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"The abolishment of pain in surgery is a chimera. It is absurd to go on seeking it...knife and pain are two words in surgery that must forever be associated in the consciousness of the patient."
Dr. Alfred Velpeau, French surgeon ; 1839
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| Number | Title | Issue Date |
| 7290737 | Nonsurvivable momentum exchange system A demiseable momentum exchange system includes a base and a flywheel rotatably supported on the base. The flywheel includes a web portion defining a plurality of web openings and a rim portion. The momentum exchange system further includes a motor for driving the fl... | 11/06/2007 |
| 7207525 | Apparatus for grasping objects in space A remotely controlled apparatus for grasping an object such as a satellite in space includes a free-flying grasper unit connected by a selectively extendable cable to an orbital platform. The orbital platform and the grasper unit are preferably each independently pr... | 04/24/2007 |
| 7185848 | Mass transfer system for stabilizing an airship and other vehicles subject to pitch and roll moments The invention relates to a mechanism to control the pitch and/or roll and/or center of gravity of a vehicle. The first embodiment is a track-based mass transfer system in which pathways are positioned along or radially terminate at a central horizontal plane of the ... | 03/06/2007 |
| 7178763 | Passive deployment mechanism for space tethers Mechanism for passively deploying expendable space tethers on orbit, by means of an initial separation impulse only, provided by a simple spring system that is part of the mechanism itself. The passive deployment of the space tether and a tethered end-mass is provid... | 02/20/2007 |
| 7104505 | Autonomous satellite docking system This invention solves problems associated with prior-art soft-dock mechanisms by placing all active components of a soft-dock system on the chaser side of the mechanism, leaving the target side of the mechanism completely passive (i.e., requiring no power expenditur... | 09/12/2006 |
| 6945499 | Satellite stand-off tether system A tethered spacecraft is tethered to a base using a semirigid stand-off and a moving tether operated as a belt drive and operated in tension so that the tethered is precisely positioned in tension from the base spacecraft. ... | 09/20/2005 |
| 6850737 | Antenna direction finding in mobile phones The present invention describes a communication system comprising a primary radio station (PS) and at least one secondary radio station (SS), intended to be in motion (MOT). The secondary radio station has at least one controllable structure (CS) for communicating w... | 02/01/2005 |
| 5687084 | Satellite orbit maintenance system A technique for maintaining a satellite in an assigned orbit without control or intervention from the ground. Autonomously obtained navigational data provide a measurement of the actual orbit in which the satellite is traveling. So long as the measured or... | 11/11/1997 |
| 5669586 | Satellite gravity gradient compensation using on-orbit solar array reorientation A method for operating an orbiting spacecraft includes the steps of (a) changing a mass distribution of the spacecraft from a first mass distribution for setting a first principal moment of inertia of the spacecraft along a first axis approximately equal ... | 09/23/1997 |
| 5610820 | Minimum propellant, zero momentum spacecraft attitude control system A zero-momentum spacecraft's attitude is controlled by determining the torque required about a control axis to maintain the desired attitude, and, during each of recurrent control cycles, enabling a magnetic torquer if the torque demand exceeds a threshol... | 03/11/1997 |
| 5522569 | Satellite having a stackable configuration A satellite has two solar array panels which are moveable between a closed configuration and an open configuration. The solar array panels are pivotably mounted on hinges attached along the top and bottom of the satellite and extend outwardly from the top... | 06/04/1996 |
| 5507454 | Satellite and method to place this satellite in orbit by gravitational assistance Satellite and method for placing said satellite in orbit by lunar gravitational assistance. After placing the satellite into standard orbit (01) within a quasi-equatorial plane, the satellite is transferred onto a circumlunar orbit (02) so that the satell... | 04/16/1996 |
| 5474264 | Low mass velocity-aberration correcting retroreflector geodetic satellite A spacecraft for geodetic applications designed to travel along a trajectory in an orbital plane around a planet, embodying at least one cube corner retroreflector designed to face the planet at least temporarily and having an apex, a normal, and three fa... | 12/12/1995 |
| 5377936 | Net kinetic energy differential guidance and propulsion system for satellites and space vehicles Apparatus and methods of Gravity Guidance and Propulsion of Geosynchronous Satellites, other satellites and space vehicles using net kinetic energy PUSH of Gravity of the electromagnetic spectrum particles which continually irradiate the earth from space,... | 01/03/1995 |
| 5284309 | Propellant immobilizing system and method A propellant immobilizing system and method in which propellant motion in the propellant storage tanks (22) is reduced or eliminated during velocity change maneuvers to reduce disturbance torques acting upon the spacecraft (10) and improving the spacecraf... | 02/08/1994 |
| 5163641 | Method and apparatus for changing orbit of artificial satellite A method and apparatus for changing the orbit of an artificial satellite. The apparatus is caused to approach a target satellite and to be coupled thereto in space so as to constitute a dumbbell-like coupled system. The apparatus has a propulsion unit. Th... | 11/17/1992 |
| 5082211 | Method and apparatus for mitigating space debris A method and apparatus for mitigating space debris having special applicability for use with anti-satellite weapons testing. To mitigate debris in a controlled and predictable fashion a first body is tethered to a lower altitude body. A suitable length of... | 01/21/1992 |
| 4923151 | Tether power generator for earth orbiting satellites A power generation system utilizes an electromagnetic tether having a three conductor, coaxial configuration which allows the circuit to be closed internal to two orbiting objects. An outer cylinder of the tether is a conductor which is used to cut or pas... | 05/08/1990 |
| 4834325 | Modular spacecraft system A modular spacecraft system adapted for orbital flight is capable of expansion by the connection of at least two substantially identical spacecraft modules, each of which is capable of independent operation. Each spacecraft module comprises a spacecraft b... | 05/30/1989 |
| 4728061 | Spacecraft operable in two alternative flight modes A spacecraft is adapted for orbital flight in two alternative modes, referred to as the earth-oriented and quasi sun-oriented modes. The spacecraft comprises a spacecraft body, at least one solar array extendible outwardly from the spacecraft body, passiv... | 03/01/1988 |
| 4727373 | Method and system for orbiting stereo imaging radar This radar system makes it possible to collect complete stereo data in a single pass by utilizing an orbiting, side looking, bi-static, synthetic aperture radar. This system utilizes at least two orbiting spacecraft in synchronous parallel orbits with eac... | 02/23/1988 |
| 4097010 | Satellite connected by means of a long tether to a powered spacecraft There is disclosed a system by which a satellite is connected by means of a long tether, typically a wire 100 km or more in length, to a powered spacecraft. The spacecraft may be the Space Shuttle, and two basic equilibrium positions of the system are dis... | 06/27/1978 |
| 4083520 | Tetherline system for orbiting satellites A system for tethering one orbiting space vehicle to another in which a tetherline between the vehicles is controlled by a motorized reel which in turn is controlled to deploy, retrieve, or maintain a constant line length while effecting a stabilizing inf... | 04/11/1978 |
| 3996804 | Method for remotely determining the dynamic imbalance of and for changing the spin rate and center of gravity of a spinning body A method for remotely determining the dynamic imbalance of and for changing the spin rate and center of gravity of a spinning spacecraft which utilizes the communications channel between the spacecraft and the receiving terminal, the master index pulse ge... | 12/14/1976 |
