Announcements of Opportunity
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SURF@JPL: Announcements of Opportunity
Announcements of Opportunity are posted by JPL technical staff for the SURF@JPL program. Each AO indicates whether or not it is open to non-Caltech students. If an AO is NOT open to non-Caltech students, please DO NOT contact the mentor.
Announcements of Opportunity are posted as they are received. Please check back regularly for new AO submissions!
**Students applying for JPL projects should complete a SURF@JPL application instead of a "regular" SURF application.
**Students pursuing opportunities at JPL must be U.S. citizens or U.S. permanent residents.
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| Project: |
Electric thruster system diagnostics and development
(JPL AO No. 14073)
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| Disciplines: | Aerospace Engineering, Physics/Applied Physics | ||||||||
| Mentor: |
Lee Johnson,
(JPL),
Lee.K.Johnson@jpl.nasa.gov, |
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| Background: | Electric propulsion is one of the baselined enabling technologies for upcoming New Frontiers, Discovery, and Flagship mission studies. Several research efforts to model and experimentally characterize the ionized plasma plume from ion and Hall effect thrusters are underway at JPL. Some of these studies involve optical methods; others involve direct sampling and analysis of the plume ions, neutral atoms, and/or electrons to determine parameters associated with the physics of the plume and engineering of the associated thruster and spacecraft system. | ||||||||
| Description: | A summer position is available to work with the JPL Advanced Propulsion Group, along with associated NASA and university researchers. Ion and Hall effect electric thrusters are typically used to provide propellant-efficient in-space propulsion, both for earth-orbiting and deep-space missions. The student will design experiments, develop specialized implementations of thrusters and diagnostics, perform analysis, operate thrusters and instruments, and compare results to other available information, utilizing thrusters operating in JPL and/or other national facilities. | ||||||||
| References: | See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electrically_powered_spacecraft_propulsion | ||||||||
| Student Requirements: | This opportunity is open to U.S. citizens. The laboratory work environment may contain one or more environments (vacuum, cryogens, lasers, etc.) requiring appropriate safety training. Sophomore level or greater science and engineering curriculum. Some experience with electrical circuits, mechanical fabrication, and computer programming is helpful. | ||||||||
| Location / Safety: | Project building and/or room locations: . Student will need special safety training: . | ||||||||
| Programs: |
This AO can be done under the following programs:
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