ASTROVA Systems — Company Overview, Leadership & Aerospace Certifications

FOUNDED 2009 ✦ AS9100 REV D CERTIFIED ✦ FAA PART 145 APPROVED ✦ NADCAP ACCREDITED ✦ ITAR REGISTERED ✦ 480 PERSONNEL ✦ 340,000 SQ/FT CAMPUS ✦ 1,400+ PRODUCTION PROGRAMS ✦ 500K+ FLIGHT HOURS ✦ 98.7% FAI PASS RATE ✦ 14 FAA DARS ON STAFF ✦ FOUNDED 2009 ✦ AS9100 REV D CERTIFIED ✦ FAA PART 145 APPROVED ✦ NADCAP ACCREDITED ✦ ITAR REGISTERED ✦ 480 PERSONNEL ✦ 340,000 SQ/FT CAMPUS ✦ 1,400+ PRODUCTION PROGRAMS ✦ 500K+ FLIGHT HOURS ✦ 98.7% FAI PASS RATE ✦ 14 FAA DARS ON STAFF ✦

OUR MISSION

"In aerospace, a single escaped defect does not result in a warranty claim.
It results in an incident report — and potentially, the loss of human life."

Founded in 2009 by veterans of NASA JPL, Lockheed Skunk Works, Northrop Grumman, and Boeing Phantom Works — one team, one quality system, total accountability from billet to flight-cleared shipment. Fifteen years and 1,400+ production programs later, we have never had a safety-of-flight escape.

340,000 sq/ft campus · 480 personnel · 112 degreed aerospace engineers · 14 FAA DARs on staff. AS9100 Rev D · FAA Part 145 · NADCAP Merit Status · ITAR registered. FAI first-pass rate: 98.7% — auditable records available under NDA.

— Dr. Eleanor M. Vasquez, Chief Aerospace Engineer & Co-Founder

OUR JOURNEY

2009

ASTROVA FOUNDED

Four senior aerospace engineers — veterans of NASA JPL, Lockheed Skunk Works, Northrop Grumman, and Boeing Phantom Works — establish Astrova in a 12,000 sq/ft Cape Canaveral facility with one machining center, one autoclave, and one commitment: total engineering accountability under a single roof.

2011

AS9100 CERTIFICATION ACHIEVED

Astrova achieves initial AS9100 certification — the first formal quality milestone in the company's history. Zero major nonconformances on initial certification audit. First Fortune 500 aerospace OEM production contract awarded the same quarter.

2014

FAA PART 145 APPROVAL & NADCAP

FAA Part 145 Repair Station certificate issued — enabling Astrova to sign FAA 8130-3 Airworthiness Approval Tags on eligible articles. NADCAP accreditation for Chemical Processing and NDT achieved in the same calendar year, unlocking Tier 1 OEM supply chain qualification.

2018

COMPOSITE CELL EXPANSION

18,000 sq/ft advanced composite fabrication cell commissioned — housing a Cincinnati Viper 6000 AFP system, a 6.0m × 3.2m dual-zone autoclave, and dedicated prepreg material storage. First CFRP satellite structural panel program awarded to Astrova by a commercial GEO satellite bus manufacturer.

2021

ISO CLASS 7 CLEANROOM & SPACE QUALIFICATION

4,200 sq/ft ISO Class 7 cleanroom suite certified and commissioned. First satellite structural chassis program completed and delivered to a commercial geostationary satellite operator — hardware qualified to NASA-STD-5001 structural requirements and thermal vacuum test per GEVS-7000A.

2024

NADCAP MERIT STATUS & FACILITY EXPANSION

Both NADCAP accreditations renewed with Merit Status — highest recognition category, reflecting a supplier operating well above compliance baseline. 340,000 sq/ft campus milestone reached. 60,000 sq/ft expansion groundbreaking: new thermal vacuum chamber for 2.5m-class spacecraft panels and hypersonic test cell capability.

CERTIFICATIONS &
COMPLIANCE

Our certification portfolio is maintained through continuous surveillance audits — not periodic recertifications. Every accreditation reflects an organization operating above baseline compliance.

AS9100 Rev D certified aerospace quality management

AS9100 REV D · ZERO MAJOR NCs · THREE CONSECUTIVE AUDITS

FAA PART 145 · 14 DARS ON STAFF · 8130-3 ISSUANCE

NADCAP accredited — NDT and chemical processing

NADCAP MERIT STATUS · NDT & CHEMICAL PROCESSING

ITAR REGISTERED · DCSA CLEARED · DD-254 CAPABLE

Space programs — ISO 9001 certified engineering

ISO 9001:2015 · BOEING D1-4426 · LOCKHEED Q-CLAUSE

LEADERSHIP
TEAM

Every senior leader at Astrova has spent a significant portion of their career with their hands on flight hardware — not managing from a distance.

Dr. Eleanor M. Vasquez

Chief Aerospace Engineer & Co-Founder

Ph.D. Aerospace Engineering, MIT. Former Senior Principal Structures Engineer, Lockheed Martin Skunk Works — 11 years, two classified hypersonic programs. AIAA Fellow. 4 patents in composite structural optimization. Leads all Design Review Board activities and FEA/CFD analysis team direction.

James K. Afolabi, CQE

VP Quality Assurance & Compliance

22 years aerospace quality leadership. Former Quality Director, Boeing Fabrication Division (2,400-person operation). AS9100 Lead Auditor, Certified Quality Engineer (ASQ). Achieved NADCAP Merit Status on both accreditations in the same audit cycle — first in company history.

Cdr. (Ret.) Patricia Chen, P.E.

Director, Space Systems Programs

U.S. Navy Commander (Ret.). Former PM, EA-18G Growler avionics upgrade ($2.3B program, IOC delivered 6 months ahead of schedule). Senior Program Director, Orbital Sciences / Northrop Grumman. Registered P.E. in Aerospace Engineering. Leads all satellite, launch vehicle, and orbital platform programs.

Marcus D. Okafor

Director, Manufacturing Operations

20 years precision aerospace manufacturing management. Former operations lead, Pratt & Whitney Engine Components. Six Sigma Black Belt. Manages 5 CNC machining centers, composite fabrication cell, avionics integration bay, and ISO Class 7 cleanroom. Owns production rate, yield, and FOD program accountability.

CORE
VALUES

SAFETY WITHOUT EXCEPTION

Safety is not a priority that competes with schedule and cost — it is a constraint that governs both. Every decision at Astrova is evaluated through the lens of flight safety consequences first. We maintain an anonymous Safety Concern Reporting system with mandatory management review within 24 hours, and a stop-work authority policy empowering any employee to halt production at any sign of flight safety risk.

PRECISION AS A DISCIPLINE

Precision is not a machine setting. It is a mindset embedded in how we write a work instruction, set up a fixture, and verify a dimension. We invest continuously in metrology: Zeiss CONTURA G2 CMM (0.7 µm accuracy), FARO Vantage Max laser tracker, and a formal MSA (Measurement System Analysis) program per AIAG 4th edition that verifies our instruments are themselves capable of making the decisions we require of them.

RELIABILITY THROUGH REPEATABILITY

A single perfect part is craftsmanship. A thousand identical perfect parts is engineering. Our focus is on systematic, process-controlled, statistically demonstrable repeatability across every unit in every production lot. Cpk monitoring on all CTF dimensions in real time. FRACAS root-cause analysis to the 5-Why level for every nonconformance — closed only after permanent corrective action is verified in production.

INTEGRITY IN EVERY RECORD

In a regulated industry, a falsified inspection record is not a paperwork error — it is a federal offense and an unforgivable breach of trust. Every shipped component links back to its raw material heat/lot certificate, all process records, all inspection data, and the specific operator and inspector credentials who touched it. Our customers can audit any record, on any part, at any time. That is not a policy. It is a promise.

ENGINEERED INTEGRITY. CERTIFIED PRECISION.

"In aerospace, a single escaped defect does not result in a warranty claim.It results in an incident report — and potentially, the loss of human life."