IEPC 2025
In September 2025, USC ASPEN had the opportunity to present two papers at the International Electric Propulsion Conference in London. Nicholas Kiley and Autumn Zaretsky, representing the experimental team, presented "Optimization of an Adamantane Thruster for CubeSat Deorbiting". In addition, Zolia Sarmiento and Emerson Lo from the simulations team presented "Adamantane Characterization Through Fragmentation Analysis for Plasma Propulsion Applications".
IEPC is the premier Electric Propulsion conference, and presenting there is a tremendous opportunity and advantage for the students. Congratulations to those students for presenting the continuous work and development done at ASPEN, and thank you to all the members that dedicated countless hours to the improvement of the Asteria project.
AIAA 2025
During 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.
