Gary L. Bennett
Encyclopedia
Gary L. Bennett is an American scientist and engineer, specializing in aerospace and energy. He has worked for NASA
and the US Department of Energy
(DOE) on advanced space power systems and advanced space propulsion systems. His professional career has included work on the Voyager
, Galileo, and Ulysses space missions, and is currently working as a consultant in aerospace power and propulsion systems. He is also a science fiction
author (The Star Sailors).
, antimatter
). He was also the first program manager of the advanced technology insertion program for the Pluto Fast Flyby
(now New Horizons
) mission and the TIMED
space physics mission.
Prior to coming to NASA, Bennett held key positions in DoE's space radioisotope power program, including serving as Director of Safety and Nuclear Operations for the radioisotope power sources that were used on the Galileo mission to Jupiter
and that are being used on the Ulysses mission to explore the polar regions of the Sun
. This same radioisotope power source design was then flown on the Cassini mission to Saturn
and on the New Horizons mission to Jupiter.
Previous positions included Chief of the Research Support Branch in the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission
(NRC) where Bennett was instrumental in creating and managing NRC's reactor operational safety research program.
Bennett was the flight safety manager for the radioisotope power sources currently in use on the Voyager 1
and Voyager 2
spacecraft (which went to Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus
, Neptune
and beyond) and on Lincoln Laboratory
's LES 8 and LES 9 communications satellites.
Bennett also worked as a physicist in the NERVA
(Nuclear Engine for Rocket Vehicle Applications) program at what was then NASA's Lewis Research Center (now the John H. Glenn Research Center
) in Cleveland, Ohio
. He did fundamental reactor safety research at what is now the Department of Energy's Idaho National Laboratory
(INL).
From 1980–1988, he was a member of or adviser to US delegations to the two subcommittees of the United Nations Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space
and he prepared the official US position papers on the use of nuclear power sources in outer space.
From 1988–1990, Bennett chaired the Steering Group of the Interagency Advanced Power Group (IAPG), the national coordinating group for federally sponsored space and terrestrial power research. During his tenure and under his initiative the IAPG saw its greatest increase in membership.
Bennett received his PhD in physics
from Washington State University
in 1970; a Master of Nuclear Science degree in 1966, and a BSc degree in physics from the University of Idaho
in 1962; and an Associate of Arts degree from Boise Junior College (now Boise State University
) in 1960.
Since 1995, he has been active in promoting the teaching of science (specifically evolution
) and received the Friend of Darwin Award. Bennett has also been a champion of the First Amendment
and was elected to the National Advisory Council of Americans United for Separation of Church and State.
Science fiction
Chapters in:
NASA
The National Aeronautics and Space Administration is the agency of the United States government that is responsible for the nation's civilian space program and for aeronautics and aerospace research...
and the US Department of Energy
United States Department of Energy
The United States Department of Energy is a Cabinet-level department of the United States government concerned with the United States' policies regarding energy and safety in handling nuclear material...
(DOE) on advanced space power systems and advanced space propulsion systems. His professional career has included work on the Voyager
Voyager
-Technology:*LG Voyager, a mobile phone model manufactured by LG Electronics*NCR Voyager, a computer platform produced by NCR Corporation*Voyager , a computer worm affecting Oracle databases...
, Galileo, and Ulysses space missions, and is currently working as a consultant in aerospace power and propulsion systems. He is also a science fiction
Science fiction
Science fiction is a genre of fiction dealing with imaginary but more or less plausible content such as future settings, futuristic science and technology, space travel, aliens, and paranormal abilities...
author (The Star Sailors).
Biography
Bennett joined the NASA headquarters in June 1988 as the Manager of Advanced Space Power Systems in the transportation division of the Office of Advanced Concepts and Technology. There, he managed a number of transportation technology programs including hybrid propulsion, electric propulsion, low-thrust chemical propulsion, and other advanced propulsion concepts (e.g., fusionNuclear fusion
Nuclear fusion is the process by which two or more atomic nuclei join together, or "fuse", to form a single heavier nucleus. This is usually accompanied by the release or absorption of large quantities of energy...
, antimatter
Antimatter
In particle physics, antimatter is the extension of the concept of the antiparticle to matter, where antimatter is composed of antiparticles in the same way that normal matter is composed of particles...
). He was also the first program manager of the advanced technology insertion program for the Pluto Fast Flyby
Pluto Fast Flyby
The Pluto Fast Flyby was a space mission meant to perform a flyby of the dwarf planet Pluto. This spacecraft was meant to be launched by 2000 and reach Pluto by 2010, so it could examine Pluto's atmosphere before it froze to the ground as 'snow' as Pluto moves away from the sun...
(now New Horizons
New Horizons
New Horizons is a NASA robotic spacecraft mission currently en route to the dwarf planet Pluto. It is expected to be the first spacecraft to fly by and study Pluto and its moons, Charon, Nix, Hydra and S/2011 P 1. Its estimated arrival date at the Pluto-Charon system is July 14th, 2015...
) mission and the TIMED
TIMED
The TIMED mission was a two year project to study the dynamics of the Mesosphere and Lower Thermosphere portion of the Earth's atmosphere. The mission was launched from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California on December 7, 2001 aboard a Delta II rocket launch vehicle...
space physics mission.
Prior to coming to NASA, Bennett held key positions in DoE's space radioisotope power program, including serving as Director of Safety and Nuclear Operations for the radioisotope power sources that were used on the Galileo mission to Jupiter
Jupiter
Jupiter is the fifth planet from the Sun and the largest planet within the Solar System. It is a gas giant with mass one-thousandth that of the Sun but is two and a half times the mass of all the other planets in our Solar System combined. Jupiter is classified as a gas giant along with Saturn,...
and that are being used on the Ulysses mission to explore the polar regions of the Sun
Sun
The Sun is the star at the center of the Solar System. It is almost perfectly spherical and consists of hot plasma interwoven with magnetic fields...
. This same radioisotope power source design was then flown on the Cassini mission to Saturn
Saturn
Saturn is the sixth planet from the Sun and the second largest planet in the Solar System, after Jupiter. Saturn is named after the Roman god Saturn, equated to the Greek Cronus , the Babylonian Ninurta and the Hindu Shani. Saturn's astronomical symbol represents the Roman god's sickle.Saturn,...
and on the New Horizons mission to Jupiter.
Previous positions included Chief of the Research Support Branch in the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission
Nuclear Regulatory Commission
The Nuclear Regulatory Commission is an independent agency of the United States government that was established by the Energy Reorganization Act of 1974 from the United States Atomic Energy Commission, and was first opened January 19, 1975...
(NRC) where Bennett was instrumental in creating and managing NRC's reactor operational safety research program.
Bennett was the flight safety manager for the radioisotope power sources currently in use on the Voyager 1
Voyager 1
The Voyager 1 spacecraft is a 722-kilogram space probe launched by NASA in 1977, to study the outer Solar System and eventually interstellar space. Operating for as of today , the spacecraft receives routine commands and transmits data back to the Deep Space Network. At a distance of as of...
and Voyager 2
Voyager 2
The Voyager 2 spacecraft is a 722-kilogram space probe launched by NASA on August 20, 1977 to study the outer Solar System and eventually interstellar space...
spacecraft (which went to Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus
Uranus
Uranus is the seventh planet from the Sun. It has the third-largest planetary radius and fourth-largest planetary mass in the Solar System. It is named after the ancient Greek deity of the sky Uranus , the father of Cronus and grandfather of Zeus...
, Neptune
Neptune
Neptune is the eighth and farthest planet from the Sun in the Solar System. Named for the Roman god of the sea, it is the fourth-largest planet by diameter and the third largest by mass. Neptune is 17 times the mass of Earth and is slightly more massive than its near-twin Uranus, which is 15 times...
and beyond) and on Lincoln Laboratory
Lincoln Laboratory
MIT Lincoln Laboratory, located in Lexington, Massachusetts, is a United States Department of Defense research and development center chartered to apply advanced technology to problems of national security. Research and development activities focus on long-term technology development as well as...
's LES 8 and LES 9 communications satellites.
Bennett also worked as a physicist in the NERVA
NERVA
NERVA is an acronym for Nuclear Engine for Rocket Vehicle Application, a joint program of the U.S. Atomic Energy Commission and NASA managed by the Space Nuclear Propulsion Office until both the program and the office ended at the end of 1972....
(Nuclear Engine for Rocket Vehicle Applications) program at what was then NASA's Lewis Research Center (now the John H. Glenn Research Center
Glenn Research Center
NASA John H. Glenn Research Center at Lewis Field is a NASA center, located within the cities of Brook Park, Cleveland and Fairview Park, Ohio between Cleveland Hopkins International Airport and the Cleveland Metroparks's Rocky River Reservation, and has other subsidiary facilities in Ohio...
) in Cleveland, Ohio
Cleveland, Ohio
Cleveland is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and is the county seat of Cuyahoga County, the most populous county in the state. The city is located in northeastern Ohio on the southern shore of Lake Erie, approximately west of the Pennsylvania border...
. He did fundamental reactor safety research at what is now the Department of Energy's Idaho National Laboratory
Idaho National Laboratory
Idaho National Laboratory is an complex located in the high desert of eastern Idaho, between the town of Arco to the west and the cities of Idaho Falls and Blackfoot to the east. It lies within Butte, Bingham, Bonneville and Jefferson counties...
(INL).
From 1980–1988, he was a member of or adviser to US delegations to the two subcommittees of the United Nations Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space
United Nations Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space
The United Nations Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space was established in 1958 as an ad hoc committee...
and he prepared the official US position papers on the use of nuclear power sources in outer space.
From 1988–1990, Bennett chaired the Steering Group of the Interagency Advanced Power Group (IAPG), the national coordinating group for federally sponsored space and terrestrial power research. During his tenure and under his initiative the IAPG saw its greatest increase in membership.
Bennett received his PhD in physics
Physics
Physics is a natural science that involves the study of matter and its motion through spacetime, along with related concepts such as energy and force. More broadly, it is the general analysis of nature, conducted in order to understand how the universe behaves.Physics is one of the oldest academic...
from Washington State University
Washington State University
Washington State University is a public research university based in Pullman, Washington, in the Palouse region of the Pacific Northwest. Founded in 1890, WSU is the state's original and largest land-grant university...
in 1970; a Master of Nuclear Science degree in 1966, and a BSc degree in physics from the University of Idaho
University of Idaho
The University of Idaho is the State of Idaho's flagship and oldest public university, located in the rural city of Moscow in Latah County in the northern portion of the state...
in 1962; and an Associate of Arts degree from Boise Junior College (now Boise State University
Boise State University
Boise State University is a public university located in Boise, Idaho. Originally founded in 1932 as a junior college by the Episcopal Church, the university became an independent institution in 1934, and has been awarding baccalaureate and master degrees since 1965...
) in 1960.
Since 1995, he has been active in promoting the teaching of science (specifically evolution
Evolution
Evolution is any change across successive generations in the heritable characteristics of biological populations. Evolutionary processes give rise to diversity at every level of biological organisation, including species, individual organisms and molecules such as DNA and proteins.Life on Earth...
) and received the Friend of Darwin Award. Bennett has also been a champion of the First Amendment
First Amendment to the United States Constitution
The First Amendment to the United States Constitution is part of the Bill of Rights. The amendment prohibits the making of any law respecting an establishment of religion, impeding the free exercise of religion, abridging the freedom of speech, infringing on the freedom of the press, interfering...
and was elected to the National Advisory Council of Americans United for Separation of Church and State.
Selected works
Bennett has authored or coauthored over 160 technical papers, reports and articles on power, propulsion, and space missions.Science fiction
Chapters in:
Awards
- In 2000, he received the Friend of Darwin Award by the National Center for Science EducationNational Center for Science EducationThe National Center for Science Education is a non-profit organization based in Oakland, California affiliated with the American Association for the Advancement of Science. It is the United States' leading anti-creationist organization, and defends the teaching of evolutionary biology and opposes...
- In 1996, he received the Schreiber-Spence Space Achievement Award for his leadership of the safety and nuclear operations for the Galileo and Ulysses radioisotope power source programs.
- In 1995, he shared in the American Institute of Aeronautics and AstronauticsAmerican Institute of Aeronautics and AstronauticsThe American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics is the professional society for the field of aerospace engineering. The AIAA was founded in 1963 from the merger of two earlier societies: the American Rocket Society , founded in 1930 as the American Interplanetary Society , and the Institute...
(AIAA) Aerospace Power Systems Award and Medal for his leadership of the Ulysses radioisotope power source program. - In 1994, he received the Silver & Gold Award from the University of Idaho Alumni Association
- In 1990, he received the Distinguished Alumnus Award from Boise State University
Associations
- American Institute of Aeronautics and AstronauticsAmerican Institute of Aeronautics and AstronauticsThe American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics is the professional society for the field of aerospace engineering. The AIAA was founded in 1963 from the merger of two earlier societies: the American Rocket Society , founded in 1930 as the American Interplanetary Society , and the Institute...
(fellow) - American Physical SocietyAmerican Physical SocietyThe American Physical Society is the world's second largest organization of physicists, behind the Deutsche Physikalische Gesellschaft. The Society publishes more than a dozen scientific journals, including the world renowned Physical Review and Physical Review Letters, and organizes more than 20...
(fellow) - British Interplanetary SocietyBritish Interplanetary SocietyThe British Interplanetary Society founded in 1933 by Philip E. Cleator, is the oldest space advocacy organisation in the world whose aim is exclusively to support and promote astronautics and space exploration.-Structure:...
(fellow)