Astronauts Bob Behnken and Doug Hurley took off for the International Space Station in the Crew Dragon capsule, built by SpaceX, a spacecraft hired by NASA, last May. It was a historic moment, because it is considered the beginning of commercial flights to other galaxies. The Mexican Fernando de la Peña Llaca, CEO of Aexa Aerospace, remembers that he put his grain of sand with his technology to train astronauts and with sophisticated components for spacecraft, who in the coming years will try to step on the Moon again, arrive to Mars on probable suicide missions and exploring other planets with which we Earthlings have not yet dreamed.
The educated man at an elementary, middle and high school in Tulancingo, Hidalgo, works on projects spearheaded by NASA, at the SpaceX company of millionaire Elon Musk, creator of Tesla, PayPal and The Boring Company, and the Lockheed Martin company, run by James Taicle. The company of the engineer in Cybernetics and Computer Systems, graduated from La Salle University in Mexico City, is even in charge of training astronauts.
Astronauts moved holograms and real objects did the same more than a thousand kilometers away, says the former systems department employee at the Ministry of Finance and Public Credit (SHCP). His time in government was short-lived.
“I can send a person to Texas, a person to Alabama and a person to Florida and we recreate through holograms as if they were on the Space Station working,” says the former vice president of Grupo Textil La Trinidad and also founder and partner of the Corporate Group. Fersamex.
“At Nasa we have life-size models with those holograms and we bring the models to life as if they were in space, as if you had cables and a switch. Right now the pandemic is over, any of the astronauts with our technology can train from home, as if they were in space and as if they were interacting with other astronauts. ”
Thus, SpaceX Crew Dragon astronauts already knew and knew what the International Space Station was like and how it worked before taking off on Saturday, May 30, 2020, from the Kennedy Space Center, Cape Canaveral, Florida.
Aexa Aerospace also contracts with providers from the United States Department of Defense for training, other manufacturing, and clients in the oil and medical sector.
As a child you always learn to look at the sky and you wonder what’s in space
Fernando de la Peña Llaca tells El Sol de México that as a child he showed interest in working at NASA and in conquering space: “All of us from Tulancinguenses are forced to look at the stars.”
Another incentive to join the space conquest was that Tulancingo, when he was selected to install the Earth Station and later for another satellite development in 2000, demonstrated that he has 15 conditions for space communications to operate. Those characteristics only have Peru.
“Mexico has a lot of potential, just as I am here, there are also many Mexican people in NASA and in very important companies changing the world and you realize talent,” says the CEO and president of Aexa Aerospace.
Ideally, the President of Mexico, Andrés Manuel López Obrador, gives more support to the aerospace industry so that a greater number of talents are generated and investment arrives, which helps Mexican society, says Fernando de la Peña Llaca. For every dollar invested by NASA in space research, seven dollars are generated through the companies and technologies developed.
– When you were a child did you draw what you are experiencing today at NASA?
-Yes. I have drawings, a flying car, and things to wear, just like I used to like holographic recreation when I saw the Star Wars movie and said it was amazing how Princess Leia was projected. It was something that I already had in mind how to do it, but I didn’t know how to do it. Also a cartoon called Robotech, (a 1985 animated series created by Carl Macek) are one of the things that left me most marked to start doing these spatial developments.
– How much did Tulancingo influence the race to NASA?
-Very much. In Tulancingo, Hidalgo, we have the Earth Station and it is called the city of Satellites and from childhood you always learn to look at the sky and you wonder what is in space. Tulancingo and Mexico had the Space Agency, which belonged to the National Outer Space Commission, and many of their developments were made in Tulancingo.
– What do you miss most about Tulancingo, who is currently confined to avoid any problem with the Covid-19?
—I miss his people, the food, the turkeys and the barbecue, but with technology you can be in communication and I hardly had a meeting with my friends from Pedro de Gante primary and secondary school, where I studied.
—Of turkeys, that typical Tulancingo dish that brings together a telera with beans and two red or green enchiladas with cheese, onion and stew. What is your favorite?
—The turkey, known as the Caribbean, that comes with a shepherd. The turkey with pastor is one of the favorites, if not, a classic turkey with cheese.
—Are you an example to follow for the children of Mexico and Hidalgo?
“Perhaps I am not an example to follow, but something that I can suggest to children is that they be persevering.” And even if people say they cannot, they should continue to fight for their goals and they will always achieve it. You can be as big as your ideals or as small as your doubts. So if you dream high you will get high, just as if you have many doubts you will not get anywhere.
– Did someone tell you you were not going to fulfill your dream of working for NASA?
—Many times I have come across a wall to enter NASA, to create the Mexico Space Agency and have my first contracts as a company. Many times projects happen because you adjust things and present something better, but sometimes it is successful to present things when the time and conditions are perfect. For example, Zoom, a company used to make video conferences in the days of Covid-19, had a profit of 198 thousand dollars in 2019 and with the pandemic, just by being in the right place already in its first three months of 2020 has earned 326 millions of dollars.
– Was the creation of your company Aexa Aerospace in the United States fast?
– Yes. Here you can create and close a company in 24 hours and the legal part is very simple. The first three contracts are key to starting a company of this type, and that provides services to space companies and the Department of Defense. I had to make use of being more creative and providing solutions using better technology and things that were more innovative, and that was what gave me the first three contracts, already having the first three, since it is coming like a snowball it is growing and growing.
– Was your company Aexa Aerospace born in a garage like the technological Apple?
– Mine wasn’t born in a garage. We started it in an office, the idea of the company that I always had in mind was not to start small, but to become a large company.
– How many employees work at Aexa Aerospace?
—We walk between 50 employees and other times it jumps to 150 workers, because it depends a lot on the contracts acquired. We have many people working under my company in Alabama, Tennessee, Colorado, Texas, and they work on this project, which now I have to present to NASA.
“Were you at the right time to be part of the launch of the Crew Dragon rocket, which is funded by NASA and the Elon Musk company?”
– Yes, with a technology that my company owns, we train astronauts, we also develop components for Lockheed Martin, (a company that produces six Orion spacecraft to take astronauts from Earth to the Moon). The more involved you are in the defense or space industry, the more information you will have and the more competitive you will become.
– How did you train the Crew Dragon astronauts?
– NASA has 10 centers in the United States and the training is done with life-size models in an underwater pool and others are done by plane that simulates gravity. Because of the pandemic you cannot be physically close to the other person and it involves traveling from Alabama to Texas and Alabama or any other state. We recreate by means of holograms a person who is in Alabama and we recreate parts of the International Space Station, which is in orbit so that (the astronauts) see the real objects and if they move anything in Texas; The same thing is happening in Alabama and it is as if we were together in space.
– Do you recreate an environment on earth that you will face when you are on the International Space Station?
– At NASA we have life-size models, with those holograms we give them life, as if they were in space, as if you had cables and a switch. Right now the pandemic is over, any astronaut with our technology can train from home, as if they were in space interacting with other astronauts. We recreate the entire environment with holograms and they think in their heads that they are in space or that they are in a NASA center.
“How long did it take you to develop the holograms?”
—We have been more than four years and new technology continues to be developed, every two weeks we have a new version or new things that we are adding to them.
– Do you know Elon Musk, founder of Tesla, PayPal, of SpaceX, company that developed Crew Dragon?
“I don’t have the pleasure of meeting Elon Musk, founder of Tesla. Elon Musk what he provides is the rocket or the vehicle and what we do is the training of each of the astronauts. At NASA nine out of 10 employees work for private companies, so all the projects you see, because some company is related.
“Did you get on the Crew Dragon rockets from SpaceX and NASA, or did you see them in the distance?”
“I got on the ships, but not taking off.” I have got on the zero gravity plane and I have been as an astronaut in zero gravity, as well as it is an amazing experience and one of the most gratifying to float as if you were in space or being in space ships, which take astronauts to space stations and in the next four years they will colonize the moon and other planets.
– Would you like to fly on the Crew Dragon rocket from SpaceX and NASA to the Moon or other planets?
– Of course I would like to fly. We are going to see how this environment is changing, but what I do is provide my grain of sand with technology and putting people from my company to make these trips to space possible.
Right now the pandemic is over, any astronaut with our technology can train from home, as if they were in space interacting with other astronauts. We recreate the whole environment with holograms and they think in their heads that they are in space or that they are in a NASA center
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