James Michael Longuski (born 1951) is an American scientist, inventor, writer, and educator known for his contributions to

astrodynamics Orbital mechanics or astrodynamics is the application of ballistics and celestial mechanics to the practical problems concerning the motion of rockets and other spacecraft. The motion of these objects is usually calculated from Newton's laws of ...

and space mission design. After working as a space mission designer at

Jet Propulsion Laboratory The Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) is a federally funded research and development center and NASA field center in the City of La Cañada Flintridge, California, United States. Founded in the 1930s by Caltech researchers, JPL is owned by NASA an ...

(JPL) for

NASA The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA ) is an independent agency of the US federal government responsible for the civil space program, aeronautics research, and space research. NASA was established in 1958, succeeding t ...

, Longuski has served as a professor at

Purdue University School of Aeronautics and Astronautics The Purdue University School of Aeronautics and Astronautics is Purdue University's school of aerospace engineering contained within the Purdue University College of Engineering. The school offers BS, M.S., and PhD degrees in aeronautical an ...

since 1988.

Education

Longuski received his PhD in

Aerospace Engineering Aerospace engineering is the primary field of engineering concerned with the development of aircraft and spacecraft. It has two major and overlapping branches: aeronautical engineering and astronautical engineering. Avionics engineering is si ...

from the

University of Michigan , mottoeng = "Arts, Knowledge, Truth" , former_names = Catholepistemiad, or University of Michigania (1817–1821) , budget = $10.3 billion (2021) , endowment = $17 billion (2021)As o ...

in 1979 supervised by Nguyễn Xuân Vinh.

Career and research

In the late 1990s together with Nathan Strange of JPL, he developed the method and coined the term, the “Tisserand graph,” widely used for gravity-assist spacecraft trajectory design (a concept independently introduced by Labunsky et al.). He also developed the technique and coined the term, “V-Infinity Leveraging,” which uses a deep space maneuver to leverage (increase or decrease) the hyperbolic velocity at the next gravity-assist body. Longuski began work on

Mars cycler A Mars cycler (or Earth–Mars cycler) is a kind of spacecraft trajectory that encounters Earth and Mars regularly. The term Mars cycler may also refer to a spacecraft on a Mars cycler trajectory. The Aldrin cycler is an example of a Mars cycler. ...

trajectories in 1985 when

Buzz Aldrin Buzz Aldrin (; born Edwin Eugene Aldrin Jr.; January 20, 1930) is an American former astronaut, engineer and fighter pilot. He made three spacewalks as pilot of the 1966 Gemini 12 mission. As the Lunar Module ''Eagle'' pilot on the 1969 A ...

visited JPL looking for verification of his proposed trajectory now known as the Aldrin cycler. The concept involves placing a large spacecraft (or astronaut hotel) in orbit around the Sun that continually flies by Mars and Earth , providing a permanent human transportation system between those planets. Longuski was able to verify Aldrin's concept and together they developed several versions of cycler trajectories. In 2001, Longuski with Ephraim Fischbach and Daniel Scheeres proposed a test of

Albert Einstein Albert Einstein ( ; ; 14 March 1879 – 18 April 1955) was a German-born theoretical physicist, widely acknowledged to be one of the greatest and most influential physicists of all time. Einstein is best known for developing the theory ...

General Theory of Relativity General relativity, also known as the general theory of relativity and Einstein's theory of gravity, is the differential geometry, geometric scientific theory, theory of gravitation published by Albert Einstein in 1915 and is the current descr ...

based on spacecraft trajectories. Longuski is co-inventor with Dan Javorsek of a ''Method of Velocity Precision Pointing in Spin-Stabilized Spacecraft or Rockets''.

Quotes

Books

Longuski has published four books: # ''Advice to Rocket Scientists'' # ''The Seven Secrets of How to Think Like a Rocket Scientist'' # ''Optimal Control with Aerospace Applications'' # ''Introduction to Orbital Perturbations''

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Longuski, James American scientists Purdue University faculty Jet Propulsion Laboratory faculty Living people 1951 births University of Michigan College of Engineering alumni