Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Maryland 20771
ENGINEERING COLLOQUIUM
Monday, February 25, 2008 / 3:30 PM, Building 3 Auditorium
Robert Hoyt
"Tethers for Space Propulsion: Early History, Current Status, and Future Possibilities"
ABSTRACT -- Space tether technologies can enable propellantless propulsion for a number of different space missions including formation flight, orbital maneuvering, end-of-mission deorbit to meet debris mitigation requirements, and orbit transfer for GEO, lunar, and interplanetary missions. Despite the considerable promise of space tether technologies, its transition to operational applications has been hindered by mixed results in on-flight testing, with several high-profile mistakes overshadowing multiple lower-profile successful missions. In this lecture, we will first summarize the basic concepts and principles of propellantless propulsion using tethers, and then discuss several applications and their potential net payoff in terms of mission capability and cost. We will then review the results of the space tether experiments that have been conducted over the past two decades. Finally, we will describe the current status of key technology components for these systems, and discuss plans for future risk reduction and validation of space tether technologies.
SPEAKER -- Dr. Robert Hoyt is President, CEO & Chief Scientist of Tethers Unlimited, Inc. He founded the company in 1994 to develop space tether technologies that can reduce the cost of space missions by enabling propellantless propulsion of spacecraft. Since then, he has led efforts to develop several applications of space tethers, including end-of-mission deorbit of spacecraft for orbital debris mitigation, momentum-exchange systems for orbit transfer, and electrostatic tethers for remediation of natural and artificial radiation belts. In 2007, his team carried out a flight experiment involving three tethered picosatellites designed to test the survivability of tethers in the space environment. The entire program, including design, build, test, launch, and operations, was carried out at a cost of less than $1M. In addition, his company has successfully transitioned technologies originally developed for space tether systems to terrestrial markets, such as deployment of optical fibers for naval and mobile robot applications.
Dr. Hoyt has a Ph.D. in Aero & Astronautics from the University of Washington and a B.A. in Physics from Williams College. He has eighteen years of experience in advanced space propulsion, space tethers, plasma physics, laser physics, textile technology, scientific computing, and business management. At Tethers Unlimited, Dr. Hoyt has served as Principal Investigator for over 20 successful DARPA, NASA, AFRL, and commercial aerospace contracts. He has published 9 technical papers, 45+ reviewed conference papers, and 1 invited paper. He is co-inventor on seven patents on advanced space technologies. He currently also serves as Chairman of the Board for ScienceOps, Inc., a corporation that provides custom algorithm and software development services.