Cleveland Aerospace Technology Services (CATS) provides systems engineering and technical assistance (SETA), acquisition advisory, and mission assurance to national security, civil, and commercial space programs. We apply the same flight-project discipline to small uncrewed aircraft, where CATS is developing a modular, 3D-printed micro-UAS.
Senior engineers on your program, without large-prime overhead. Our perspective comes from two decades inside flight projects as civil servant, contractor, and project lead, and we respond quickly when Government leadership needs an answer.
Independent technical insight for Government program offices.
Support for the decisions that commit a program.
Assurance scaled to mission class and risk posture.
Accountable leadership for cost-capped and competed missions.
Available to CATS through a partner facility.
A modular, additively manufactured micro-UAS that CATS is developing to prove a fast, low-cost path from design to flight hardware.
The Micro-1 is a ducted quadcopter in a 4-inch footprint, built from separate printed parts rather than a single frame. Each motor and duct pod bolts to a central electronics deck, so a damaged pod can be replaced in the field without reprinting the aircraft. Forward and downward cameras are selected from the controller.
The program follows the same discipline CATS applies to spacecraft: a controlled configuration baseline, independent design reviews, and fit checks before hardware is committed. A commercial-parts prototype proves the airframe and integration process, and a larger follow-on configuration has been defined around NDAA-aligned flight computer, datalink, and camera components.
CATS delivered project leadership for a NASA heliophysics mission from development through launch. Customers and partners include the University of Iowa Space Lab and Alpha Engineering & Integration.
TRACERS is a NASA Small Explorer mission. Two identical spacecraft fly in low Earth orbit to study how the solar wind couples to Earth's magnetic field in the polar cusp.
Under contract to the University of Iowa, the mission's lead institution, CATS provided the Project Director. He was responsible for executing a PI-led, cost-capped mission through development, propulsion, SpaceX launch vehicle integration, and launch operations.
CATS is led by its founder. When you hire CATS, the person who leads your work is the person described here.
Keith has about 20 years in aerospace mission assurance, systems engineering, and engineering leadership. He has served as a NASA Goddard Deputy Division Chief (GS-15), as Chief Safety & Mission Assurance Officer for several flight programs, and as Program Director at Southwest Research Institute. He started his career in quality engineering at Orbital Sciences, ManTech, and NASA Goddard.
Missions other than TRACERS reflect Mr. Cleveland's individual career experience with NASA and its contractors.
CATS pairs engineering judgment with its own analysis tools, so Government teams get technical insight early, before major program commitments.
A cloud-based CubeSat mission simulation environment for early-phase formulation. It supports rapid feasibility checks, orbit, power, and thermal sensitivity studies, and architecture trades before Milestone A, without stitching together separate modeling tools.
An AI-enabled decision support method that finds where acquisition decisions stall. It diagnoses stakeholder alignment gaps, quantifies drivers of schedule delay, and structures trade and milestone decisions, with dashboards for program offices through senior leadership.
CATS pursues Department of Defense SBIR research in auditable AI decision management and collaborative counter-swarm defense, applying mission assurance discipline to autonomy and uncrewed systems.
For teaming, subcontracting, or direct support, reach out. Company identifiers for contracting officers and primes are listed here.
| Legal name | Cleveland Aerospace Technology Services LLC |
|---|---|
| Business size | Small business |
| UEI | LB3MY9LQ1BE6 |
| CAGE | 9BZC9 |
| NAICS | 541330 Engineering Services 336414 Guided Missile & Space Vehicle Manufacturing |
| Location | Davidsonville, Maryland |
Founder & President
kcleveland@clevelandaerospace.com
410-858-5890
Davidsonville, Maryland
