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Space Exploration
Tom Spilker's user avatar
Tom Spilker's user avatar
Tom Spilker's user avatar
Tom Spilker
  • Member for 6 years, 4 months
  • Last seen more than a month ago
  • Southern California, CA, USA
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About

20 years at JPL after a PhD at Stanford doing research associated with spacecraft-based planetary radio occultation experiments, with a couple of courses in orbital dynamics. Worked on Voyager, Cassini, Genesis, and Rosetta missions. Work with both science and engineering aspects - at JPL I was a "Mission Architect". Retired from JPL in 2012, now I'm an independent consultant.

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View all questions and answers
107
Why do most space probes survive for far longer than they were designed for?
Feb 15, 2019
67
Why not increase contact surface when reentering the atmosphere?
Mar 27, 2019
60
Could a spacecraft spin so fast that it spontaneously deconstructs?
Jul 17, 2018
58
What skipped test on Genesis would have detected the backwards-inserted accelerometer which didn't deploy the parachute?
Dec 16, 2020
50
Do you need to burn fuel between gravity assists?
Sep 6, 2019
50
Why did Starhopper's exhaust plume become brighter just before landing?
Aug 27, 2019
46
What is the story behind specific impulse being expressed in seconds?
Jan 28, 2020
42
Can a spaceship land on an icy body using retropropulsion? wouldn't the ice melt?
May 2, 2018
41
Why is using a space elevator cheaper than rocket power?
Sep 5, 2018
40
Could a complex system of reaction wheels be used to propel a spacecraft?
Aug 29, 2019