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Dr. Ioannis (Yiangos) Mikellides

Senior Research Scientist and Principal Engineer

About

Bio

Dr. Ioannis (Yiangos) G. Mikellides is a Senior Research Scientist and Principal Engineer at the NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory. He received his Ph.D. degree in Aeronautical and Astronautical Engineering from The Ohio State University with concentration in plasma propulsion and computational magnetohydrodynamics. In over three decades his theoretical investigations of applied plasma physics, supported by extensive numerical simulation, have spanned applications as diverse as extreme-pressure (>1000 atm) discharge chambers and hypersonic nozzles, ablative thrusters, magnetic nozzles in fusion propulsion, magnetohydrodynamic shocks, rarefied electric propulsion plumes and X-ray-radiating astrophysical plasmas. Since joining JPL in 2003 he has developed OrCa2D and Hall2De, two novel scientific plasma codes that have been supporting NASA’s space flight qualification of hollow cathodes and Hall thrusters for years; Hall2De has also been licensed to various institutions of government, academia and the private sector nationwide. His theoretical work has led to breakthroughs in electric propulsion; among others, he predicted the growth of ion acoustic turbulence in cathode discharges, confirmed by experiment years later, and developed the first principles of magnetic shielding in Hall thrusters. In the last decade Dr. Mikellides’ work has expanded beyond applied plasma physics to diverse areas in fluid mechanics. He has held leading technical roles in various Mars flight programs on problems involving particle-laden flows over rovers and ascending rockets in the Martian atmosphere. He has published more than 60 refereed articles in aerospace engineering, applied physics, planetary/space sciences and astrophysics journals, and co-authored the 2023 book “Fundamentals of Electric Propulsion”. He is also a Fellow of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA) and the recipient of multiple honors that include the NASA Exceptional Engineering Achievement Medal and the JPL Lew Allen and Edward Stone Awards.

Education

  • Ph.D. -- 1999; Aeronautical and Astronautical Engineering, Ohio State University
  • M.S. -- 1995; Aeronautical and Astronautical Engineering, Ohio State University
  • B.S. -- 1992; Aeronautical and Astronautical Engineering, Ohio State University

Research Interests

Theory and numerical simulation of ionized gases, computational magnetohydrodynamics, plasma-material interactions in electric propulsion, advanced space propulsion, fluid mechanics and aerosols in planetary atmospheres, particle adhesion and re-suspension physics.

Experience

Professional Experience

Employment

  • 2003 – pres.:  Research Technologist, Jet Propulsion Laboratory
  • 2000 - 2003:  Senior Scientist, Science Applications International Corporation
  • 1999 - 2000: Postdoctoral Researcher, Ohio State University

Selected Professional Society Affiliations

  • American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA), Fellow
  • Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE), Senior Member
  • American Physical Society (APS), Member
  • Electric Rocket Propulsion Society (ERPS), Member

Refereed Journal Service

  • Frontiers in Space Technologies, Chief Editor for Space Propulsion Specialty (2021-2024.)
  • Plasma, Board Member (2018-pres)
  • Frontiers in Physics, Board Member (2018-pres.)
  • Journal of Applied Physics, Special Issue Guest Editor (2021)
  • Article reviewer for > 20 different international journals

Achievements

Awards & Recognitions

  • JPL Award | Mars Sample Return Team Award (2023)
  • JPL Voyager Award | Mars Sample Return Mission (2023)
  • Senior Research Scientist (2022)
  • NASA Award | Mars 2020 Contamination Control | Group Achievement Award (2022)
  • Professional Society and External Organization Awards | American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA) | Fellowship (2021)
  • NASA Award | Electric Propulsion | Group Achievement Award (2019)
  • JPL Voyager Award | Mars 2020 Mission (2019)
  • JPL Voyager Award | Mars 2020 Mission (2018)
  • JPL Award | Mars 2020 Sample Cleanliness Technical Leadership Team Award (2017)
  • NASA Award | Electric propulsion | Space Technology Team Award, Space Technology Mission Directorate (STMD) (2017)
  • Paper Award | AIAA Award for Best Conference Paper in Electric Propulsion (2016)
  • JPL Award | Mars 2020 Planetary Protection and Contamination Control Definition Team Award (2016)
  • Professional Society and External Organization Awards | Ohio State University | Rudolph Edse Award in Space Engineering (2016)
  • NASA Award | Electric propulsion | Glenn Research Center Steven V. Szabo Engineering Excellence Team and Group Achievement Awards (2015)
  • The Edward Stone Award for Outstanding Research Publication | Magnetic Shielding of Walls from the Unmagnetized Ion Beam in a Hall Thruster (2014)
  • Professional Society and External Organization Awards | AIAA Electric Propulsion Outstanding Technical Achievement Award | Electric Propulsion Magnetic Shielding (2014)
  • JPL Principal Designation | 353B Electric Propulsion (2013)
  • Paper Award | AIAA Award for Best Conference Paper in Electric Propulsion (2013)
  • Paper Award | AIAA Award for Best Conference Paper in Electric Propulsion (2012)
  • NASA Award | Electric Propulsion Magnetic Shielding | Exceptional Engineering Achievement Medal (2011)
  • NASA Award | Electric Propulsion | Inventions and Contributions Board Award (2011)
  • Paper Award | AIAA Award for Best Conference Paper in Electric Propulsion (2010)
  • NASA Award | Electric Propulsion | Technology Brief and Inventions and Contributions Board Awards (2010)
  • Paper Award | Electric Rocket Propulsion Society Award for Best Conference Paper in Electric Propulsion (2009)
  • Paper Award | AIAA Award for Best Conference Paper in Electric Propulsion (2009)
  • JPL Mariner Award | Technical Excellence in Electric Propulsion (2009)
  • The Lew Allen Award for Excellence | Theory and numerical simulation of plasmas in electric propuslion (2008)
  • Paper Award | AIAA Award for Best Conference Paper in Electric Propulsion (2007)
  • Paper Award | AIAA Award for Best Conference Paper in Electric Propulsion (2005)

Publications

Book Authorship and Contributions

  1. Goebel, D. M., Katz, I., and Mikellides, I. G., Fundamentals of Electric Propulsion. John Wiley & Sons (560 pages), 2023.
  2. Goebel, D. M. and Katz, I., Fundamentals of Electric Propulsion: Ion and Hall Thrusters, John Wiley & Sons (526 pages), 2008.
  3. Turchi, P. J., Mikellides, I. G., Mikellides, P. G., and Kamhawi, H., "Pulsed Plasma Thrusters for Microsatellite Propulsion: Techniques for Optimization," Micropropulsion for Small Spacecraft, edited by M. M. Micci and A. D. Ketsdever, Progress in Astronautics and Aeronautics, AIAA, New York, September 2000, pp. 353-368

Refereed Journal Articles (selected from > 60 articles)

  1. Mikellides, I. G., Lopez Ortega, A., and Chaplin, V., "Theory of the Anomalous Momentum Exchange from Wave-particle Interactions in Hall-effect Ion Accelerators and Comparisons with Measurements," Physics of Fluids, Vol. 36, No. 7 (2024).
  2. Mikellides, I. G., and Lopez Ortega, A., "Growth of the Lower Hybrid Drift Instability in the Plume of a Magnetically Shielded Hall Thruster," Journal of Applied Physics, Special Issue on the “Physics of Electric Propulsion” Vol. 129, No. 19 (2021).
  3. Goebel, D. M., Becatti, G., Mikellides, I. G., and Lopez Ortega, A., "Perspectives on Plasma Hollow Cathodes," Journal of Applied Physics, Vol. 130, No. 5 (2021).
  4. Mikellides, I. G., and Lopez Ortega, A., "Growth of the Modified Two-stream Instability in the Plume of a Magnetically Shielded Hall Thruster," Physics of Plasmas, Vol. 27, No. 10 (2020).
  5. Mikellides, I. G., Lopez Ortega, A., Goebel, D. M., and Becatti, G., "Dynamics of a Hollow Cathode Discharge in the Frequency Range of 1-500 kHz," Plasma Sources Science and Technology, Vol. 29, No. 3 (2020).
  6. Lev, D. R., Mikellides, I. G., Pedrini, D., Goebel, D. M., Jorns, B. A., and McDonald, M. S., "Recent Progress in Research and Development of Hollow Cathodes for Electric Propulsion," Reviews of Modern Plasma Physics, Topical Collection on Recent Progress in Physics of Plasma-Based Space Propulsion, Vol. 3, No. 6 (2019).
  7. Mikellides, I. G., Shah, P., Robinson, A., Strimbu, Z., Stricker, M., Bernard, D. E., and Steltzner, A. D., "Modelling and Simulations of Particle Resuspension and Transport for the Assessment of Terrestrial-Borne Biological Contamination of the Samples on the Mars 2020 Mission," Planetary and Space Sciences, Vol. 181, 104792 (2020).
  8. Mikellides, I. G., Chen, N. C., Liao, S., Droz, E. A., Strimbu, Z., Stricker, M., Chen, F., Babu Malli Mohana, G., Anderson, M. S., Mennella, J., Bernard, D. E., and Steltzner, A. D., "Experiments in Particle Resuspension and Transport for the Assessment of Terrestrial-Borne Biological Contamination of the Samples on the Mars 2020 Mission," Planetary and Space Sciences, Vol. 181, 104793 (2020).
  9. Banfield, C.D., Rodriguez-Manfredi, J.A., Russell, C., Rowe, K.M., Leneman, D., Lai, H., Cruce, P.R., Means, J.D., Johnson, C., Joy, S., Chi, P., Mikellides, I. G., Carpenter, S., Navarro, S., Sebastian, E., Gomez-Elvira, J., Torres, J., Hurst, K., Smrekar, S., and Banerdt, W.B., "InSight Auxiliary Payload Sensor Suite (APSS)," Space Science Reviews, (Invited article for Special Issue on Space Instruments), Vol. 215, No. 1 (2019).
  10. Mikellides, I. G. and Lopez Ortega, A., "Challenges in the Development and Verification of First-principles Models of the Anomalous Transport in Hall-effect Thrusters," Plasma Sources Science and Technology (Invited article for Special Issue on Space Propulsion), Vol. 28, No. 1 (2019).
  11. Mikellides, I. G., and Lopez Ortega, A., "2-D (r-z) Numerical Simulations of the Plasma and Channel Erosion in a 100-kW Class Nested Hall Thruster," Plasma Sources Science and Technology, Vol 27, No. 7 (2018).
  12. Mikellides, I. G., Steltzner, A. D., Blakkolb, B. K., Matthews, R. C., Kipp, K. A., Bernard, D. E., Stricker, M., Benardini, J. N., Shah, P., Robinson, A., "The Viscous Fluid Mechanical Particle Barrier for the Prevention of Sample Contamination on the Mars 2020 Mission," Planetary and Space Sciences, Vol. 142, pp. 53-68 (2017).
  13. Mikellides, I. G., Goebel, D. M., Jorns, B. A., Polk, J. E., and Guerrero, P. "Numerical Simulations of the Partially-ionized Gas in a 100-A LaB6 Hollow Cathode," IEEE Transactions on Plasma Science, Special Issue on Plasma Propulsion, Vol. 43, No. 1 (2015).
  14. Jorns, B. A., Mikellides, I. G., and Goebel, D. M., "Ion Acoustic Turbulence in a 100-A LaB6 Hollow Cathode," Physical Review E, Vol. 90, 063106 (2014).
  15. Mikellides, I. G., Hofer, R. R., Katz, I., and Goebel, D. M., "Magnetic Shielding of Hall Thrusters at High Discharge Voltages," Journal of Applied Physics, Vol. 116, No. 5 (2014).
  16. Mikellides, I. G., Katz, I., Hofer, R. R., and Goebel, D. M., "Magnetic Shielding of a Laboratory Hall Thruster. I. Theory and Validation," Journal of Applied Physics, Vol. 115, No. 4 (2014).
  17. Mikellides, I. G., Katz, I., Hofer, R. R., and Goebel, D. M., "Magnetic Shielding of Walls from the Unmagnetized Ion Beam in a Hall Thruster," Applied Physics Letters, Vol. 102, No. 2 (2013).
  18. Mikellides, I. G., and Katz, I., "Simulation of Hall-effect Plasma Accelerators on a Magnetic-field-aligned Mesh," Physical Review E, Vol. 86, No. 4 (2012).
  19. Mikellides, I. G., Katz, I., Hofer, R. R., and Goebel, D. M., de Grys, K., and Mathers, A., "Magnetic Shielding of the Channel Walls in a Hall Plasma Accelerator," Physics of Plasmas, Vol. 18, No. 3 (2011).  [Highlighted in the March 2011 edition of “Physics Today” by the American Institute of Physics]
  20. Mikellides, I. G., Tassis, K., and Yorke, H. W., "2-D Magnetohydrodynamic Simulations of Induced Plasma Dynamics in the Near-Core Region of a Galaxy Cluster," Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, Vol. 410, No. 4 (2011).
  21. Katz, I., and Mikellides, I. G., "Neutral Gas Free Molecular Flow Algorithm Including Ionization and Walls for Use in Plasma Simulations," Journal of Computational Physics, Vol. 230, No. 4 (2011).
  22. Mikellides, I. G., "Effects of Viscosity in a Partially-Ionized Channel Flow with Thermionic Emission," Physics of Plasmas, Vol. 16, No. 1 (2009).
  23. Mikellides, I. G., and Katz, I., "Wear Mechanisms in Electron Sources for Ion Propulsion, I: Neutralizer Hollow Cathode," Journal of Propulsion and Power, Vol. 24, No. 4 (2008).
  24. Mikellides, I. G., Katz, I., Goebel, D. M., Jameson, K. K., and Polk, J. E., "Wear Mechanisms in Electron Sources for Ion Propulsion, II: Discharge Hollow Cathode," Journal of Propulsion and Power, Vol. 24, No. 4 (2008).
  25. Mikellides, I. G., Katz, I., Goebel, D. M., and Jameson, K. K., "Evidence of Non-classical Plasma Transport in Hollow Cathodes for Electric Propulsion," Journal of Applied Physics, Vol. 101, No. 6 (2007).
  26. Mikellides, I. G., Katz, I., Goebel, D. M., and Polk, J. E., "Hollow Cathode Theory and Experiment, II. A Two-Dimensional Theoretical Model of the Emitter Region," Journal of Applied Physics, Vol. 98, No. 11 (2005).
  27. Mikellides, I. G., Jongeward, G. A., Schneider, T., Peterson, T., Kerslake, T. W., and Snyder, D., "Solar Arrays for Direct-Drive Electric Propulsion: Electron Collection at High Voltages," Journal of Spacecraft and Rockets, Vol. 42, No. 3 (2005).
  28. Mikellides, I. G., Katz, I., Kuharski, R. A., and Mandell, M. J., "Elastic Scattering of Ions in Electrostatic Thruster Plumes," Journal of Propulsion and Power, Vol. 21, No. 1 (2005).
  29. Mikellides, I. G., Jongeward, G. A., Katz, I., and Manzella, D. M., "Plume Modeling of Stationary Plasma Thrusters and Interactions with the Express-A Spacecraft," Journal of Spacecraft and Rockets, Vol. 39, No. 6 (2002).
  30. Mikellides, I. G., Mikellides, P. G., Turchi, P. J., and York, T. M., "Design of a Fusion Propulsion System, Part 2: Numerical Simulation of Magnetic-Nozzle Flows," Journal of Propulsion and Power, Vol. 18, No. 1 (2002).

Conference Proceedings (selected from > 125 articles)

  1. Mikellides, I. G., Katz, I., Hofer, R., and Goebel, D. M., "Design of a Laboratory Hall Thruster with Magnetically Shielded Channel Walls, Phase III: Comparison of Theory with Experiment," AIAA Paper 12-3789, 48th AIAA/ASME/SAE/ASEE Joint Propulsion Conference, Atlanta, GA, July 2012. [Awarded Best Paper in Electric Propulsion by the AIAA]
  2. Mikellides, I. G., Katz, I., Hofer, R., and Goebel, D. M., "Hall-Effect Thruster Simulations with 2-D Electron Transport and Hydrodynamic Ions," IEPC Paper 09-114, 31st International Electric Propulsion Conference, Ann Arbor, MI, September 2009. [Awarded Best Paper in Electric Propulsion by the Electric Rocket Propulsion Society (ERPS)]
  3. Mikellides, I. G., and Katz, I., "The Partially-ionized Gas and Associated Wear in Electron Sources for Ion Propulsion, I: Neutralizer Cathode," AIAA Paper 07-5168, 43rd AIAA/ASME/SAE/ASEE Joint Propulsion Conference, Cincinnati, OH, July 2007. [Awarded Best Paper in Electric Propulsion by the AIAA]
  4. Mikellides, I. G., Katz, I., Goebel, D. M., and Polk, J. E., "Theoretical Model of a Hollow Cathode Plasma for the Assessment of Insert and Keeper Lifetimes," AIAA Paper 05-4234, 41st AIAA/ASME/SAE/ASEE Joint Propulsion Conference, Tucson, AZ, July 2005. [Awarded Best Paper in Electric Propulsion by the AIAA]

New Technology Reports (NTR) and Patents

  1. NTR 50319 - HallPlume2D: A Numerical Code for Modeling of Plasma Plumes Generated by Hall Thrusters, 2016.
  2. US-Patent-9874202 - Metallic Wall Hall Thrusters, 2018.
  3. NTR 48483 - Metallic Wall Hall Thrusters, 2011.
  4. NTR 47388 - Breakthrough Hall Thruster Technology with Extremely Long Service Life for High-Throughput JPL/NASA Missions, 2009.
  5. NTR 47387 - 2-D Computational Model of Hall-Effect Accelerators with a Magnetic-Field-Adapted Mesh for the Design of Long-Life Thrusters, 2009.
  6. NTR 46513 - Hybrid-PIC Computer Simulation of the Plasma and Erosion Processes in Hall Thrusters, 2008.
  7. NTR 43584 - Two-dimensional Model of the Emitter Region Using the Orificed Hollow Cathode Code (OrCa2D-I), 2006.
  8. NTR 43564 - Highly Efficient Hollow Cathode for Plasma and Electric Propulsion Applications, 2006.