Each year, the NESC produces the NESC Technical Update, which highlights two or three individuals from each Center and includes assessments throughout the year. Because of the critical contributions to the NESC mission this year, Rob Jankovsky, NESC Chief Engineer at GRC, chose two individuals to be highlighted. This year, it is Andrew Ring and Michael Cooper. The Lead Analyst for GRC’s Chemical and Thermal Propulsion Systems branch, Mr. Michael Cooper, is supporting NESC test operations on reaction control system thrusters for Gateway’s Power & Propulsion Element. “These thrusters are small with few moving parts, but the heat and mass transfers involved are very complex,” he said. The test campaign is putting the thrusters through a rigorous profile to simulate the lifetime they will experience over decades in space. Mr. Cooper is analyzing test data gathered on chamber pressure, temperature, flow rates, and more to develop models on thruster performance. He also built the tool that read in that data from the test stand instrumentation. Photo Credit: (NASA/Sara Lowthian-Hanna)
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NASA ID
GRC-2024-C-08247
Date Created
August 16, 2024
Center
GRC
Media Type
image
Photographer
NASA/GRC/Sara Lowthian-Hanna
Location
NASA Glenn Research Center at Lewis Field
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