Electric Propulsion at JPL

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Awards & Honors

JPL is recognized by NASA, the AIAA, and the electric propulsion community for its sustained excellence in electric propulsion technology development and implementation. As of March 2016:

2015 Collier Trophy, (press release) for NASA's Dawn mission - “In recognition of the extraordinary achievements of orbiting and exploring protoplanet Vesta and dwarf planet Ceres, and advancing the nation’s technological capabilities in pioneering new frontiers in space travel."
Five NASA Exceptional Engineering Achievement Medals in electric propulsion (since 2008)
9 out of 10 AIAA Joint Propulsion Conference Awards for “Best Paper in Electric Propulsion” over 2004-2014
3 out of 9 International Electric Propulsion Conference “Best Paper” awards since 1993
2014 AIAA Electric Propulsion Outstanding Technical Achievement Award
2009 AIAA Electric Propulsion Outstanding Technical Achievement Award
1st book on EP in 40 years: D.M. Goebel and I. Katz, Fundamentals of Electric Propulsion; Ion and Hall Thrusters, John Wiley & Sons, NY, 2008
75 articles in peer-reviewed journals and over 200 conference paper publications (since 2000)
One National Academy of Engineering Fellow
One JPL Fellow
One IEEE Fellowand APS Fellow
Two AIAA Fellows and three AIAA Associate Fellows in electric propulsion
3 JPL Lew Allen Awards for Technical Excellence (since 2001)

AIAA Joint Propulsion Conference Best Paper Award in Electric Propulsion

Each year the AIAA Electric Propulsion Technical Committee (EPTC) selects a technical paper for "Best Paper in Electric Propulsion" from those presented at the annual Joint Propulsion Conference. The award is typically selected after a peer-review and voting process from members of the EPTC. Below are citations from papers with JPL authors that have received this award.

Paper No.	Title	Authors
1992-3155	Performance of the Stationary Plasma Thruster: SPT-100	J.R. Brophy J.W. Bamett J.M. Sankovic D.A. Bamhart
1995-2662	Carbon-Carbon Ion Engine Grids with Non-Circular Apertures	J.R. Brophy, J. Mueller, D.K. Brown
1997-3387	The Effect of Engine Wear on Performance in the NSTAR 8000 Hour Ion Endurance Test	J.E. Polk, J.R. Anderson, J.R. Brophy V.K. Rawlin, M.J. Patterson, J.S. Sovey
1999-2446	An Overview of the Results from an 8200 Hour Wear Test of the NSTAR Ion Thruster	J.E. Polk, J.R. Anderson, J.R. Brophy V.K. Rawlin, M.J Patterson, J.A. Hamley, J.S. Sovey
2000-3748	Evaluation of Proportional Flow Control Valves for Potential Use in Electric Propulsion Feed Systems	R. Shotwell G.W. Butler D. Bushway, D. Perini S. Gross, R. Kelly
2004-3608	An Overview of the Results From the 30,000 Hour Life Test of Deep Space 1 Flight Spare Engine	A. Sengupta, J.R. Brophy, J.R. Anderson, C.E. Garner K.K. de Groh, T. Karniotis, B.A. Banks
2005-4234	Theoretical Model of a Hollow Cathode Plasma for the Assessment of Insert and Keeper Lifetimes	I.G. Mikellides, I. Katz, D.M. Goebel, J.E. Polk
2007-5168	The Partially-Ionized Gas and Associated Wear in Electron Sources for Ion Propulsion I: Neutralizer Hollow Cathode	I.G. Mikellides, I. Katz
2008-4824	ST7-DRS Colloid Thruster System Development and Performance Summary	V. Hruby, D. Spence, N. Demmons, T. Roy E. Ehrbar, J. Zwahlen, R. Martin J. Ziemer, T. Randolph W. Connolly S. Rhodes W. Tolman
2009-5197	Barium Depletion in Hollow Cathode Emitters	J.E. Polk, I.G. Mikellides, A.M. Capece, I. Katz
2010-6702	Barium Depletion in the NSTAR Discharge Cathode After 30,472 Hours of Operation	J.E. Polk, A.M., Capece, I.G. Mikellides, I. Katz
2011-5661	In-Flight Operation of the Dawn Ion Propulsion System Through Orbit Capture at Vesta	Garner, C.E., Rayman, M.D., Brophy, J.R., Mikes, S.C.
2012-3789	Design of a Laboratory Hall Thruster with Magnetically Shielded Channel Walls, Phase III: Comparison of Theory with Experiment	I.G. Mikellides, I. Katz, R.R. Hofer, D.M. Goebel
2013-4117	Conducting Wall Hall Thrusters	D.M. Goebel, R. Hofer, I.G. Mikellides, I. Katz, J. Polk, B. Dotson