The Martin Warren Chapter recently honored Compatriot Gregory Finch for his presentation on Space Age Renaissance Man, a book detailing the incredible life of his father, NASA pioneer Dr. Harold Finch.
Rising from a Great Depression childhood to become a key NASA project director, Dr. Finch famously invented the Apollo missions’ “barbeque roll” (Passive Thermal Control) system. The engineering idea struck him while watching meat rotate at a Kansas City Gates Bar-B-Q. By spinning the spacecraft slowly, the system perfectly balanced deep-space temperatures so astronauts wouldn’t freeze or fry. Decades later, this exact thermal principle is still keeping rockets safe at companies like SpaceX.
By rotating the spacecraft at a slow, constant rate, the system prevented astronauts from either freezing or frying in the radical thermal extremes of open space. This thermal control principle was so effective that it is still utilized by aerospace companies like SpaceX today.
Release courtesy of Martin Warren Chapter, SAR.
