March 2003 - As Published in the Will County Business Journal
The competition was fierce, but Morris entrepreneur Mike Nevins has landed a contract with NASA. Nevins Software, Inc., a software development company founded by Nevins, is hard at work helping develop computer programs for NASA.
The NASA contract was nationally published, and some 2,283 companies responded with proposals. But only 295 were accepted, and only two of those were from Illinois.
The contract award was based on technical merit, feasibility, and relevance to NASA research and technology requirements.
The NASA Small Business Innovation Research project was designed to attract innovative entrepreneurs into the space program.
Though the recent space shuttle tragedy has some programs on hold, Nevins says his program is still going full speed ahead. “I’m busily working on it,” Nevins said. “In terms of the overall program, there has been little impact because this is a project which is strategy-oriented over a very long time period. We’re looking with my project at reducing the turn around time, and we know that won’t happen overnight. Our time frame here is over the next seven to 10 years.
The Nevins’ computer simulation model, called SPACESIM, when fully developed by Nevins Software, will allow NASA researchers to greatly reduce turnaround time for the space shuttle or other next generation reusable launch vehicles. SPACESIM will allow users to play ‘what if’ scenarios on the computer prior to making large capital investments. In addition, it will result in improved visibility of spaceport processes and will identify potential operational constraints or bottlenecks prior to encountering them. The major purposes for the research effort is to enable NASA’s vision for the spaceport of the future, which entails the transition over time from very high cost, research-oriented space launches with relatively low frequency of launches to an environment where spaceports are commercialized for the space transportation industry and are required to support multiple launches per week in a safe, cost-effective manner.
Nevins Software will be working directly with NASA Spaceport Engineering researchers located at Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Fla. Nevins has already made several trips to the Space Center and notes he is impressed with the people involved in the program. “The people I’m working with are great,” he said. “They are extremely safety conscious and professional, and I’ve been having a ball. This type of work fits in well with my background."
Though difficult to explain in layman’s terms, Nevins’ software programs are designed to simulate conditions on a spaceport, which is designed as a transportation hub for ships heading for outer space.
The current space shuttle is the vehicle for spaceport operations now, but NASA scientists are working on the next generation of re-launchable and recoverable space vehicles.
Nevins worked as a researcher at Argonne National Laboratory for 12 years. He founded his own software company in 1999. While at Argonne, Nevins developed computer models for the Department of Defense on logistics and transportation problems. He also worked for the Environmental Protection Agency.
Nevins notes that although he is involved with the NASA project, he will still continue his work for local clients. He says several trips to Florida will be necessary, but because of modern telecommunications technology, he will be able to continue his work in Illinois.
