Jeanne L. Crews and Burton G. Cour-Palais were granted U.S. Patent 4,903,900 for a flexible multi-layer hypervelocity impact shield to protect spacecraft from orbital debris.
On February 27, 1990, the United States Patent and Trademark Office granted U.S. Patent 4,903,900 to Jeanne L. Crews and her colleague Burton G. Cour-Palais for a "Multishock shield for space vehicles." The invention was the culmination of years of research conducted at NASA's Johnson Space Center hypervelocity impact laboratory, where Crews led a team investigating how to protect spacecraft from the increasing danger of orbital debris and micrometeoroids.
The multishock shield improved upon the earlier Whipple bumper concept by using multiple thin layers of lightweight material spaced apart from the spacecraft hull. When a fast-moving particle of debris struck the outer layer, it would shatter and disperse into a cloud of fragments, which the subsequent layers would then absorb and dissipate before they could breach the main structure. This design offered dramatically better protection per unit of mass than a single thick shield, a critical consideration for the weight-constrained environment of spaceflight.
The technology proved foundational: it was later adapted and used to shield the International Space Station from the ever-growing population of human-made orbital debris and natural micrometeoroids. As a woman engineer working in a highly technical, male-dominated field of aerospace materials science in the 1980s, Crews's patented innovation represents both a significant scientific achievement and a milestone for women inventors at NASA, ensuring the long-term safety of astronauts and spacecraft in low Earth orbit.