Masten Space: from start-up to serious player

BY STEVEN MAYER Californian staff writer

Saturday, Sep 13 2014 07:00 PM

MOJAVE AIR AND SPACE PORT -- The CEO of this center of commercial aerospace in eastern Kern County once referred to resident rocket scientist Dave Masten as "one of the new Einsteins" of the commercial space race.

The romance of the airless, zero-gravity environment of outer space has been on Masten's personal radar since he was a schoolboy, thanks to Luke Skywalker, Han Solo and the original cast of "Star Wars."

"My fourth-grade teacher pretty much figured I was going to either be an aerospace engineer," Masten recalled, "or a total loser."

Fortunately he chose the former path.

The native Ohioan, who gave his age as "40-something," is the founder and chief technologist of Masten Space Systems, located in a modest metal building at this rural desert facility.

The company, which began as a start-up in 2004, is surrounded by other aerospace firms, some with deep pockets, billionaire backers and huge, gleaming facilities. Masten's shop, in contrast, could be mistaken for your dad's garage -- if it weren't for the three rockets inside, being worked on by young engineers eager to be part of what they believe is a revolution in commercial space research and transportation.

Though still small and agile, Masten seems to be firing on all rocket engines.

Earlier this summer, the company was awarded a $3 million contract from the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, or DARPA, to develop the XS-1 experimental spaceplane. DARPA is the Defense Department agency responsible for the development of new technologies for use by the military.

The contract was a major coup for Masten, a company with fewer than 20 employees. And it could lead to much more lucrative deals.

But there's a hitch.

Not unlike the biblical David, Masten is competing against such aerospace goliaths as Northrop Grumman and Boeing, and it's going to take more than a slingshot to beat them.

Still, being a little guy among the behemoths has its advantages.

"Masten's strength is in being small and agile," said Stu Witt, the CEO and general manager of the spaceport.

"They have a laser focus on testing and proving out their projects," Witt said. "Their guys are really very talented and they're not as focused on fast cars and bright lights."

That may be an understatement. Masten's mechanical, electrical and software engineers work at computers lined up on old cafeteria-style tables and metal desks that could almost be antiques from the classroom of Miss Muster, the fourth-grade teacher who provided that crucial early support.

But nobody at Masten seems to mind the lack of "fast cars and bright lights."

Kyle Nyberg, 25, who has worked at Masten for three years, stood on a ladder as he worked on "plumbing the interior" of one of Masten's rockets.

Asked if he likes his job, Nyberg seemed surprised by the question. It was as if the answer should have been self-evident to any thinking person.

"Are you kidding? It's awesome," he said, grinning. "It's one of the best jobs in the world."

FOURTH-GRADE SCIENCE

Growing up not far from Cleveland, Masten developed an early aptitude and interest in science. His parents and teachers provided a lot of encouragement to stay on the science and engineering track.

"My parents took me to the library every single week -- whether I wanted to go or not," he remembered.

"I realized, as I graduated high school, I was not going to work for NASA," he said. "I was never going to be an astronaut. I just did not have the personality type NASA appreciates."

Masten said he "sorta-kinda" went to college -- over about a 10-year period.

That's because he was working his way through, with much more time spent working than going to college.

It didn't seem to matter. Early on, Masten was doing mechanical engineering work in the automotive industry, transitioning ultimately into information technology and software engineering.

"I was doing the engineering work. I just didn't have the degree," he said.

Eventually he got involved in information technology and software consulting, which brought him to the Silicon Valley in the early 2000s.

"I came out here for the dot.com boom. Unfortunately I came just in time for it to go bust," he said. "But I had made just enough contacts in the Silicon Valley that I ended up knowing somebody who knew somebody who was hiring for this top secret start-up that was on-campus at Cisco Systems."

That opportunity gave him the invaluable experience of building and being part of a start-up. When it was eventually acquired by Cisco, Masten found himself with enough money to stop and really think about what should come next.

"The startup is acquired by Cisco Systems, I have a little bit of extra money," he recalled. "I don't do well in large organizations, so I basically stayed long enough to get the golden handcuffs removed."

Throughout this period, he had been spending his nights and weekends "with a little organization called the Experimental Rocket Propulsion Socie