Course Developer & Teacher

Tom Sarafin

Tom Sarafin is President, Chief Engineer, and founder of lnstar Engineering and Consulting, Inc. He has worked full time in the space industry since 1979. He worked over 13 years at Martin Marietta Astronautics, where he contributed to and led activities in structural analysis, design, and test, mostly for large spacecraft. Since founding lnstar in 1993, he's consulted for NASA, DOD Space Test Program, DigitalGlobe, Lockheed Martin, Space Systems/Loral, Spaceflight Industries, Planetary Systems Corp, and other organizations. He's helped the U. S. Air Force Academy design, develop, and test a series of small satellites and has been an advisor to DARPA. He was a key member of the team that developed NASA-STD-5020 for threaded fastening systems. He is the editor and principal author of the book Spacecraft Structures and Mechanisms: From Concept to Launch and is a contributing author to Space Mission Analysis and Design. Since 1995, he's taught over 250 courses to more than 5000 engineers and managers in the space industry.