Patents by Inventor Shannon D. Eilers

Shannon D. Eilers has filed for patents to protect the following inventions. This listing includes patent applications that are pending as well as patents that have already been granted by the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO).

  • Publication number: 20140026537
    Abstract: The Multiple Use Plug Hybrid (for) Nanosats (“MUPHyN”) prototype thruster is being developed to fill a niche application for NanoSat scale spacecraft propulsion. The MUPHyN thruster uses safe-handling and inexpensive nitrous oxide (N20) and acrylonitrile-butadiene-styrene (ABS) as propellants. The MUPHyN thruster can provide an enhanced propulsive capability that will enable multiple NanoSats to be independently repositioned after deployment from the parent launch vehicle. Because the environmentally benign propellants are mixed only within the combustion chamber once the ignition is initiated, the system is inherently safe and can be piggy-backed on a secondary payload with no overall mission risk increase to the primary payload.
    Type: Application
    Filed: July 30, 2013
    Publication date: January 30, 2014
    Applicant: UTAH STATE UNIVERSITY
    Inventors: Shannon D. Eilers, Stephen Whitmore, Zachary Peterson