Tom Mueller

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Tom Mueller
Tom Mueller.png
Born
Thomas John Mueller

(1961-03-11) March 11, 1961 (age 63)
St. Maries, Idaho, US
Education
Occupation(s)Founder, CEO, of Impulse Space
Engineering career
Significant design

Thomas John Mueller is an American aerospace engineer and rocket engine designer. He was employee No.1 of SpaceX and is the founder and now CEO of Impulse Space. [1]

Contents

Mueller is best known for his engineering work on the Merlin, Draco, Super Draco and TR-106 rocket engines. He is considered one of the world's leading spacecraft propulsion experts and holds several United States patents for propulsion technology. [2] [3]

Career

Tom Mueller designed the Merlin engines used on the Falcon 9 rocket. SpX CRS-2 launch - cropped.jpg
Tom Mueller designed the Merlin engines used on the Falcon 9 rocket.

TRW Inc.

For 15 years, Mueller worked for TRW Inc., a conglomerate corporation involved in aerospace, automotive, credit reporting, and electronics. He managed the propulsion and combustion products department where he was responsible for liquid rocket engine development. [1] He worked as a lead engineer during the development of the TR-106, a 650,000 lbf (2,900  kN ) thrust, throttled, cost-contained hydrogen engine designed in 2000. During his time at TRW, Mueller felt that his ideas were being lost in a diverse corporation and as a hobby he began to build his own engines. He would attach them to airframes and launch them in the Mojave Desert along with other members of the Reaction Research Society. In late 2001, Mueller began developing a liquid-fueled rocket engine in his garage and later moved his project to a friend's warehouse in 2002. [1] His design was the largest amateur liquid-fuel rocket engine, weighing 80 lb (36 kg) and producing 13,000 lbf (58 kN) of thrust. [1] His work caught the attention of Elon Musk, SpaceX founder. [4]

SpaceX

In 2002 Mueller joined Musk as the founding employee of SpaceX. [2] As Vice President of Propulsion Engineering and subsequently CTO of Propulsion at SpaceX, Mueller led the team that developed the Merlin 1A and Kestrel engines for the Falcon 1, the first liquid fueled orbital rocket launched by a private company; the Merlin 1C, Merlin 1D and MVac engines for the early iterations of the Falcon 9 launch vehicle; the Draco thrusters that provide the attitude control thrusters for the Dragon spacecraft and the SuperDraco storable-propellant engines used to power the capsule launch escape system. [5] Dragon was the first spacecraft launched by a private company to dock at the International Space Station. In 2014, Mueller transitioned engine development to the SpaceX Propulsion Engineering team and in 2016 he moved into the role of Propulsion CTO. In January 2019 he became Senior Advisor (Part-Time). [6] Tom Mueller announced that he retired from SpaceX on November 30, 2020. [7]

Impulse Space

Tom Mueller founded his own company, Impulse Space in September of 2021. The company develops chemical rocket engines, space tugs for moving satellites on-orbit, and planetary landers to deliver payloads to Mars. [8]

Early life and education

Mueller was born in St. Maries, Idaho. [9] His father was a logger and wanted Mueller to be one as well. [10] Mueller compares his story to that of Homer Hickam, growing up in a hard-working family and going off to be an engineer instead of following in his father's footsteps. [9] As a kid, he would build and fly Estes model rockets. He continued to experiment with rockets, even building one out of his father's oxy-acetylene welder and discovering adding water would produce more thrust. [9]

Mueller eventually became a logger, working four summers to pay his way through school. He attended the University of Idaho where in 1985 he earned a bachelor's degree in mechanical engineering. [10] He moved to California upon graduating, turning down job offers in Idaho and Oregon. [9] He attended a job fair upon his arrival in California and began working in satellite design and moved on to developing liquid rocket engines. [10] Mueller went on to attend Loyola Marymount University where he obtained his master's degree in Mechanical Engineering in 1992 from the Frank R. Seaver College of Science and Engineering. [11]

Awards

In 2014, Mueller was nominated for the Wyld Award, presented by the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA) for outstanding achievement in the development or application of rocket propulsion systems. [12]

He was a commencement speaker for Loyola Marymount University graduate students in 2013, the year after SpaceX became the first private company to send a cargo payload to the International Space Station. [11]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Spacecraft propulsion</span> Method used to accelerate spacecraft

Spacecraft propulsion is any method used to accelerate spacecraft and artificial satellites. In-space propulsion exclusively deals with propulsion systems used in the vacuum of space and should not be confused with space launch or atmospheric entry.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ion thruster</span> Spacecraft engine that generates thrust by generating a jet of ions

An ion thruster, ion drive, or ion engine is a form of electric propulsion used for spacecraft propulsion. An ion thruster creates a cloud of positive ions from a neutral gas by ionizing it to extract some electrons from its atoms. The ions are then accelerated using electricity to create thrust. Ion thrusters are categorized as either electrostatic or electromagnetic.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hypergolic propellant</span> Type of rocket engine fuel

A hypergolic propellant is a rocket propellant combination used in a rocket engine, whose components spontaneously ignite when they come into contact with each other.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Liquid-propellant rocket</span> Rocket engine that uses liquid fuels and oxidizers

A liquid-propellant rocket or liquid rocket utilizes a rocket engine burning liquid propellants. (Alternate approaches use gaseous or solid propellants.) Liquids are desirable propellants because they have reasonably high density and their combustion products have high specific impulse (Isp). This allows the volume of the propellant tanks to be relatively low.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">SpaceX Merlin</span> Rocket engine in SpaceX Falcon launch vehicles

Merlin is a family of rocket engines developed by SpaceX for use on its Falcon 1, Falcon 9 and Falcon Heavy launch vehicles. Merlin engines use RP-1 and liquid oxygen as rocket propellants in a gas-generator power cycle. The Merlin engine was originally designed for sea recovery and reuse, but since 2016 the entire Falcon 9 booster is recovered for reuse by landing vertically on a landing pad using one of its nine Merlin engines.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Staged combustion cycle</span> Rocket engine operation method

The staged combustion cycle is a power cycle of a bipropellant rocket engine. In the staged combustion cycle, propellant flows through multiple combustion chambers, and is thus combusted in stages. The main advantage relative to other rocket engine power cycles is high fuel efficiency, measured through specific impulse, while its main disadvantage is engineering complexity.

This is an alphabetical list of articles pertaining specifically to aerospace engineering. For a broad overview of engineering, see List of engineering topics. For biographies, see List of engineers.

A cold gas thruster is a type of rocket engine which uses the expansion of a pressurized gas to generate thrust. As opposed to traditional rocket engines, a cold gas thruster does not house any combustion and therefore has lower thrust and efficiency compared to conventional monopropellant and bipropellant rocket engines. Cold gas thrusters have been referred to as the "simplest manifestation of a rocket engine" because their design consists only of a fuel tank, a regulating valve, a propelling nozzle, and the little required plumbing. They are the cheapest, simplest, and most reliable propulsion systems available for orbital maintenance, maneuvering and attitude control.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pintle injector</span> Propellant injection device for a rocket engine.

The pintle injector is a type of propellant injector for a bipropellant rocket engine. Like any other injector, its purpose is to ensure appropriate flow rate and intermixing of the propellants as they are forcibly injected under high pressure into the combustion chamber, so that an efficient and controlled combustion process can happen.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">SpaceX Draco</span> Line of hypergolic liquid rocket engines by SpaceX

The SpaceX Draco is a hypergolic liquid rocket engine designed and built by SpaceX for use in their space capsules. Two engine types have been built to date: Draco and SuperDraco.

Fastrac was a turbo pump-fed, liquid rocket engine. The engine was designed by NASA as part of the low cost X-34 Reusable Launch Vehicle (RLV) and as part of the Low Cost Booster Technology project. This engine was later known as the MC-1 engine when it was merged into the X-34 project.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">TR-106</span> US experimental low-cost hydrolox pintle injector rocket engine

The TR-106 or low-cost pintle engine (LCPE) was a developmental rocket engine designed by TRW under the Space Launch Initiative to reduce the cost of launch services and space flight. Operating on LOX/LH2 the engine had a thrust of 2892 kN, or 650,000 pounds, making it one of the most powerful engines ever constructed.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">SpaceX launch vehicles</span> Launch vehicles developed and operated by SpaceX

SpaceX manufactures launch vehicles to operate its launch provider services and to execute its various exploration goals. SpaceX currently manufactures and operates the Falcon 9 Block 5 family of medium-lift launch vehicles and the Falcon Heavy family of heavy-lift launch vehicles – both of which are powered by SpaceX Merlin engines and employ VTVL technologies to reuse the first stage. As of 2024, the company is also developing the fully reusable Starship launch system, which will replace the Falcon 9 and Falcon Heavy.

The TR-107 was a developmental rocket engine designed in 2002 by Northrop Grumman for the NASA and DoD-funded Space Launch Initiative. Operating on LOX/RP-1, the engine was throttleable and had a thrust of 4,900 kN (1,100,000 lbf) at a chamber pressure of 17.7 megapascals (177 bar), making it one of the most powerful engines ever constructed.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">SpaceX rocket engines</span> Rocket engines developed by SpaceX

Since the founding of SpaceX in 2002, the company has developed four families of rocket engines — Merlin, Kestrel, Draco and SuperDraco — and is currently developing another rocket engine: Raptor, and after 2020, a new line of methalox thrusters.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">SuperDraco</span> Family of rocket engines developed by SpaceX for use on its Crewed Dragon spacecraft

SuperDraco is a hypergolic propellant rocket engine designed and built by SpaceX. It is part of the SpaceX Draco family of rocket engines. A redundant array of eight SuperDraco engines provides fault-tolerant propulsion for use as a launch escape system for the SpaceX Dragon 2, a passenger-carrying space capsule.

3D printing began to be used in production versions of spaceflight hardware in early 2014, when SpaceX first flew a flight-critical propulsion system assembly on an operational Falcon 9 flight. A number of other 3D-printed spacecraft assemblies have been ground-tested, including high-temperature, high-pressure rocket engine combustion chambers and the entire mechanical spaceframe and integral propellant tanks for a small satellite.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">SpaceX Raptor</span> SpaceX family of liquid-fuel rocket engines

Raptor is a family of rocket engines developed and manufactured by SpaceX. The engine is a full-flow staged combustion cycle (FFSC) engine powered by cryogenic liquid methane and liquid oxygen ("methalox").

Impulse Space was founded in 2021 by Tom Mueller, employee No.1 at SpaceX and engineer of the Merlin and Draco rocket engines that power the Falcon 9 and Dragon spacecraft. The company develops in-space transportation services for satellites that fly to Low Earth Orbit then need to reach other orbits.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Demonstration Rocket for Agile Cislunar Operations</span> Launch vehicle developed by Lockheed Martin

The Demonstration Rocket for Agile Cislunar Operations (DRACO) is an under-development launch vehicle by Lockheed Martin in partnership with BWX Technologies as part of a DARPA program to be demonstrated in space in 2027. The experimental vehicle is planned to be reusable and will utilize next-generation nuclear thermal propulsion technology and low-enriched uranium, with the U.S. Space Force to provide the launch. In 2023, NASA joined the DARPA program in developing the nuclear thermal rocket (NTR) to carry astronaut crews to deep-space destinations like Mars. DRACO will be the world's first in-orbit demonstration of a NTR engine. It will reportedly be launched aboard a Vulcan Centaur as a payload.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 Belfiore, Michael (1 September 2009). "Behind the Scenes With the World's Most Ambitious Rocket Makers". Popular Mechanics . Archived from the original on 4 February 2015. Retrieved 18 February 2014.
  2. 1 2 Seedhouse, Erik (2013). SpaceX: Making Commercial Spaceflight a Reality. Springer Praxis Books. ISBN   9781461455141.
  3. ↑ Lord, M.G. (1 October 2007). "Rocket Man". L.A. Mag. Archived from the original on 21 February 2014. Retrieved 18 February 2014.
  4. ↑ Vance, Ashlee (2015). Elon Musk: Tesla, SpaceX, and the Quest for a Fantastic Future. New York: HarperCollins. pp. 88–89. ISBN   978-0-06-230123-9. OCLC   1002383226.
  5. ↑ Amateur Liquid Propellant Rocketry, Tom Meuller in talk for Launch Canada, 19 June 2020, accessed 16 July 2020.
  6. ↑ "Thomas Mueller" . LinkedIn . Retrieved 10 June 2019. Senior Advisor (part-time) – Dates Employed: Jan 2019 – Present – Focus on new technology developments for SpaceX propulsion, including Mars main propulsion and surface power.
  7. ↑ Tom Mueller [@lrocket] (November 30, 2020). "I retired from SpaceX today!" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
  8. ↑ Eric Berger (29 March 2022). "Impulse Space is betting on a future where launch is cheap". Ars Technica . Retrieved 4 April 2022.
  9. 1 2 3 4 Rosenberg, Jeremy (3 May 2012). "Tom Mueller: From Idaho Logger To Space Explorer". KCET . Archived from the original on 20 February 2014. Retrieved 18 February 2014.
  10. 1 2 3 Cairo, Amanda (March 2013). "Launch Pad For Success". Here We Have Idaho. Issuu.com. Archived from the original on 7 April 2014. Retrieved 18 February 2014.
  11. 1 2 Jordan, Karen (3 May 2013). "Loyola Marymount University Announces Commencement Speakers". Marinadelrey Patch. Archived from the original on 2 March 2014. Retrieved 18 February 2014.
  12. ↑ "Wyld Propulsion Award Recipients". American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics. Archived from the original on 1 December 2017. Retrieved 19 February 2014.
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