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.
Benjamin Jorns
Plasma thrusters used on satellites could be much more powerful
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.
Testing advanced space engines here on Earth
U-M is a member of a new $15M institute to improve physics-based modeling of advanced thrusters for human space exploration.
Michigan on team selected for $15M NASA institute to investigate testing of advanced propulsion concepts
The NASA Space Technology Mission Directorate has selected the Joint Advanced Propulsion Institute (JANUS) to explore high power electric propulsion systems for human exploration. Michigan Aerospace alumnus Mitchell Walker of the Georgia Institute of Technology will be the principal investigator and director. U-M Assistant Professor Benjamin Jorns will serve as co-director.
Congratulations to Michigan Aerospace Assistant Professor Benjamin Jorns on receiving the AIAA Lawrence Sperry Award
The American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA) has awarded U-M Aerospace Assistant Professor Benjamin Jorns with the prestigious Lawrence Sperry Award at the 2021 AIAA Aerospace Spotlight Awards Gala
To the Moon and beyond: How University of Michigan Aerospace Engineering is on the cutting edge of electric space propulsion
The University of Michigan Aerospace Engineering Department’s Plasmadynamics and Electric Propulsion Laboratory (PEPL) is developing the next-generation of Hall thruster technology that may one day propel the first human missions to Mars.
Aerospace Engineering Assistant Professor Benjamin Jorns is awarded AFOSR Young Investigator Program award for electric thruster research
Congratulations to Professor Jorns, awardee of the AFOSR Young Investigator Program award
Current and Future Aerospace Engineering students receive prestigious fellowships
Congratulations to Leanne Su, Angela Kimber, Christopher Sercel, LoriAnn Groo, and Iman Javaheri for receiving prestigious NSF and NSTRF fellowships
