Jesse Buffington
Johnson Space Center, University of Arkansas at Fayetteville
Papers
5
Total Citations
20
H-Index
3
About
Jesse Buffington is a robotics and space systems engineer whose work has directly supported the safety and scientific capability of human spaceflight. His primary research focuses on external leak detection for crewed spacecraft and the development of robotic sample collection technologies for planetary exploration. Buffington’s most significant contribution is his leadership in demonstrating a robotic external leak locator on the International Space Station (ISS), a critical tool for identifying hazardous ammonia or gas leaks from the station’s thermal control systems. This work, published in 2018, has been cited 7 times and represents a practical, high-impact solution to a known risk for the ISS and future spacecraft. Earlier, he conducted foundational analytical and experimental studies (2014, 6 citations) to characterize the ISS external environment and refine leak location methods. Buffington also contributed to sample return mission technology, studying how temperature and impact forces affect collected mass for robotic missions to small airless bodies like asteroids. His work on the TGIP sample collector for the HERA mission (2005, 2 citations) and related survivability studies (2007) helped address the high-cost, high-risk challenges of returning extraterrestrial samples. Through these efforts, Buffington has advanced both the safety of orbital infrastructure and the tools needed for future sample return science.
Research Focus
Key Achievements
Top Papers
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