Timothy J Cash Career History

Timothy J Cash
Career History

I was born Timothy Cash in Mishawaka, Indiana at 4 in the morning on September 13, 1952. I am the son of Bennett Gilbert Cash Jr. and Anne Mildred Hayslette and grew up in the college town of South Bend Indiana (University of Notre Dame). At the early age of 8, I stood awe-fixed in my back yard and watched the Echo balloon satellite pass overhead. The Echo satellites were large metallized balloons designed to act as passive communications reflectors to bounce communication signals transmitted from one point on Earth to another. Echo 1A was visible to the unaided eye over most of the Earth (brighter than most stars) and was probably seen by more people than any other man-made object in space. Echo 1A was launched on August 12 1960 from Cape Canaveral, Florida on a Delta launch vehicle. The Echo-1 balloon was the first launch of the Delta series of vehicles. Later on, I designed and installed the ground support optical fiber infrastructure for the Delta-4 vehicle launch pads for both Eastern and Western ranges.

I grew up studying science and English literature at school and placed high in my high school graduating class. I studied Physics and Mathematics at Indiana University and enjoyed the Optics courses. I took time off after graduation to travel out to the West Coast and see the country. I took a position with NASA at the Lyndon B Johnson Space Center in May 1980 working on experiments for the upcoming space shuttle flights. I met my wife Rachel in this time period and we were wed in October 1981. I left NASA in 1981 for the geophysical cable industry and designed the first geophysical optical fiber cable at Mark Products. I learned the ins and outs of cable engineering at later applied that knowledge as liaison officer for Litton Western Geophysical for the development of an All Optical Towed Array. I served as Liaison Officer to a team of a dozen engineers and technicians at the Litton GN&C/Western Geophysical lab in Chatsworth, California. I developed the analysis tools for the tow cable and optical fiber sensor designs and managed the development of an optical fiber streamer array for Western Geophysical. We successfully field tested at sea a 5 Hydrophone Streamer Array in 1985.

After the AOTA towed array project, I developed an Expert Design System to predict mechanical performance for cables. I worked on towed arrays and the upgrade to an acoustic test facility at McDonnell Douglas in Huntington Beach, California. I went on to develop electro-optic and fiber-optic weapons systems for the military through the late 1980's and early 90's. In 1992, I was hired to design and install a 580 mile SONET dual ring network in Chicago. I was placed in charge of 200 plus route miles and 13 nodes on the rings. I designed, installed, and tested the optical equipment and multiple cables across the network in the 4 years. I went to work for MFS and ICG (CLEC's) in 1996 through 1997 installing major fiber optic builds along the East Coast. I was placed in charge of major builds across the East Coast.

In 1997, I developed an impedance test set for copper pairs as Chief Engineer of PT Industries in Palm Beach Gardens Florida. I designed, laid out, and debugged the 2 test set pc boards, wrote the software, and debugged the system. I took the prototype to Supercomm and pre-sold 12 test sets.

I worked as lead optical fiber engineer at The Boeing Company on the Delta-4 EELV launch pads on the Eastern and Western Range Launch Pads. I designed and installed the optical fiber cable, connectors, patch panels, video system, associated hardware, and RF over optical fiber systems that the Delta-4 Launch Control System rides over. The project was completed under budget and schedule, and I was the sole engineer to make that claim on the Delta-4 launch pad systems.

In 2001, I went to work on the Eastern Range for Tybrin Corp as analyst for the 45th space wing of the Air Force. I defined the Network, Instrumentation, and RF/Radar engineering efforts and upgrades for the 45th RMMS (USAF). I verified and validated the designs and upgrades to the ATM over SONET Network upgrade to OC-192 DWDM for EELV Delta-4. I oversaw the installation and test of the video hardware upgrade for the EELV High Definition TV. I performed DTE/OTE testing of multiple launch vehicle simulations for the network hardware upgrades.

I decided to take an overseas assignment in 2003 and went to work as a Field Service Engineer for Honeywell TSI in Iraq. I performed field installation of major perimeter defense security systems for US Air Bases inside Iraq. I installed, calibrated, tested, and spoofed a long range visible/FLIR camera, several types of infrared and microwave intrusion detection sensors, and calibrated and installed these components in the field into working systems.

I returned to the US and took short term positions with Boeing on HC-130 Aircraft on EMI/EMC system countermeasures and as a cable team verifier for the ASDS Navy SEAL submarine at Northrop Grumman in Annapolis. I attended the Space Visions 2004 conference in Cambridge, Mass and was asked to author the chapter on deployment of the Liftport, Inc book on the Space Elevator (2006).