Yvonne Brill
Yvonne Brill was a revolutionary innovator in rocket propulsion. Her most important contributions are advancements in rocket propulsion systems for geosynchronous communications satellites, including the hydrazine/hydrazine resistojet propulsion system, or the electrothermal hydrazine thruster (EHT). Her work has made possible greater efficiency in many of the rockets and commercial communication satellites used today.
Brill was born Yvonne Claeys in in 1924 in Winnipeg, Canada, where her parents had immigrated from Belgium. She became the first of her family to attend college when she enrolled at the University of Manitoba. Though she had wanted to study engineering, at the time, the university did not permit women to enroll in this field. Undeterred, Brill instead studied mathematics, earning her bachelor’s degree as she graduated at the top of her class in 1945.
Following her graduation, Brill accepted a position at Douglas Aircraft Co. in California, where she began to pursue rocket science – and during this time, it is believed she was the only woman in the U.S. working as a rocket scientist. As she grew particularly interested in rocket propulsion, Brill took graduate classes in her free time, eventually earning her master’s degree in chemistry from the University of Southern California in 1951.
Over the course of her career, Brill’s pioneering studies would shape industry performance standards for rocket propellants and advance understanding of the high-temperature properties of rocket exhaust gas.
In 1966, Brill was hired as a senior engineer in propulsion systems at RCA Astro Electronics, where she would make many important advances. In addition to working on the propulsion systems for Nova, a series of rockets used in the Apollo moon missions, Brill invented a new rocket engine – the EHT.
Widely regarded as her most influential technical achievement, Brill’s EHT, which electrically heats the rocket fuel hydrazine, reduced the amount of propellant previously needed to keep a satellite in orbit. The result was a 30% increase in efficiency and better overall performance. It also allowed spacecraft to carry more equipment, making it easier to stay in space for longer periods and to send data back to Earth.
Early on, Brill saw the importance of the EHT for the then-fledgling communications satellite industry. Her innovations became industry standards, and companies like RCA and Orbital Sciences Corp. used EHTs on their communications satellites.
In 1981, Brill parted ways with RCA to serve as a director of the Space Shuttle Solid Rocket Program at NASA headquarters. Two years later, she returned to RCA and remained there until 1986, when she accepted a position at the International Maritime Satellite Organization in London as a space segment engineer.
After retiring in 1991, Brill served as a consultant and a member of numerous U.S. National Research Council committees, providing policy advice regarding science and technology to government agencies. When she served on the NASA Aerospace Safety Advisory Panel from 1994 until 2001, she contributed to many technical and programmatic changes that enhanced orbiter safety. Also a member of the Society of Women Engineers (SWE), Brill was passionate about encouraging more women and girls to pursue science and engineering.
For her trailblazing contributions to rocket science, Brill received many awards, including SWE’s Achievement Award in 1986; the SWE Resnik Challenger Medal in 1993; the NASA Distinguished Public Service Medal in 2001; the AIAA Wyld Award and the IEEE Judith A. Resnik Award in 2002; the AAES John Fritz Medal in 2009 and the National Medal of Technology and Innovation in 2010.