decor and the amenities that you would expect in a first class apartment project.” The apartments are currently being pre-leased and are projected to be occupied as early as May 2022.

Among the many features of the Constellation apartment complex, McLain said, will be two interior courtyards, including an active space with a swimming pool and associated functions and a ‘passive courtyard’ with seating areas and grills. The two courtyards will be separated by a building lower than the surrounding apartments with a rooftop recreation space.

McLain added that they are also in the process of leasing the retail component of the Constellation project, which will be located at the corner of Heart of Huntsville and Clinton Avenue with the Memorial Parkway ramp situated at the north end of the property. “It’s currently staged with construction materials,” he said.

According to McLain, Huntsville conducted a study in 2017 that showed a demand for 211,000 square feet of restaurants downtown. “There’s $95 million worth of untapped annual revenue that’s not being spent,” he said. He expects to add several restaurants to the development by fall 2023.

In addition to restaurants and retailers, Constellation Huntsville will feature an office tower. Although Downtown Huntsville currently has a height limitation ordinance for office buildings, “it does not apply to Constellation,” McLain said. The Constellation office tower’s height limit, rather, “is imposed by physics and economics, both of which are very strong forces.”

“Our goal with this office would be to build the tallest office building in town, which is not a particularly heavy lift since the tallest building in downtown Huntsville now is 12 stories,” McLain added.

McLain acknowledged that Covid has rearranged society’s view of offices. “We are not yet flocking back to offices. That’s a whole ‘nother article. But I think that we will go back to offices.” He predicts that it’ll take a year and a half to determine whether on-site offices will be back for good. “If we do go to the office and someone wants a Class-A office location in Downtown Huntsville,” he said, “there are very few options,” adding that the vacancy rate for Class A has been as low as 1%. “And it is certainly less than 5%, meaning that there’s simply not much Class A office [space] downtown. Huntsville has been a Research Park-oriented office market, but that’s changing slowly.”

Another factor at work, according to McLain, is that employers are beginning to realize that their employees want an office environment that is “more fun than a traditional office park,” including amenities such as adjacent coffee shops, beer breweries, boutiques and living spaces.

“As that demand increases,” he said, “I believe that office buildings and mixed use developments will be considered employee magnets. And as such, there will be some companies that say ‘it is in our interest to locate in an environment like that because it will help us attract employees.’”

In order to justify starting construction of a large office tower, however, McLain stated that he needs big investors, or ‘whales,’ adding “all whales that are out there, I cordially invite you to consider an office site at Constellation if you want to be downtown with marvelous visibility.”

A final part of the Constella-

“We are not yet flocking back to offices. That’s a whole ‘nother article. But I think that we will go back to offices.”

tion project involves elements sold to third parties, including a national hotel development and management company which has already opened a SpringHill Suites by Marriott at the site. The second site, located adjacent to the SpringHill hotel, will house a second hotel in the future.

Further contributing to the attractiveness of the Constellation development is the planned pedestrian ‘skybridge’ over Memorial Parkway, an S-shaped design of about 6,000 linear feet with bowstring trusses that would cross the Parkway from the Constellation development at Clinton, continuing across Governors Drive to the Lowe Mill area. In addition, improvements to Pinhook Creek and the creation of a downtown ‘riverwalk’ are on the slate in the near future.

McClain explained that a project like this typically takes 10 years. He began planning the development with his father and an additional partner, later taking on two additional partners following the deaths of his father and their original partner.

During the recession of the 1990s, he said, his partners told him “this is a great project, and we love Huntsville, but this is hard–you’re on your own.” McLain then took on a new partner. “So I’ve had five partners, two of whom died, two of whom bailed, and one who’s still with me,” he said. “For reality purposes [there was] a six year recession. Plus, we had a four-year discussion with the city. If you take all that out, I’m right on time.”

“We happen to be the possessors of a really good piece of property in Huntsville. And with it comes the responsibility to do it right. And so we have been striving for a long time to execute this properly. We will continue with that effort until we finish, and I never give up.” w

“We happen to be the possessors of a really good piece of property in Huntsville. And with it comes the responsibility to do it right.”

Aerobotix Contributes to Award Winning Mobile Robot

Huntsville based company Aerobotix was recently recognized for their part in an award winning collaboration with their Atlanta based partner, Compass Technology Group (CTG). Together, CTG and Aerobotix, an innovative leader in advanced metrology and robotic solutions, developed an adaptive radome diagnostic system which won the top Defense Manufacturing Technology Achieve (DMTA) Award at this year’s Defense Manufacturing Conference.

“Aerobotix is extremely proud and honored to have assisted Compass Technology Group in this endeavor,” said Josh Tuttle, Business Development Manager at Aerobotix. “This truly is an example of Industry 4.0, as these self-navigating robots can be rapidly repurposed to serve multiple objectives, and in multiple locations. From a quality control standpoint, this technology could be used to save substantial amounts of money for organizations and further increase means of production and manufacturing.”

The project also marks the first ever use of a collaborative mobile robot in Air Force maintenance depots. The mobile robot manipulates an Advanced Microwave Mapping Probe (AMMP) and the system uses microwave signals to non-destructively evaluate aircraft radomes and the identify defects in the aircraft. Aerobotix designed and built the system using a FANUC CRX – 10iA robot. This robot rides on a separate Automated Guided Vehicle and, using LiDAR to scan the work zone for safe navigation, adjusts scanning paths and executes detailed part analysis.

Representatives from CTG say the technological achievement is a huge step forward in their respective fields. “This dramatic technology leap has enabled us to deploy laboratory precision in an Air Force manufacturing environment,” said Dr. John Schultz, Chief Scientist at CTG. “Combining our sensors and algorithms with Aerobotix’s automation system has moved us from literally tapping a penny while listening for substrate damage, to instead quantifying microwave performance with self-navigating LiDAR on a mobile base with a FANUC collaborative robot. Our robotic microwave NDE system will put better parts back in the air, quicker and at less cost.”

The DMTA awards are given to teams of government, industry and academia employees who are responsible for outstanding projects in manufacturing technology. Aerobotix specializes in the creation of cuttingedge automated robotic solutions for high-value aircraft and vehicles.

“Aerobotix is perhaps best known for robotic painting, but this award for our work with CTG highlights our expertise in metrology and navigation systems,” added Tuttle. “We are a reliable automation integrator for the aerospace industry and excited to partner with other companies on future projects.” w

By Noah Logan Photos courtesy of Aerobotix

The roars of artillery fire and rocket engines are commonplace to Huntsvillearea residents, but even the most seasoned Huntsvillians may have been surprised by the particularly loud, extended burn heard across the Tennessee Valley on February 2.

This burn was the sound of success, marking an additional milestone in the Artemis mission’s pathway to space as Boeing’s new fully-composite, linerless cryogenic fuel tank passed a critical series of tests at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center (MSFC).

Although Boeing is at the moment the most visible, or rather audible, company involved with the Artemis program, it is truly a joint effort involving collaboration between multiple Huntsville aerospace companies working in conjunction with NASA Marshall Space Flight Center as they tackle the goal of returning humans to the Moon for the first time since 1972.

The Space Launch System (SLS) and Orion spacecraft have deep roots in Huntsville and the surrounding area thanks to the combined efforts of Boeing, Northrop Grumman, Aerojet Rocketdyne, United Launch Alliance (ULA), Teledyne Brown Engineering, and Dynetics. With the support of the City of Huntsville, Marshall Space Flight Center, and other local partners, these companies are launching the Rocket City’s reputation to new heights as a leader in aerospace technology.

Boeing representative Josh Barrett stated that his company designs, develops, and tests the SLS core stage, upper stage, and avionics in Huntsville, while the hardware is built at the Michoud Assembly Facility in New Orleans. “Currently, we’re focused on finishing development on the Exploration Upper Stage, which is a more powerful version of the SLS’s upper stage,” he said. “That, too, will be tested in Huntsville.”

ULA is also hard at work on the Artemis project. Representative Julie Arnold stated that ULA is developing the hardware for Artemis III in conjunction with Boeing at their factory in Decatur.

COVER COVER STORY Huntsville Aerospace Companies’ Next Moon Shot: Artemis Program Update

A BOLE solid rocket booster undergoing testing at Marshall Space Flight Center Photo courtesy of Northrop Grumman

The Interim Cryogenic Propulsion Stage (ICPS), or the second stage of the SLS, is already stacked in the Artemis I rocket and is being prepared at the Kennedy Space Center. In addition, she reported that the Artemis II ICPS has been delivered to its facilities in Florida, where it is being held for further processing.

According to Kendra Kastelan of Northrop Grumman, the Artemis I solid rocket boosters are stacked and ready for the first flight of the SLS and the Artemis II booster segments are complete and awaiting shipment to Kennedy Space Center upon NASA’s request. The Artemis III loaded segment finalization is projected for March, and the Artemis IV boosters are currently being cast propellant at the Northrop Grumman facility in Promontory, Utah. The company was recently awarded a contract to support booster production through Artemis VIII and develop the next-generation boosters to support the mission through 2031.

“Northrop Grumman is supporting missions beyond Artemis I with completed and in-production hardware as well as the development of the next-generation solid rocket boosters for SLS,” said Mark Tobias, SLS Deputy and BOLE (Booster Obsolescence and Life Extension) Chief Engineer, Northrop Grumman Fellow.

“Continuing our longstanding partnership with Marshall Space Flight Center,” he stated, “we have begun subscale testing and full scale process development of the [next generation] Booster Obsolescence and Life Extension boosters that will help SLS and Artemis IX deliver more single launch payload capability to the Moon than any commercial vehicle.”

Aerojet Rocketdyne’s Huntsville team continues to provide the critical engineering support and software for the controllers that function as the “brains” of the massive RS-25 engines that will lift the SLS into space for its inaugu-

Rendering of Dynetics Human Landing System. Courtesy of Dynetics.

COVER STORY STORY Huntsville Aerospace Companies’ Next Moon Shot: Artemis Program Update

ral mission to the Moon. The team of approximately 25 includes hardware engineers, software engineers, quality engineers, laboratory technicians and configuration management staff from the Aerojet Rocketdyne Huntsville facility and MSFC’s nearby Hardware in the Loop Laboratory.

“We have such a sense of pride knowing that our team has played a role in the mission coming together,” said Kevin Yarbrough, manager of General Engineering for Aerojet Rocketdyne. “One of the most powerful things you can see is those engines roaring to life and knowing our team had a role in that.”

Aerojet Rocketdyne Software Engineering manager Brandon Felts works alongside Yarbrough on the RS-25 program. An Arkansas native, he has been with the company for over 13 years, and the job supporting the RS-25 engines is what brought him to Alabama. “I heard about Marshall Space Flight Center and how Huntsville has historically played a big part in the space program,” Felts said. “I knew it was a great place for smart minds, and it was a place I wanted to be.”

Aerojet Rocketdyne’s Huntsville location is also responsible for the Launch Abort System (LAS) Jettison motor and the single RL10 engine on the Interim Cryogenic Propulsion Stage, which will perform two burns as it boosts Orion for 7,700 miles before separating from the spacecraft. Future configurations of SLS will use a total of four RL10 engines for the powerful exploration upper stage that will enable NASA to send Orion into space with hardware, supplies, or other large cargo.

Teledyne Brown Engineering in Huntsville is the prime contractor for the Launch Vehicle Stage Adapter (LVSA), whose cone shape partially covers the ICPS to protect its RL10 rocket engine. In addition to providing structural support for launch and the separation system, the LVSA protects avionics and electrical devices in the ICPS from extreme vibration and acoustic conditions during launch and ascent.

Teledyne Brown Vice President of Space Systems Reggie Spivey stated that the Thermal Protection System (TPS) application on the Artemis-II LVSA has been completed and has been transferred to MSFC Building 4649, where integration of the internal elements is projected to be completed in November of 2022. “At the same time,” he said, “we have delivered all the material components for the Artemis-III LVSA primary structure weldment to NASA’s Advanced Weld Facility at MSFC Building 4755. The forward cone/ring weld has been completed and awaits the completion of the aft cone and ring, which are still being fabricated at NASA MSFC. When the aft cone and ring are complete, they will be welded together and then welded to the forward cone, to complete the primary structure weldment for the Artemis-III LVSA.”

The Huntsville-based Dynetics was selected by NASA in 2017 to produce the Universal Stage Adapter (USA), which will connect the Orion spacecraft to the exploration upper stage (EUS) for the Block 1B crew configuration of Artemis and will house and protect large payloads.

Engineers at RUAG Space USA in Trinity, AL recently completed production of large composite panels for the Demonstrator Test Article of the Dynetics Universal Stage Adapter. Dynetics is integrating and assembling the components in preparation for testing at Marshall Space Flight Center.

Dynetics was also chosen in late 2021 to work with NASA on the creation of a human landing system. “Dynetics is ready to continue working closely with NASA on a sustainable lander solution,” said Robert Wright, Dynetics Space Systems Division Manager. “We believe our approach to collaborating and tailoring NASA’s lander design is critical to the long-term success of America’s journey to the Moon and we are honored to be part of this mission.”

NASA announced on February 2 that the Artemis 1 mission, which was initially scheduled for March 2022, has been pushed back due to extra preparation work needed on the SLS rocket, which has been fully stacked with the Orion spacecraft on top inside High Bay 3 of the Vehicle Assembly Building since October 2021.

While the teams are not working on any major issues, engineers are continuing work associated with final closeout tasks and flight termination system testing ahead of the wet dress rehearsal. “Ultimately, we’re going to launch this flight hardware when the flight hardware is ready and when the team’s ready,” said Mike Bolger, the program manager of exploration ground systems at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center.

NASA will be moving the combined SLS rocket and Orion spacecraft out of the Vehicle Assembly Building to Launch Pad 39B for testing in March.

For wet dress rehearsal, engineers will fully load the SLS with propellant and the team on the ground will run through all the pre-launch operations to prepare for the Artemis I launch. During this test, the team will run a full countdown until Tminus 10 seconds before ignition of the SLS’ four RS-25 main engines. This is the final test prior to the official launch.

Although NASA’s first manned Moon mission since Apollo has been slightly delayed, the agency now has a target date to launch its Space Launch System (SLS) and Orion spacecraft this spring. It’s targeting mid-April to launch Artemis I from the historic Launch Complex 39B of NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The first launch window will open from April 8 to April 23, with two backup windows from May 7 to May 21 and June 6 to June 16.

NASA’s return to the Moon will continue contributing to Huntsville’s soaring economy, propelling the Rocket City to new heights as the program draws closer to its mission of safely delivering astronauts to the lunar south pole by 2025, where they will spend a week before returning to Earth. The ultimate goal for NASA is to create a lunar habitat there known as Artemis Base Camp, where astronauts will live for at least a month at a time.

The Apollo program spurred Huntsville’s first massive growth boom, and there’s no telling to which heights the significantly more ambitious Artemis program will take us. The sky’s the limit. w

Artemis II-LVSA being transported to Marshall Space Flight Center Building 4649 in December 2021 Photo courtesy of Teledyne Brown Engineering

Local Card Collectable Industry Booms Amid Pandemic Blues

The pandemic didn’t slow down one sector of business, locally or nationally.

The sports trading card industry, which shook a 2000s slump to experience a boom in the mid2010s, kept its momentum even when the coronavirus Covid-19 hit with a vengeance in 2020.

“When Covid hit there was a huge boom and a lot of big investors got into the hobby of collecting,’’ said Brooks Bryant, a former Grissom High School and college basketball player who opened Champs Sports Cards on Regal Drive 20 years ago. “Guys didn’t have sports to gamble on or to watch, so this was a way they got their sports fix.’’

When sports cards experienced an initial explosion of sorts in the mid-1980s through the 1990s, hobbyists purchased a box at a local memorable store and hoped to find a gem. The Internet has somewhat altered the experience.

“There’s a big online presence with cards,’’ Bryant said. “Now, a big thing to do nowadays is opening a box of cards for people on the Internet so people can see what’s in your box. People will split up a box. That’s a big deal in the hobby.’’

For instance, people might split a box to fill a series for a certain team or to complete a division they’re looking to complete such as Major League Baseball’s East Division.

However, not all boxes are opened on the Internet and bidders can still overpay for a set before it’s ever opened in hopes of claiming a rare, expensive card.

Everyone who collects knows Baseball Hall of Famer Honus Wagner has long been the Holy Grail of baseball cards. One of 60 Wagner cards in a particular release recently sold for a record $6.6 million. But there’s more money to be mined from card collecting other than falling into a Mona Lisa.

In the 80s and 90s, Bryant said,

“When Covid hit there was a huge boom and a lot of big investors got into the hobby of collecting’’

collectors were hoping to land one or two cards in a set that were worth $20, $50 or $100 max.

“Now,’’ he said,’’ you’re looking for a card that’s a thousand, five thousand, 10 thousand and way up. There are some (Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Patrick) Mahomes cards worth a million, some (for New England Patriots, Tampa Bay quarterback Tom) Brady cards that are three, four, five million.

“Those are usually very rare rookie cards, but there’s so much variety today. There is low-end and high-end.’’

Cards today aren’t the garden variety type from years past. The

By Mike Easterling / Photos by Steve Babin

ones fetching the most money are autographed or even have game worn jersey patches including those from all the teams said player was employed.

Currently, a LeBron James triple-patch card (Cleveland, Miami, Los Angeles) can summon up to $500,000. If a card is out there but not yet in possession, a collector can place a “bounty’’ on the card and the bidder can claim it when the card is on the market.

It can be a risk because some cards won’t eventually bring an equal value to the bounty.

“It could be a dog,’’ Bryant said. “You’ll probably get half your money back, but you never know what you’re going to get.’’

Meanwhile, local game card and comics outlet The Deep reports things haven’t been so rosey while COVID-19 has interrupted the economy. The long-time business, originally located near Hollywood 18 off Memorial Parkway and now housed farther south off the Parkway, is still trying to reach prepandemic business levels.

“Before it was big,’’ said Chris, an employee at the store. “It’s now iffy. We still sell a lot, but it’s hard to get product with the shipping problems.’’

Things haven’t slowed down in the sports card industry with the recent boom that has offset a slowdown earlier in the decade.

“My sense is absolutely there was a major lull in the early 2000s,’’ said Owen Poindexter, lead business writer for Front Office Sports. “The 90s boom could lean on some perceived utility of cards as sources of stats information -- there wasn’t any easy internet source for that. Cards had to be reinvented around glamor and artificial scarcity for the next boom.

“Incidentally, I have many boxes of 90s cards and the card stores in my area are completely uninterested in them. So many cards were printed in that era, and unless you

have a mint condition card with a lot of cache, they don’t care.’’

Poindexter penned a story regarding the trading card boom citing collectibles insider Ken Goldin, who last year sold his business to a group that included New York Mets owner Steve Cohen.

Last summer, Poindexter wrote, Goldin shared the industry consensus that the collectibles boom was going to settle down from the feverish pace it had built up during the pandemic.

“I, like everybody else with a lot of experience in the industry, thought mistakenly that as the lockdowns would be lifted, and there were treatments and vaccines, that some of the interest would wane,” Goldin said. “And to my surprise and delight, nothing has been further from the truth.”

Ironically, Bryant has taken his shop through the pandemic successfully without relying on the Internet. Doing business “old school,’’ he said, he leaves online business to others.

“All of my business is in the store,’’ he said, adding that the boxes he sells undercut online prices. “My boxes are for local guys. I don’t ship anywhere. Some of these guys (selling) do it all night long. They’re charging a lot more than I charge.

“I never closed (during the pandemic), but there was a time I was doing pickup only. Like take out, it was call and come pick it up. My lights were off, my sign was off, but guys that knew me from facebook knew I was open to deliver curbside.’’ w