Eric Stackpole

Work

Engineering and design have been my passion since childhood. I have bachelor's and master's degrees in Mechanical Engineering with a focus in mechatronics, and I have worked on designs spanning from deorbiting mechanisms on NASA spacecraft to instruments used to explore below the ice in Antarctica and alongside crewed deep-sea submersibles. Most of my best work has come from out-of-the-box thinking based on a first principle design philosophy. I specialize in very early stage concept development, prototyping and early field testing, but I also have experience moving products all the way into mass-production.

Descriptions for each project appear below the photo. On larger screens, hover or focus the image to read on the photo.

Underwater ROV with yellow tether hovering over a coral reef and tropical fish in clear blue water.

Trident

Trident and its predecessor, the 2-series OpenROV kit, were designed to make underwater exploration accessible to everyone. Operators could remotely control the vehicles down to 100 m and get live video at the surface. A number of novel design choices brought the cost under $1,000, while most systems in the industry were closer to $100,000. More than 5,000 OpenROV kits and vehicles were shipped worldwide.
A long cylindrical under-ice instrument illuminated beneath an ice ceiling in dark blue water.

SCINI + FATTI

SCINI (Submersible Capable of Under Ice Navigation and Imaging) is a tube-shaped ROV designed to fit through boreholes drilled in the Antarctic ice sheet to explore under-ice ecology. I designed the body of FATTI (Fluorometer and Acoustic Transducer Towable Instrument), which was towed behind SCINI and carried sensors to measure the presence and distribution of organisms beneath the Ross Ice Shelf. I also served as a pilot for this system during a three-month expedition to Antarctica based out of McMurdo Station in 2012–2013.
Rendered OOREOS CubeSat with gold chassis, solar panels, and a deployed white mesh deorbit mechanism.

O/OREOS Spacecraft

While at NASA Ames Research Center, I designed the Passive Aerodynamic Deorbiting Mechanism for the O/OREOS satellite, launched in 2010. The device was just 8 mm thick when stowed, then deployed to increase surface area by 60%, increasing drag in Low Earth Orbit and shortening orbital lifetime to meet NASA-STD-8719.14 debris mitigation requirements.
Laptop showing code in the foreground with a lit submersible suspended in deep blue water in the background.

Deep Sea R&D

My work in ocean exploration often focuses on the deep sea. I've developed practical ways to design, test, and build systems that survive extreme pressure, all the way to full ocean depth (11 km). Much of this work centers on modular, low-cost approaches that make deep-sea tools more accessible.

Examples:

Using shear thickening materials to waterproof electronics

Bristlemouth connectivity standard

Top-down view of a hybrid rocket motor test firing, with a bright vertical flame framed by two light vertical panels and a ruler along the edge on a dark surface.

Hardware Store Hybrid Rocket Motor

I did this a long time ago, just out of high school, but it's still fun to show off.

I went through a phase of being very interested in rocket engine design, and with a group of friends, we challenged ourselves to design and test a series of hybrid rocket motors built entirely from parts we could get at our local hardware store. You can watch some of our testing progress here.

Two crew members in flight suits and helmets at an aircraft's open door over the ocean, one holding a yellow Sofar Spotter buoy in a box for deployment.

Air Droppable Weather Buoys

While at Sofar Ocean Technologies, I developed several systems for air-deploying ocean sensors, including a simple, low-cost descent system for the Sofar Spotter Buoy (shown), as well as a more sophisticated custom system that sank to the ocean floor after deployment to measure hurricane storm surge with a pressure sensor. It then released from its anchor, returned to the surface, and relayed data via satellite.

This “Submersible Spotter” system was developed from initial concept to multiple successful aircraft-dropped field deployments in less than 18 months.

Selected experience

  • National Geographic OceanXplorers. On-screen and engineering
  • Co-founder, Sofar Ocean. Global ocean sensing systems
  • Co-founder, OpenROV. Low-cost underwater robots used worldwide
  • Pilot and engineer, SCINI under-ice ROV submarine, Antarctic deployment
  • NASA. Spacecraft mechanism design
  • Bachelor's and master's degrees in Mechanical Engineering
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