US Patent Issued to THE AEROSPACE on Oct. 14 for "Small satellite propulsion system utilizing liquid propellant ullage vapor" (California Inventor)

ALEXANDRIA, Va., Oct. 21 -- United States Patent no. 12,442,350, issued on Oct. 14, was assigned to THE AEROSPACE Corp. (El Segundo, Calif.).

"Small satellite propulsion system utilizing liquid propellant ullage vapor" was invented by Brandie L Rhodes (Redondo Beach, Calif.).

According to the abstract* released by the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office: "A novel approach provides a small satellite propulsion system that uses vapor to generate thrust for the small satellite. The vapor naturally sits on top of liquid propellant(s), which are stored within a propellant tank. The vapor may flow from the propellant tank and through a membrane to interact with a reacting surface to generate thrust."

The patent was filed on June 16, 2016, under App...