THE USC ADVANCED SPACECRAFT PROPULSION AND ENERGY LABORATORY

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 on top of our 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 THRUSTER

The Asteria Thruster is ASPEN's newest project, starting in 2022. The goal of this project is to produce a solid-fuel adamantane plasma thruster to be implemented on a satellite design. The overview of this project can be divided into four main stages of modeling and hardware testing . A small plasma thruster will be constructed and placed in a vacuum chamber to produce a plasma bloom. We hope to run a numerical study to increase the efficiency of the thruster, research the effectiveness of adamantane as a fuel source, and eventually produce a full-scale working propulsion device.

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March Update: AIAA Presentations!

This March 2025, USC ASPEN had the opportunity to share two presentations of our ongoing research at AIAA's Region VI Student Conference at UC Irvine! As part of our simulations team, Zolia Sarmiento and Haron Samhan presented "Optimizing Adamantane Plasma Thruster Efficiency via 2-D Simulations." Also, Nicholas Kiley, Jonathan Fisher, Marin Davis, and Brian Phu presented "Thrust Characterization and Plasma Diagnostics for an Adamantane Thruster" in a joint paper between the thrust stand and diagnostics teams.

This marks the first time ASPEN has submitted and presented two research papers at a conference, and demonstrates our continued refinement and development of our diagnostics, simulations, thrust stand, and testing team. Thank you to all our lab members and students who have helped us these past semesters and put in tireless hours of hard work.

Initial Testing & Stage 1 Thruster Design

Fall 2024

Direct Thrust Measurements & Final Thruster Design

Spring 2025

Multi-Thruster Design & Thrust Validation

Fall/Spring 2025/26

Satellite Design & Implementation

Spring/Fall 2026/27

Recent News

We were recently accepted to speak at the International Electric Propulsion Conference in Toulouse, France. You can view our submitted paper on the IEPC website and read our recent feature on the USC Viterbi Website!