Current Graduate Research
External Plasma-Breathing Magnetohydrodynamic Propulsion
The hazard posed by space debris has the potential to severely dampen future
space prospects. Though mitigation strategies such as satellite deorbiting
and active debris removal exist, both are hindered by significant technical
and economic challenges, such as the need for high Delta-V budgets.
Atmosphere-breathing electric propulsion has gathered attention because of its
potential to avoid onboard propellant storage, but current implementations involve
major architectural modifications. In this context, an external magnetohydrodynamic
(MHD) propulsion system is proposed as a low-footprint alternative that avoids major
spacecraft redesigns by adopting an external patch configuration. Adopting a first-order
analysis scheme, the effective specific impulse (defined as impulse generated per unit
device mass) of the MHD conductive propulsion system is 4-10 km/s for mission durations
of 2-10 years and 10-20 km/s for mission durations of 25 years. Both active use of
conductive MHD propulsion and passive use as a magnetic sail are competitive against
current low-thrust propulsion technologies in the context of spacecraft deorbiting.
I enjoyed presenting my initial research on this topic at the 65th Annual Meeting of the American Physical Society Division
of Plasma Physics in Denver on October 31, 2023. That initial presentation can be found on my "Projects" page.
I enjoyed presenting a full paper on this research at the 2025 AIAA SciTech Forum in Orlando on January 9, 2025.
My conference paper and my recent presentation from the SciTech forum can be found on my "Projects" page.