Bryan Palaszewski

NASA Glenn Research Center
Cleveland, Ohio
Turbomachinery and Propulsion Systems Division

Who I am ...

I am Bryan Palaszewski, and I have worked at the NASA Glenn Research Center at Lewis Field since 1989. I am currently directing experimental and analytical research on high performance propellants, such as gelled fuels and high energy density materials. I recently completed experiments in solid hydrogen particles, which can be used to store atoms of boron, carbon, and hydrogen for super advanced rocket fuel.

For three years, I led the Accident Mitigation aspects of the NASA/Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) Aviation Safety Program, investigating ways of making aircraft and their fuels safer. I recently led the NASA Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) special topic named "Fuels and Space Propellants for Reusable Launch Vehicles." This topic was directed toward making and commercializing safer, denser propellants that provide higher rocket specific impulse (or exhaust velocity). The higher the exhaust velocity, the better the rocket can perform. After we make the fuels, we do very cool (but really quite hot!) rocket engine testing too.

Where I came from ...

Since the age of five years, I have loved the idea of being in and exploring outer space. It is where all of the action of the future will be for Humankind.

I grew up in Brooklyn, New York, and lived there through completion of my college work, receiving a Bachelors Degree in Mechanical Engineering from the City College of New York in June 1981.

I hold a Master of Science Degree in Mechanical Engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology; my Master's thesis dealt with low Reynolds Number flow in the human eye and its link to glaucoma.

How I got to NASA Glenn and how my career developed ...

After completing my Masters Degree, I worked for six years at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California, where I led many studies of advanced space systems for orbital and interplanetary travel. I was the lead propulsion subsystem engineer on the Ocean Topography Experiment (TOPEX) for three years. And I have been involved in other flight projects, such as the Galileo Mission to Jupiter and the Cassini Mission to Saturn.

I very much enjoy the history of spaceflight, backpacking, hot-air ballooning, skydiving, photography, creative writing, science fiction, model building, and model rocketry.

I am currently a part-time ground crew member for hot-air balloon pilots in Northeast Ohio.

I am a very active member of NASA Glenn's Speakers Bureau, making over 40 public presentations per year to schools and other organizations in a six-state area.

I have had an active Astronaut Application with NASA for 14 years.