American aerospace engineer
Joel C. Sercel (/ˈ sɛrsəl /; born 1960) is an American aerospace engineer and the inventor of several groundbreaking space technologies. His notable inventions include the Omnivore Thruster, Optical Mining, Radiant Gas Dynamic Mining, Optimized Matched Filter Tracking, and the Sun Flower Power Tower.
The Omnivore Thruster is a propulsion technology designed for in-space transportation. Optical Mining is a technique for extracting raw materials from asteroids. Optimized Matched Filter Tracking comprises methods of image processing and observational techniques for identifying and tracking faint moving targets with digital cameras. Radiant Gas Dynamic Mining is a method for harvesting lunar water. The Sun Flower Power Tower is an architectural approach for capturing and converting solar power into electricity, particularly for use in polar lunar regions.
As of May 2024, Sercel's work and studies have resulted in forty-four published applications, leading to twenty-two US patents. Of these patents, twelve are assigned to his company Trans Astronautica Corporation, five to Momentus Space, and five to Tautachrome Inc.
In recognition of his contributions to space technology, asteroid (46308) Joel Sercel was named in his honor.
Education.
Sercel received a Bachelor of Science in Engineering Physics from the University of Arizona in 1984. He received his PhD and master's degrees in Mechanical Engineering from the California Institute of Technology with a thesis in plasma physics applied to space propulsion.
Career.
Sercel worked for fourteen years at Jet Propulsion Laboratory (1983–1997), being awarded by NASA for many advancements in space propulsion technologies, systems and space mission project management. While at JPL, he worked on the ideation of the NSTAR ion propulsion system used on the Dawn spacecraft.
He taught space engineering courses at Caltech (1993–2008). In the period 2002–2005, he was the Chief Systems Engineer of the (Transformational Satellite Communications System) project, a military satellite system commissioned by the US Air Force and worth twenty-two billion dollars. In 2016, he served in the National Academy of Science Air Force Studies Board on "The Role of Experimentation Campaigns in the Air Force Innovation Life Cycle" and in the NASA ARM Formulation Assessment and Support Team (FAST). In 2019, Sercel acted as CTO of Momentus, a technological space company based in the Silicon Valley. Today Sercel is the Founder and CEO of Trans Astronautica Corporation, a Los Angeles based space technology company also known as TransAstra.
Trans Astronautica Corporation.
Sercel founded TransAstra in 2015, merging his studies and inventions, to build the necessary space infrastructure for transportation and resource mining in the solar system.
Under Sercel's guidance, engineers at TranAstra are working on the following:
TransAstra SBIR/STTRs.
Joel Sercel has been awarded multiple Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) and Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) grants. These grants have supported numerous projects, advancing innovative technologies in the field of aerospace engineering. Here are a list of some of the completed work.
SBIR Phase I
SBIR Ignite Phase I
STTR Phase I
NASA NIAC awards.
Sercel was PI for seven of these received NASA Innovative Advanced Concepts (NIAC) Fellowships.
NIAC Phase I Awards:
NIAC Phase II Awards:
NIAC Phase III Award:
References.
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