Appeal No. 96-1999
Application 08/216,382
Independent claim 8 sets forth a method for impart-
ing velocity to a spacecraft comprising, inter alia, the steps
of firing a thruster, to thereby draw propellant from first
and
second propellant tanks; and only during the firing of the
thruster, controlling the flow of propellant from the tanks in
a manner which tends to move the actual center of mass of the
spacecraft relative to the thrust axis of the thruster.
Akin to the analysis in the brief (pages 3 through
6), our reading of the Hubert patent reveals to us that appel-
lant’s claimed spacecraft and method are not anticipated by
this document. Unlike the presently claimed invention, the
invention of the Hubert patent (Fig. 2) addresses a spacecraft
with spin
stabilization and balance (attitude) control by transferring
liquid fuel between containers (propellant tanks) in a direc-
tion tending to reduce spin imbalance (column 3, line 30,
through column 4, line 2). It is noted that, as expressed by
6
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