Awards
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 February 2024:
- 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."
- 18 AIAA Electric Propulsion Best Paper Awards since 1992
- 4 International Electric Propulsion Conference “Best Paper” awards since 1993
- AIAA Electric Propulsion Outstanding Technical Achievement Award
- 2009: Dr. John Brophy for outstanding leadership and technical contributions in the implementation of ion propulsion systems on NASA explorations missions
- 2014: I.G. Mikellides, I. Katz, R. R Hofer, D. M. Goebel for the identification, development, and demonstration of Magnetic Shielding in Hall Thrusters
- 2017: V. Hruby, D. Spence, N. Demmons, T. Roy, E. Ehrbar, J. Zwahlen, R. Martin, J. Ziemer, T. Randolph, S. Rhodes, W. Connolly, W. Tolman for successful flight demonstration of a micro-Newton colloid electrospray propulsion system on the LISA Pathfinder spacecraft
- 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
- 2nd book on EP in 15 years: D.M. Goebel, I. Katz, and I.G. Mikellides, Fundamentals of Electric Propulsion; Ion and Hall Thrusters, John Wiley & Sons, NY, 2nd edition, 2023
- 192 articles in peer-reviewed journals (1987-2022) and over 685 conference paper publications (1985-2022)
- National Academy of Engineering – John Brophy and Dan Goebel
- AIAA Fellows – John Brophy, Dan Goebel, Richard Hofer, Ioannis Mikellides, and James Polk
- IEEE Fellow – Dan Goebel
- APS Fellow – Dan Goebel
- National Academy of Inventors – Dan Goebel
- JPL Fellows – John Brophy and Dan Goebel
- JPL Senior Research Scientists – Dan Goebel and Ioannis Mikellides
- JPL Principal Engineers – John Brophy, Dan Goebel, Richard Hofer, Ira Katz, Ioannis Mikellides, James Polk, Steve Snyder, and John Ziemer
- NASA Exceptional Engineering Achievement Medal – John Brophy, Charles Garner, Dan Goebel, Richard Hofer, Ira Katz, Ioannis Mikellides
- NASA Exceptional Technology Achievement Medal – James Polk
- NASA Early Career Achievement Medal – Alejandro Lopez Ortega
- JPL Lew Allen Awards for Technical Excellence – Richard Hofer, Ioannis Mikellides, Juergen Mueller
- JPL Charles Elachi Award – Vernon Chaplin
- JPL Edward C. Stone Award for Outstanding Research Publication – Ioannis Mikellides
- AIAA Wyld Propulsion Award – John Brophy
- Electric Rocket Propulsion Society’s Ernst Stuhlinger Medal for Outstanding Achievement in Electric Propulsion – John Brophy, Dan Goebel
- AIAA Pickering Lecture – John Brophy (2019)
- AIAA Space Systems Award – Deep Space 1 (2002) and Dawn (2018)
- National Air and Space Museum Trophy for Current Achievement – Dawn (2014)
- John L. "Jack" Swigert, Jr., Award for Space Exploration – Dawn (2019)
- SpaceOps Award for Outstanding Achievement – Dawn (2021)
AIAA 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 AIAA conferences. The award is 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 |
2016-4839 | echanisms for Pole Piece Erosion in a 6-kW Magnetically-Shielded Hall Thruster Mechanisms for Pole Piece Erosion in a 6-kW Magnetically-Shielded Hall Thruster | B. Jorns, C. Dodson, J. Anderson, D. Goebel, R. Hofer, M. Sekerak, A. Lopez Ortega, I. Mikellides |
2018-4643 | In-Flight Verification and Validation of Colloid Microthruster Performance | John Ziemer, Colleen Marrese-Reading, Curt Cutler, Charles Dunn, Andrew Romero-Wolf,Shahram Javidnia, Thanh Le, Irena Li, Phil Barela, Nathaniel Demmons, Vlad Hruby, Jacob Slutsky, James Ira Thorpe, Peiman Maghami, Oscar Hsu, and James O’Donnell |
2019-3809 | High Power Demonstration of a 100 kW Nested Hall Thruster System | Sarah Shark, Scott Hall, Benjamin Jorns, Richard Hofer and Dan Goebel |
2022-1561 | Experimental Characterization of Wave-Induced Azimuthal Ion Velocities in a Hollow Cathode Plume | Parker Roberts, Benjamin Jorns, Vernon Chaplin |
International Electric Propulsion Conference Best Paper Award
The Electric Rocket Propulsion Society (ERPS) organizes the International Electric Propulsion Conference (IEPC) every two years. After the conference, ERPS selects a Best Paper. The award is selected after a peer-review and voting process from members of the ERPS. Below are citations from papers with JPL authors that have received this award.
| Paper No. | Title | Authors |
|---|---|---|
1995-179 | A 5730-Hr Cyclic Endurance Test of the SPT-100 | C. Garner, J. Brophy, J. Polk |
2001-075 | Demonstration of the NSTAR Ion Propulsion System on the Deep Space One Mission | J. Polk, Y. Kakuda, D. Brinza, I. Katz, J. Anderson, J. Brophy, V. Rawlin, M. Patterson, J. Sovey, J. Hamley |
2009-114 | Hall Effect Thruster Simulations with 2-D Electron Transport and Hydrodynamic Ions | Mikellides, I. Katz, R. Hofer, and D. Goebel |
2019-772 | Uncertainty Quantification of Modeled Electron Backstreaming Failure for the NEXT Ion Thruster | J. Yim, G. Williams, R. Shastry, G. Soulas, V. Chaplin, and J. Polk |
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