Founded in August 2018, the Advanced Spacecraft Propulsion and Energy
(ASPEN) Laboratory at USC started as the nation’s only student-led research group
focused on modeling nuclear-based spacecraft propulsion systems. Initially comprised of eight undergraduate students, the team has grown to include various undergraduates from across engineering disciplines. We are a multi-disciplinary and driven team with a shared passion for advanced propulsion concepts. In the fall of 2022 ASPEN expanded and, under the advisement of Dr. Lubos Brieda, began working on the Asteria Thruster and concluded previous research in nuclear propulsion (the Hyperion-I Campaign). This project focuses on producing a solid-fuel adamantane thruster to be fitted on a satellite design, Asteria marked ASPEN's move from nuclear to electrical propulsion.  At the moment, Fall 2025, ASPEN is working on developing a Hall-effect Thruster,  an ion thruster in which the propellant is accelerated by an electric field.