Project:	Simulating Molecular and Particulate Transport in Spacecraft Environments (JPL AO No. 15163)
Disciplines:	Aerospace Engineering, Mathematical Modeling
Mentor:	William Hoey, (JPL), william.a.hoey@jpl.nasa.gov, Phone: (818) 354-9986
Background:	Contamination Control is a critical discipline for space missions: molecular and particulate contamination can affect the performance of both spacecraft systems and science instrumentation. Missions attempting to detect organics and life signatures - like NASA's recently-launched Mars 2020 Perseverance Rover or its upcoming Europa Clipper - require particularly stringent levels of contamination control in support of their science objectives. Solving such challenges requires the development and use of complex, predictive mathematical models that combine theory with experimentally-collected data. Such challenges pose questions of mass transport that may be treated with continuum fluid dynamic methods (like CFD), rarefied gas dynamic methods (like DSMC), or various free-molecular methods (like ray-tracing or view factor schemes).
Description:	JPL Contamination Control develops and deploys a variety of computational physics codes to simulate physical transport processes of gas and particles in vacuum and in atmospheres. In 2024, JPL CC has several opportunities available for a skilled intern to apply and develop these codes. Examples of past internship projects in this vein include: the development of direct simulation Monte Carlo algorithms in application to thruster plume flows; the use of computational fluid dynamics (CFD) techniques in simulating rocket fairing depressurization during launch; the application of optimization and machine learning algorithms to synthesize large, experimentally-derived datasets of spacecraft hardware and materials outgassing properties; and the improvement of algorithms for numerically integrating view factors.
References:	https://doi.org/10.1088/1757-899X/1287/1/012002 ; https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2568127 ; https://doi.org/10.1109/AERO47225.2020.9172679 ; https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/missions/europa-clipper/ ; https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/missions/mars-sample-return-msr
Student Requirements:	A science or engineering major is ideal, with relevant coursework in chemistry and mathematical modeling preferred. All projects will require some experience with scripting in either MATLAB or Python. An intern may need to learn a scientific programming language, and learn to use a command-line interface to access high-performance computing resources.
Location / Safety:	Project building and/or room locations: . Student will need special safety training: .
Programs:	This AO can be done under the following programs:   Program    Available To        SURF@JPL    both Caltech and non-Caltech students  Click on a program name for program info and application requirements.