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Benjamin Jorns

home_outline/People/Faculty/Core Faculty/Benjamin Jorns

Associate Professor

Contact

bjorns@umich.edu(734) 764-8224

Location

3037 François-Xavier Bagnoud Aerospace Building
1320 Beal Avenue Ann Arbor, MI 48109-2140

Primary Website

http://pepl.engin.umich.edu/

  • Education
  • Professional Services
  • Research Interests
  • Biography
  • Awards
  • Related Links
  • Related News Stories

Education

B.S. Physics, Yale University, 2007
M.A. Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, Princeton University, 2009
Ph.D. Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, Princeton University, 2012
Society Memberships

Research Interests

Electric propulsion systems; high-power Hall thrusters; turbulence and nonlinear process in low temperature plasmas; optically-based plasma diagnostics;  coherent, low-frequency plasma structures; magnetic detachment; micropropulsion; breakthrough forms of space propulsion.

Professional Service

  • American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics, Senior Member, 2009-Present
  • American Physical Society, Member, 2016-Present
  • Institute for Electrical and Electronics Engineers, Member, 2018-Present
  • AIAA Electric Propulsion Technical Committee, Member, 2015-Present
  • Electric Propulsion Rocket Society, Member, 2010-Present
  • Michigan Institute for Plasma and Science Engineering, Member, Executive Committee, 2017-Present

Biography

Dr. Benjamin Jorns is an assistant professor in the Department of Aerospace Engineering at the University of Michigan and co-director of the Plasmadynamics and Electric Propulsion Laboratory (PEPL). Prior to joining PEPL, Dr. Jorns was a member of the electric propulsion group at the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in Pasadena, California where his work combined experimental and analytical techniques to investigate propulsion systems for the next generation of NASA robotic missions. Dr. Jorns also held a lecturer appointment in the Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering Department at UCLA from 2013-2015. His primary research interests include wear mechanisms and stability in electric propulsion systems, turbulence and nonlinear processes in low-temperature plasmas, developing new plasma diagnostics, and investigating breakthrough forms of in-space propulsion. He has experience with several commercial and government-build plasma propulsion systems including high-current hollow cathodes, 1-10 kW class Hall thrusters, and low-TRL electrodeless thruster concepts. His work with electric propulsion technology has centered on developing first-principles understanding of their operating principles as well as implementing time-resolved and laser-based diagnostics to characterize behavior.

Awards

  • AIAA Lawrence Sperry Award, 2021
  • Air Force Office of Scientific Research Young Investigator Program award, 2018-Present
  • Best Paper, Electric Propulsion Category, AIAA Propulsion and Energy Forum, 2017, 2019
  • Featured Article, Physics of Plasmas, 2020
  • Editor’s Pick, Physics of Plasmas, 2014, 2018
  • NASA Team Achievement Award for 12.5 kW Hall Thruster Development, 2018
  • NASA JPL Voyager Award, 2015
  • NASA Group Achievement Award, 2015
  • NASA JPL Team Award, 2015
  • NASA JPL Discovery Award, 2014
  • NASA JPL Mariner Award, 2013

Related Links

  • Publications
  • University of Michigan Plasmadynamics & Electric Propulsion Laboratory

Related News Stories

Plasma thrusters used on satellites could be much more powerful

It was believed that running more propellant through a Hall thruster would wreck its efficiency, but new experiments suggest they might power a crewed mission to Mars.

device in aerospace lab

University of Michigan’s Plasmadynamics and Electric Propulsion Laboratory and NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory share 2022 AIAA Electric Propulsion Best Paper Award

The lab has won this award five times in the last six years

Benjamin Jorns Receives Department of Energy Early Career Research Award

Jorns awarded 5 years of funding for advanced plasma research

Jorns’ predictive Hall thruster model research receives Best Paper award

The data-driven approach to developing better predictive models will result in faster and higher-fidelity engineering models for advanced rocket propulsion systems.

Apollo 15 at 50: A celebration of the all-Michigan crew’s mission and the future of space exploration

July 30 virtual event highlights future lunar and deep space missions, the technologies to get there, and U-M’s research contributions to space exploration.


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