Boeing engineer Kevin Cannon awarded US patent for methods and apparatus to measure mass in low gravity environments. Specialising as a mass property engineer, Cannon has developed a method for weighing waste in space.

To maintain the exact speed and trajectory every calculation must be precise, with an accuracy of 0.04% regarding mass. When waste produced by astronauts is jettisoned it creates slight changes in the mass of the vessel. This causes the amount of fuel required for acceleration or deceleration to change.

The ability to measure a bag of rubbish on earth is aided by gravity, removing this from the equation adds difficulty to making small measurements such as this. In response, Cannon developed a method and complimentary, portable device to measure the mass of smaller objects that changes over time or are the composite of smaller items.

Cannon’s inertial mass measurement apparatus induces a change in momentum between the measurement device and the item being measured via electromotive force. The relative velocities of both device and item are established from a combination of inertial measurements. Finally, the mass of the item can be discovered using these relative velocities and the mass of the measurement device.

This system has been awarded U.S. Patent: 10, 989, 585.