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:
May. 30, 2017
Filed:
Sep. 27, 2013
Ball Aerospace & Technologies Corp., Boulder, CO (US);
Ian J. Gravseth, Longmont, CO (US);
Reuben R. Rohrschneider, Longmont, CO (US);
Robert F. Arentz, Boulder, CO (US);
BALL AEROSPACE & TECHNOLOGIES CORP., Boulder, CO (US);
Abstract
Methods and systems for passively slowing the spin rate of an uncontrolled object in space are presented. A damper mechanism is provided that includes a magnet that is free to rotate in any direction about a central point with respect to a carrier or outer housing. The magnet can be carried within an inner element or sphere, that is in turn mounted within an outer sphere. The inner and outer spheres can be separated by a viscous fluid or other mechanism in which damping can be introduced. The damper mechanism can be associated with an attachment mechanism, that secures the resulting damper or despin system to a target object. A method of neutralizing the magnetic field is also included to enable the system to be launched in a passive state.