NASA - National Aeronautics and Space Administration

Dr. James R. Beaty has worked as an aerospace engineer for over 34 years, most of those at the Rockwell International tactical missile facility in Columbus, Ohio and Duluth, Georgia, which developed and produced tactical missiles for the US Army and Air Force.  He has also worked as an independent consultant and subcontractor for aerospace vehicle design and analysis.  Since 2006, he has been employed as a civil servant in the Vehicle Analysis Branch of the Systems Analysis and Concepts Directorate at the NASA Langley Research Center (LaRC) in Hampton, VA.  His primary assignments at LaRC have included the Constellation Program Ares I-X flight test vehicle design, analysis and range safety flight clearance analyses, the NASA Engineering and Safety Center (NESC) Max Launch Abort System (MLAS) flight test vehicle system design trade studies and trajectory performance analysis, and system design trade studies for other launch vehicle concepts.

Dr. Beaty is a core member of the NESC flight mechanics technical discipline team, and has been part of the team since its inception in 2008.

Dr. Beaty’s specialties include flight mechanics, guidance, navigation & control, modeling & simulation, and trade study analysis of aerospace vehicle performance.  Dr Beaty received the Bachelor of Science and Master of Science degrees in Aerospace Engineering at Auburn University, and the Ph.D. degree in Engineering Mechanics at The Ohio State University.  Fields of study concentrated on flight mechanics and guidance and control of aerospace vehicles and for his Ph.D. research and dissertation, he conducted analysis of rotational motion anomalies of dual-spin satellites caused by slightly unbalanced and asymmetric rotors.