ALEXANDRIA, Va., June 9 -- United States Patent no. 12,286,944, issued on April 29, was assigned to Aerojet Rocketdyne Inc. (Sacramento, Calif.).

"Catalytic thruster" was invented by Vincent C. Yarnot (Sacramento, Calif.), Steven Stanley (Sacramento, Calif.), Garrett Urban (Sacramento, Calif.), Matthew T. Jakubek (Sacramento, Calif.) and Ronald L. Argust (Sacramento, Calif.).

According to the abstract* released by the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office: "A monopropellant thruster according to an exemplary aspect of the present disclosure includes, among other things, a first part having a catalyst bed, a thrust chamber, and a nozzle. The first part is integrally formed via a single additive manufacturing process. The thruster further includes...