The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Jun. 12, 2012
Filed:
Dec. 29, 2011
Bernard Friedrich Kutter, Centennial, CO (US);
Frank Charles Zegler, Centennial, CO (US);
Cliff E. Willey, Frederica, DE (US);
John K. Lin, Frederica, DE (US);
Mohamed M. Ragab, Centennial, CO (US);
Michael W. Dew, Centennial, CO (US);
Bernard Friedrich Kutter, Centennial, CO (US);
Frank Charles Zegler, Centennial, CO (US);
Cliff E. Willey, Frederica, DE (US);
John K. Lin, Frederica, DE (US);
Mohamed M. Ragab, Centennial, CO (US);
Michael W. Dew, Centennial, CO (US);
United Launch Alliance, LLC, Englewood, CO (US);
Abstract
A cryogenic propellant depot and sunshield are provided for operation in earth orbit to fuel or refuel other space vehicles. The sunshield is deployed to effectively mitigate solar radiation emanating from the earth and the sun thereby providing a long term storage solution for cryogenic fluids prone to boil-off. The depot has supporting subsystems to include station keeping equipment and communication equipment so that the depot can be independently controlled. Inflatable booms are used to deploy the sunshield in a desired pattern around the depot.