Tom Perrin leads Development of critical, groundbreaking ISCPT Document

Tom Perrin poses with his presentation.

ESSCA’s Tom Perrin recently led the development of a new NASA document — CFM-DOC-008: Guidelines for In-Space Cryogenic Propellant Transfer (ISCPT).

Tom is a Risk Manager for the Cryogenic Fluid Management Portfolio Project Office (CFMPP) at the Marshall Space Flight Center.  The CFMPP was chartered in 2021 to manage all the cryogenic fluid management (CFM) research for NASA.

In 2023, Tom discovered that MSFC should have written a document on cryocoupler development as a task under a contract with SpaceX, but the document was never written.  (Cryocouplers are flow mechanisms designed for operation at cryogenic temperatures and consist of a male and female half.  When joined, cryocouplers allow for the safe transfer of propellant or oxidizer from one tank to another.)

Tom persuaded the Project Manager to let him lead an effort to write the document.  The Project Manager later expanded the scope of the document to include settled and unsettled propellant transfer.  Propellant transfer is an important subject.  In 2024, NASA ranked cryogenic propellant transfer # 21 out of 187 technology shortfalls within the agency, and in-space cryogenic propellant transfer is critical to the success of the Artemis Program.  The concepts of operation (conops) for both the SpaceX Starship and the Blue Origin Blue Moon human lander systems require the transfer of cryogenic propellants in space.

Tom recruited a small team of NASA engineers to help write the document.  He acted as part author, coach, and “book boss.”  It took his team nearly 15 months to complete the 42-page document.  Over 340 comments were received from inside and outside NASA during document reviews.

CFM-DOC-008: Guidelines for In-Space Cryogenic Propellant Transfer (ISCPT) was baselined in January 2025 and is intended for use in the early phases of conops development.  No other document like it exists, and it represents the CFMPP taking a leadership role in this critical area.

In May 2025, Tom made a presentation on the document at the 31^st Space Cryogenics Workshop at Lake Tahoe, NV, and in July 2025, he presented at the 2025 AIAA ASCEND conference in Los Vegas, NV.