Gary L. Bennett

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Gary L. Bennett (born January 17, 1940, in Twin Falls, Idaho) is an American scientist and engineer, specializing in aerospace and energy. He has worked for NASA and the 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. Also a science fiction author (The Star Sailors; 1980; 2005), he is currently a consultant in aerospace power and propulsion systems.

Biography

While at NASA Headquarters, Bennett was Manager of Advanced Space Propulsion Systems in the Transportation Division of the Office of Advanced Concepts and Technology. In this capacity he managed a number of transportation technology programs including hybrid propulsion, electric propulsion, low-thrust chemical propulsion, and advanced propulsion concepts (e.g., fusion, antimatter).

Bennett joined NASA Headquarters in June 1988 as the Manager of Advanced Space Power Systems. He was also responsible for managing the low-thrust propulsion program and the advanced space propulsion concepts program. He also served as the program manager of NASA's nuclear propulsion technology program as well as being 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 U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) where Dr. 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 at Lewis Field) in Cleveland, Ohio. He did fundamental reactor safety research at what is now the Department of Energy's Idaho National Laboratory (INL).

From 1980-88, he was a member of or adviser to U.S. delegations to the two subcommittees of the United Nations Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space and he prepared the official U.S. position papers on the use of nuclear power sources in outer space.

From 1988-90, 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 a Ph.D. (physics) in 1970 from Washington State University; a Master of Nuclear Science degree (physics major; 1966) and a Bachelor of Science degree in physics (1962) from the University of Idaho; and an Associate of Arts degree (science major) in 1960 from Boise Junior College, now Boise State University.

He has received a number of citations and awards from NASA, DOE, and NRC for his work on space and terrestrial power and propulsion including for his work on the Voyager, Galileo and Ulysses missions. 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 Astronautics(AIAA) Aerospace Power Systems Award and Medal for his leadership of the Ulysses radioisotope power source program. He received the Distinguished Alumnus Award from Boise State University in 1990 and the Silver & Gold Award, the highest award from the University of Idaho Alumni Association, in 1994. He is a Fellow of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics; a Fellow of the American Physical Society; and a Fellow of the British Interplanetary Society.

Since 1995, he has been active in promoting the teaching of good science (specifically evolution). For his work, he was awarded the Friend of Darwin Award in 2000 by the National Center for Science Education. 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.

Bennett has authored or coauthored over 160 technical papers, reports and articles on power, propulsion, and space missions. He has authored one book, "The Star Sailors"(1980, reissued in 2005). He has contributed chapters to three other books: "A Critical Review of Space Nuclear Power and Propulsion, 1984-1993" (1994); "CRC Handbook of Thermoelectrics" (1995); and "Encyclopedia of Physical Science and Technology, 3rd Edition" (2002).