Home

Innovative Spacecraft Systems to Explore and Expand Out Access to Our Solar System

Dr. Terry J. Hendricks
Director of Thermal Control Systems
Blue Origin LLC

Lunch on the GLT lawn at 11 AM

ABSTRACT

The United States, Europe and others have vigorous space programs to create innovative and highly robust and capable spacecraft systems that are allowing us to explore and investigate new worlds in our solar system (i.e., Mars, Jupiter, Jupiter moons, Saturn, and others). In the United States key government organizations, like NASA and others, and key commercial companies, like Blue Origin and SpaceX, are creating new, innovative spacecraft concepts and visions that are building and paving the “Roadmap to Space” in ways not seen before. This lecture will review and examine most recent innovative spacecraft systems and concepts that allow us to explore and expand our access to new and extreme environments never before contemplated in our solar system. This lecture will discuss spacecraft thermal and fluid system designs to penetrate the extremely thick ice layers on Europa and Enceladus to potentially explore Ocean Worlds never before dreamed off. It will discuss spacecraft thermal and power system designs that allow us to explore the far side of the moon by helping spacecraft survive the 14-day lunar night. This lecture will show what accomplishments we have already made in advanced thermoelectric power systems for deep space exploration. The exciting visions and exploits of Blue Origin for increasing human space flight and access to space, making it more routine and accessible to future generations and increasing opportunities for manufacturing activities and mining on nearby moons and planets, thereby helping to relieve the environmental strains we are currently putting on our mother Earth. What if we could transport 100,000 people travel to space each year for many varied reasons and objectives? Imagine what economic, scientific, and cultural renaissance that could bring. We humans are now building the foundation for that “Roadmap to Space”.

BIO

Dr. Hendricks is currently the Director of Thermal Control Systems in the Advanced Development Program at Blue Origin LLC, after briefly retiring from NASA–Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) / California Institute of Technology in 2021. He has over 40 years of professional expertise in thermal & fluid systems, nano-scale and micro-scale heat transfer, energy recovery, energy conversion and storage systems, terrestrial & spacecraft power systems, micro electro-mechanical systems, and project management. His extensive expertise is embodied in 3 book chapters published by Taylor and Francis and Elsevier; and over 100 reports, conference papers, and journal articles in the Journals of Electronic Materials; Energy; Materials Research; Heat Transfer; Thermophysics and Heat Transfer; and International Heat & Mass Transfer. Among his numerous awards, he was inducted into the University of Texas at Austin Mechanical Engineering Academy of Distinguished Alumni in 2019. He is currently Guest Editor for a Special Issue of the Energies journal entitled “Advanced Thermoelectric Generation Technologies 2022”.

While at JPL, he was responsible for designing spacecraft thermal and propulsion systems, solar power systems, radioisotope power systems, thermal management and thermal energy storage systems critical to NASA missions. During Dr. Hendricks tenure at JPL, among his many duties he was a Technical Group Supervisor for Thermal Energy Conversion Systems and Applications group. He was also the Project Manager leading and managing complex, multi-disciplinary projects to:

1. Develop next-generation aircraft energy recovery technologies using advanced heat exchangers, integrated with advanced thermoacoustic generators and heat pipe technologies;
2. Develop Solar Array Dust Mitigation technologies;
3. Develop a thermoelectric power system design for unmanned aircraft (UAV) engine energy recovery applicable to different UAV platforms; and
4. Characterize and quantify pyroshock-driven dynamic effects on Radioisotope Thermoelectric Generator power output, thereby reducing risk on Mars 2020 spacecraft.

Prior to JPL, he was the Energy Recovery Program Director at Battelle Memorial Institute and Senior Program Manager at U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, where he managed U.S. DOE and Army projects in hybrid power system development, automotive & industrial waste energy recovery, military energy recovery, and advanced heat transfer.

He received his Ph.D. and Master of Science in Engineering from the University of Texas at Austin and Bachelor of Science (Summa Cum Laude) in Physics from the University of Massachusetts at Lowell. Dr. Hendricks holds 9 patents and is a Registered Professional Engineer in California and Texas.