Sonja Alexander                              March 12, 1999
Headquarters, Washington, DC
(Phone:  202/358-1761)

Lynn Jenner
Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, MD
(Phone:  301/286-0045)

Keith Henry    
Langley Research Center, Hampton, VA
(Phone:  757/864-6120)

RELEASE:  99-42

NASA SELECTS TOP INVENTIONS OF THE YEAR

     The inventor of a device that helps stabilize NASA spacecraft 
has been selected to receive the NASA Government Inventor of the 
Year Award.  The NASA selection committee also chose a high 
temperature resin material to receive the NASA Commercial 
Invention of the Year.

     Inventor Charles E. Clagett, a Goddard Space Flight Center, 
Greenbelt, MD, employee and Associate Head of the Component and 
Hardware Systems Branch at Goddard, received the honor for the 
"Apparatus for Providing Torque and for Storing Momentum Energy."  

     "Being selected the NASA government inventor of the year is 
really a surprise, an honor, and quite a shock," said Clagett.  "I 
appreciate the fact that I have been recognized for my invention."

     Commonly known as the SMEX Reaction/Momentum Wheel, the 
device was developed for NASA's Small Explorer program (SMEX).  A 
compact mechanism was needed that could accelerate at a high rate 
with little vibration to fulfill the missions' science 
requirements.   The wheel's compact design is durable with at 
least a four-year life expectancy while providing improved 
performance and better stability for a spacecraft, and 
significantly reducing vibration.  

     This reaction wheel invention has been highly successful on 
the last two Small Explorer missions, the Transition Region and 
Coronal Explorer and the Submillimeter Wave Astronomy Satellite.  
The high acceleration rate and low vibration device allows 
detection of signals that would have been obscured by previous 
reaction wheels, thus enabling Goddard to support missions that 
previous technology could not support. 

     NASA's Commercial Invention of the Year goes to Langley 
Research Center's nominated PETI-5, short for "Phenylethynyl 
Terminated Imide Oligomers," fifth composition.  This material can 
be used both as a glue that holds fibers together and as an 
adhesive in a variety of aerospace and commercial applications.  
Langley inventors Paul Hergenrother, Joseph Smith and Brian Jensen 
were awarded three patents on the novel material.

     PETI-5 was originally developed for high-speed, high-
temperature aircraft applications because it is strong and 
lightweight.  Its exceptional combination of properties has 
attracted the interest of U.S. industry.  PETI-5 products are now 
commercially available and have resulted in about $10 million in 
sales.

     To date, NASA has licensed PETI-5 technology to four 
companies.  Designers and manufacturers like PETI-5 because it is 
easy to process into complex parts and because of its mechanical 
properties, durability, non-toxicity and ability to adjust to 
changing environments.  In the future, PETI-5 may be applied to 
consumer products like high-performance automobile engines.

     The inventors will be honored at a NASA Headquarters ceremony 
where they will receive an award check and certificate.

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