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Pasadena, Calif., Aerospace Camera Company Owner Feels Close to Mars Mission

Posted on: Thursday, 8 January 2004, 06:00 CST

Jan. 8--PASADENA, Calif. -- As NASA's Spirit rover beamed pictures of Mars' surface back to Earth this week, Rex Ridenoure couldn't help feeling he was a part of it.

Ridenoure, 47, of Pasadena, hasn't worked for La Canada Flintridge-based Jet Propulsion Laboratory for 6 1/2 years. But the Caltech graduate still remembered what it was like to work on JPL's previous successful Mars mission, the Pathfinder probe, while watching televised footage from JPL's headquarters during the rover's arrival on Mars Saturday.

"Virtually every scene I saw, I knew everyone in the picture," Ridenoure said. "When you know everybody in the scene, it's like you're all part of one big, happy family sometimes."

Even though Ridenoure left the Caltech-operated space lab in July 1997, he hasn't completely disowned the family. Through his high-tech start-up, Ecliptic Enterprises Corp., he's more of a distant cousin.

At Ecliptic, which leases an office on West Washington Boulevard in Northwest Pasadena, Ridenoure and six other employees work long hours building camera systems that are then mounted on rockets and other unmanned spacecraft.

The pictures taken in-flight by RocketCam and other Ecliptic products help the crafts' designers troubleshoot potential problems and provide celestial views for online spectators.

The systems aren't cheap -- one camera retails for tens of thousands of dollars -- but in comparison to a $500 million Space Shuttle launch, Ridenoure thinks his product is very cost- effective -- and needed.

In October 2002, Ecliptic's digital cameras were the first to be mounted on a NASA shuttle fuel tank, according to the company. In fact, Ridenoure said, his is the only such company to manufacture a space-ready camera that records video as well as still pictures.

NASA contractors use the cameras as a diagnostic tool, identifying in-flight problems in a way that cannot be done from Earth.

"They like to see the spacecraft do whatever it does before it separates from the rocket, and as it separates, many customers like to see those deploy," Ridenoure said. Without a visual record, he said, "it's very difficult to know what happened."

Although Ridenoure and his colleagues discuss their space-age pursuit in a plain, matter- of-fact style, the significance of their efforts isn't lost on them. This year, the company hopes to double its $2 million in annual revenue by taking on projects that involve more than a single component.

"If you just stand back and assess how it all fits into the human race, you get used to the idea that it's all basically leading-edge, pioneering work," Ridenoure said. "It's kind of at the leading edge of civilization when you look at it a certain way."

Eventually, that way could include regular manned, commercial space flights -- what Ridenoure calls space tourism. For now, though, Ecliptic hopes to take on smaller space projects, organizing lower-cost launches of vehicles averaging about 20 pounds.

At a few million to tens of millions of dollars, the launches would go a long way toward preparing the company for its next adventure.

It has even attracted some interest from film investors, intrigued by a manned space launch that could cost less than producing a Hollywood movie.

To Ridenoure, the reason for the venture into space is simple: "It's the coolest story to tell," he said.

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To see more of the San Gabriel Valley Tribune, or to subscribe to the newspaper, go to http://www.sgvtribune.com

(c) 2004, San Gabriel Valley Tribune, Calif. Distributed by Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News.

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