Research
The space environment is a region that comprises the entire Solar System, but is most often defined as beginning at the lower boundary of the Earth’s ionosphere and ending at the Sun. This environment is composed of solid particles ranging in size from dust to asteroids, energetic particles such as electrons and ions, and electromagnetic radiation including x-rays and cosmic rays. Adding to this complexity is the diversity within the environment, with plasmas that span orders of magnitude in density and temperature.
Research Interests
Our research vision is to study the space environment with particular focus on the interaction of plasmas with spacecraft. Our goals are
- to understand and characterize the space environment, and
- to determine the effects of the space environment on spacecraft health and operations.
We aspire to develop mitigation strategies for long-term survivability in space that will allow for deep space exploration.
Current Research
Hypervelocity Impacts
What happens when micrometeoroids impact spacecraft at orbital speed?
Meteors
What can we learn about the space environment by observing meteors with high-powered radars?
Reentry
How can we use our understanding of plasma to solve communications blackouts during reentry?
Small Spacecraft
How can we use multiple small cubesats to do a better job than one larger monolithic spacecraft?
Trajectory Design
How can we take advantage of multi-body effects to find more efficient trajectories to deep space targets.
Energy Harvesting
How can we glean energy from the space environment when traditional power methods fail?
