Blimp research company launched by Google co-founder signs Sunnyvale lease

Sergey Brin’s LTA Research will occupy Pastoria Avenue space

SUNNYVALE >> A hush-hush company engaged in blimp technology research that was launched by one of Google’s co-founders has signed a lease to occupy a nondescript building in Sunnyvale.

LTA Research & Exploration,

a company affiliated with Google co-founder Sergey Brin, has signed a lease for a low-slung Sunnyvale building at 642 N. Pastoria Ave. near the interchange of U.S. Highway 101 and Mathilda Avenue, according to public records.

The building leased by LTA Research is about 18,000 square feet in size, according to the LoopNet and Compstak property survey websites. The eye-catching components of the recent lease are the players and the company involved.

LTA Research & Exploration is owned by “an entity” that’s affiliated with Brin, according to official regulatory filings by Google’s owner Alphabet with the Securities and Exchange Commission in 2017, 2018, and 2019. As an aside, the LTA in the name can be an acronym for “Lighter-Than-Air.”

The Sunnyvale building that LTA Research leased is a one-story structure on

North Pastoria between Almanor Avenue and Del Rey Avenue. LTA’s new offices are owned by Mid Pen LLC, an affiliate of Renault & Handley, a Mountain View-based commercial real estate firm.

The Brin company, the SEC documents show, “licensed” a portion of Alphabet’s hangar space at Mountain View’s Moffett Airfield, which the tech titan operates as a result of a 60-year lease with NASA, the nation’s space and aero

nautics agency. That hangar space agreement began in December 2015, the SEC documents show.

From early 2016 through April 2017, LTA Research paid Alphabet $131,000 for the hangar space at Moffett Airfield, the SEC regulatory filings show. From early 2017 through March 2018, the payments totaled $423,000. From early 2018 through March 2019, the payments totaled roughly $1.1 million, the SEC documents revealed.

Brin has never publicly discussed LTA Research & Exploration.

During 2019, LTA Research sought to hire people to fill multiple positions with the company, according to posts with LinkedIn.

“Large ‘Lighter Than Air’ vehicles” and “an experimental ‘lighter than air’ flight vehicle” were among the machines on which the recruits would be working, the LinkedIn posts showed.

LTA was seeking to hire at least one of each of these job categories: stress analyst, mechanical engineer, and embedded software engineer.

“This unique position allows for hands-on participation through all phases of development, from concept to flight, of an experimental aerospace vehicle,” LTA Research & Exploration stated in the listings for all three of the employment categories.

Some applicants were asked to bring to the table some talents that aren’t necessarily directly related to high-tech skills, the LinkedIn posts showed.

“Sewing, sailing and/or fishing experience a plus,” LTA stated in the job listing for the mechanical engineer. “Boat rigging, sails, nautical knots, sewing, sewing machines. Crochet, braiding. Fishing tackle, experience preparing hooks and lines for fishing. Interest and/or experience in: Textiles, composites, aircraft fibers, fabrics, weaves, and braids.”

The experimental airships also would contain flight software, control software, and platforms, the job listings indicated.

Alan Weston, an aerospace engineer, is the chief executive officer of LTA Research, Weston’s LinkedIn page shows. Prior to taking the helm at LTA, Weston was a program director with the NASA Ames Research Center in Mountain View, where he worked for seven years. Weston also had an 11-year stint with the Air Force Research Laboratory.

Eric Wilms has taken a job as director of test at LTA Research and is based in Sunnyvale, his LinkedIn page shows. Prior to coming on board at LTA, Wilms was a structural design engineer at NASA Ames and a project manager at Lockheed Martin Space Systems.

One of LTA Reseach’s mottos is “build a little, test a little, learn a lot,” according to the job listings on the LinkedIn site.

“We believe in fast-cycle development and approach to flight hardware development,” LTA Research & Exploration stated in the job posts.