Plasma Engineering for Space Environment Testing and In-Space Propulsion

BIOGRAPHY

Dr. Bilén has over three decades of experience designing, building, and fielding innovative systems for harsh and demanding environments – from space to the Arctic.  He employs a systems design approach to ensure mission success, translating early stage needs into verified requirements and validated deployed systems.  Since 2000, Dr. Bilén has been on faculty at Penn State, where he is professor of engineering design, electrical engineering, and aerospace engineering, reflecting his belief that innovation happens at the interfaces of disciplines.  Employing his broad skill set, Dr. Bilén has built satellites and satellite systems; wireless sensor networks; cognitive and software-defined radio systems; high-power microwave delivery systems for space propulsion; and robotic concrete printing systems.  Dr. Bilén has a strong interest to see technologies he has worked on and advanced within a university research environment to get “into the wild”.  Bilén is a registered professional engineer in Pennsylvania.  He is a senior member of IEEE, associate fellow of AIAA, and member of AGU, ASEE, INCOSE, and Sigma Xi.

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ABSTRACT

Space represents an extreme environment for spacecraft materials and systems.  For example, in the low-Earth-orbit (LEO) space environment, materials and structures are exposed to high vacuum (10-4-10-5 Pa), thermal cycling (-75 to 150° C), ultraviolet light (100-200 nm), space radiation, potential surface impact from micrometeorites and orbital debris (MM/OD), and atomic oxygen (AO).  Materials showing promise for future use in space must be assessed and evaluated for their reaction to exposure to the space environment before being baselined for inclusion into critical space infrastructure.  The Space Propulsion and Environments Lab (SPEL) at Penn State performs ground-based testing of materials and systems under simulated space environmental conditions for space verification testing and iterative design processes for space-intended components and materials.  Research within SPEL related to in-space electric propulsion (EP) includes high power and low power microwave electrothermal thrusters (METs), beamed microwave EP, air-breathing microwave plasma thrusters, miniature rf ion thrusters, low power rf thrusters, and electron cyclotron neutralizers.