Surface Power
NASA needs power systems which can survive the lunar night and enable exploration. The over-arching goal of the surface power focus group is to provide specific recommendations to NASA for rapidly achieving appropriate-scale power-related technologies needed to enable sustained presence and exploration. Succinctly, to enable the right power in the right place at the right time.
APL Facilitators
Wes Fuhrman
Power Focus Area Lead
Dr. Wesley Fuhrman is an early-career APL scientist passionate about the interface between public and private science, with active research in remote sensing and materials by design. Wesley earned his PhD from The Johns Hopkins University focused on advanced spectroscopy of correlated topological materials, involving techniques such as elastic and inelastic neutron scattering, neutron spin echo, prompt-gamma activation analysis, X-ray absorption spectroscopy, X-ray magnetic circular dichroism, etc. Following this, he was an inaugural Schmidt Science Fellow, a program in partnership with the Rhodes Trust which builds interdisciplinary skills that cross boundaries between academia, industry, and government. Materials expertise spans synthesis (including uranium chemistry), characterization, spectroscopy, and theory of strongly correlated and topological materials.
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Jodi Berdis
Dr. Jodi Berdis recently joined the APL team after completing her PhD in Astronomy from New Mexico State University, where she focused on the composition of Europa’s surface. Her research consisted of laboratory-, ground-, and space-based spectroscopic observations, including remote sensing, as well as modeling efforts to constrain the water ice crystallinity of Europa’s surface. She is also particularly interested in equity, diversity, and inclusion initiatives that focus on increasing opportunities and scientific contributions from groups with underrepresented or non-traditional backgrounds, and looks forward to pursuing these ideals within the LSIC Surface Power community.
Samantha Andrade
Samantha Andrade
Samantha Andrade is an engineer at Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory. She earned a B.S. in Electrical Engineering from Yale University and is pursuing an M.S. in Applied and Computational Mathematics at the Johns Hopkins Whiting School of Engineering. During her time at APL she has been involved in efforts that include statistical classification, RF digital signal processing, mission and engagement level analysis, model development for space weather infrastructure and requirement verification for the Io Volcano Observer, a proposed low-cost, outer-planet mission to explore Jupiter's moon Io. She has a particular interest in astrophysics, and has conducted previous research in exoplanet detection and RF instrumentation. She is looking forward to exploring another aspect of space exploration through the surface power focus area and to contributing to the effort with the breadth of exposure she has acquired.
James Mastandrea
Dr. James P. Mastandrea is a Senior Professional Staff member at the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory’s Space Exploration Sector. He has a BS in Mechanical Engineering and Materials Science & Engineering, and an MS and PhD in Materials Science & Engineering all from the University of California, Berkeley. He has experience in computational materials science, nucleation, growth, and microstructural evolution of materials, and understanding material performance with an emphasis on semiconductors and metals. He also serves on the project management team of a NASA Heliophysics’ study on an Interstellar Probe, a mission concept that would explore our habitable astrosphere and our local interstellar medium.