John W Cole
John W. Cole | |
|---|---|
| Residence | Huntsville, AL, United States |
| Nationality | American |
| Alma mater | Auburn University |
| Scientific career | |
| Fields | Aerospace engineering, advanced propulsion |
| Institutions | NASA Marshall Space Flight Center |
John W. Cole is an American aerospace engineer and physicist who served as the Project Manager of the Advanced Propulsion Research (APR) Project office at NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama. Over a career spanning several decades at NASA, he worked on trajectory analysis, systems engineering, and a broad portfolio of advanced propulsion research before retiring in 2008.
Biography
Cole earned a Bachelor of Engineering Physics from Auburn University in 1962. He joined NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center, where he began his career performing trajectory analysis and navigation work in the Preliminary Design Office, including mathematical modeling of the Saturn ST-124 inertial guidance platform used on the Apollo missions.
He subsequently held a series of engineering and management positions at Marshall. He served as a branch manager in operations research supporting the Spacelab project and early space station concepts, and later as a Systems Engineering and Integration manager on the Space Station program, an assignment that included several tours at NASA Headquarters. He also served as Deputy Project Manager for the X-34 reusable launch vehicle technology demonstrator project.
Cole later became Project Manager of the Advanced Propulsion Research (APR) Project office at Marshall, a role in which he was responsible for planning and funding roughly 40 research projects each year across multiple NASA centers and partner organizations. He retired from NASA in 2008. Following his retirement he worked as a consultant with ALATEC on commercial orbital transportation and advanced propulsion assessment, and served as an advisor to the Kepler Aerospace team.
Work
As Project Manager of Marshall's Advanced Propulsion Research office, Cole oversaw a wide-ranging program of research into non-conventional and future propulsion technologies. Areas funded and coordinated under his direction included laser propulsion, magnetic launch assist, pulse detonation rocket engines, magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) bypass engines and thrusters, superconducting magnets for propulsion, the Variable Specific Impulse Magnetoplasma Rocket (VASIMR), nuclear propulsion concepts, fusion-based propulsion, and advanced fuel development. He has authored more than 20 technical papers over the course of his career.
Honors
- Associate Fellow, American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA)
- Member, National Space Society
- Fellow, National Speleological Society