ALEXANDRIA, Va., Nov. 18 -- United States Patent no. 12,473,876, issued on Nov. 18, was assigned to THE AEROSPACE Corp. (El Segundo, Calif.).
"Evanescent or fugacious thrust deflector" was invented by Jerome K. Fuller (Van Nuys, Calif.), Denise Galindo Burrell (Culver City, Calif.), Edward V. Wagner (Long Beach, Calif.), Andrew C. Cortopassi (Lakewood, Calif.), Jeffrey Arthur Lang (Torrance, Calif.) and Robert B. Pan (Torrance, Calif.).
According to the abstract* released by the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office: "An ablative thruster includes a nozzle configured to control a flow of thrust from the satellite. The ablative thruster also includes an ablative surface inside of the nozzle, configured to deflect the thrust at a predefined angle....