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">Nuclear thermal rocket</span> Rocket engine that uses a nuclear reactor to generate thrust

A nuclear thermal rocket (NTR) is a type of thermal rocket where the heat from a nuclear reaction replaces the chemical energy of the propellants in a chemical rocket. In an NTR, a working fluid, usually liquid hydrogen, is heated to a high temperature in a nuclear reactor and then expands through a rocket nozzle to create thrust. The external nuclear heat source theoretically allows a higher effective exhaust velocity and is expected to double or triple payload capacity compared to chemical propellants that store energy internally.

<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</span> American private spacecraft company

Space Exploration Technologies Corporation, commonly referred to as SpaceX, is an American spacecraft manufacturer, launch service provider, defense contractor and satellite communications company headquartered in Hawthorne, California. The company was founded in 2002 by Elon Musk with the goal of reducing space transportation costs and ultimately developing a sustainable colony on Mars. The company currently produces and operates the Falcon 9 and Falcon Heavy rockets along with the Dragon and Starship spacecraft.

<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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Spacecraft electric propulsion</span> Type of space propulsion using electrostatic and electromagnetic fields for acceleration

Spacecraft electric propulsion is a type of spacecraft propulsion technique that uses electrostatic or electromagnetic fields to accelerate mass to high speed and thus generating thrust to modify the velocity of a spacecraft in orbit. The propulsion system is controlled by power electronics.

<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.

<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.

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">SpaceX Mars Colonization Program</span> Proposed human Mars program by SpaceX

SpaceX has stated its ambition to facilitate the colonization of Mars via the development of the Starship launch vehicle. The company states that this is necessary for the long-term survival of the human species and for the expansion of the scope of human consciousness.

Dragon 2 <i>DragonFly</i> SpaceX Dragon 2 spacecraft prototype

The Dragon 2 DragonFly was a prototype suborbital rocket-powered test vehicle for a propulsively-landed version of the SpaceX Dragon 2. DragonFly underwent testing in Texas at the McGregor Rocket Test Facility in October 2015. However, the development eventually ceased as the verification burden imposed by NASA was too great to justify it.

<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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Liquid apogee engine</span>

A liquid apogee engine (LAE), or apogee engine, refers to a type of chemical rocket engine typically used as the main engine in a spacecraft.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">History of SpaceX</span> History of a space corporation

This is a corporate history of SpaceX, an American aerospace manufacturer and spacetransport services company founded by Elon Musk.

<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.

Before settling on the 2018 Starship design, SpaceX successively presented a number of reusable super-heavy lift vehicle proposals. These preliminary spacecraft designs were known under various names.

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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