Goals
The Surface Power FA will enable the development and maturation of technologies to supply continuous power for lunar surface missions in the near-term and in pursuit of an eventual lunar power grid. Our efforts will focus on the phased, system-level understanding needed to arrive at the capabilities identified by Moon to Mars as well as supporting the growing power demands for commercial partners.
To work towards this, we examine the intrinsic power capacities that need development as well as connect power experts to their potential user base. This approach enables us to identify near-term needs for immediate prioritization, and long-term goals that impact early investment decisions.
Activities
- Monthly meetings featuring a variety of styles (discussions, guest speakers, etc.)
- 1-day virtual workshop with panel discussions, breakout rooms and networking sessions
Reference Information
Samantha Andrade
Samantha Andrade
LSIC Power Lead
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.
Matt Clement
Matt Clement is a planetary scientist and former US nuclear submarine officer. Prior to joining APL, he was a postdoc at the Carnegie Institution for Science Earth and Planets Laboratory (EPL) using numerical modeling tools to study the formation of the solar system. In particular, his work focused on the formation of the four terrestrial planets, and applied many geophysical and cosmochemical constraints derived from the Apollo samples. Prior to graduate school, he was stationed on the fast attack submarine USS TOPEKA (SSN-754); serving first as the ship's Chemistry and Radiological Controls Officer, and later as the Assistant Engineer. He was also a qualified Navy Scuba Diver and served as the ship's Diving Division Officer. Within the surface power focus group, Matt’s primary interest is in nuclear technologies. He received his Ph.D. and M.S. in Astrophysics from the University of Oklahoma, and his B.S. in Physics from the U.S. Naval Academy.
Joseph Kozak
Joseph P. Kozak received the B.S. degree in engineering physics and the M.S. degree in electrical engineering from the University of Pittsburgh, respectively, and the Ph.D. degree in electrical engineering from the Center for Power Electronic Systems (CPES), Virginia Tech. Since then, he has been a senior electrical engineer at the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory (JHU-APL) in the spacecraft power engineering group. He is currently working on the NASA Dragonfly program as a member of the rotor drive electronics team, and supports the LSII/LSIC Surface Power Focus Group. His current research interests include robustness, reliability, and physics of failure of new wide bandgap semiconductors, and their packaging and implementation into high-reliability, power electronic converters and systems.
James Mastandrea
James Mastandrea
Interoperability WG Lead
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.
Julie Peck
Julie Peck is an astrodynamicist with a particular interest in cislunar and deep space trajectory design. Julie earned her MS in Aerospace Engineering from the University of Maryland in 2017, after receiving BS degrees in Physics and Astronomy in 2015 (also from UMD). Prior to joining APL, she worked at a.i. solutions, Inc. as a NASA contractor on the MMS flight operations team as well as supporting the development and usage of the company’s astrodynamics software, FreeFlyer. She joined APL in January of 2022, where she now works with the LSII/LSIC team as a Surface Power Focus Group Facilitator as well as participating in several other projects across Civil and National Security Space programs.
Claire Trop
Claire Trop is a physicist with a background in atmospheric statistics and remote sensing. Claire earned her BS in Physics from Dartmouth College in 2021 and is currently pursuing a MS in Applied Physics from Johns Hopkins University. Claire joined APL in July of 2021 where she now works with the LSII/LSIC team on the Surface Power and In-Situ Resource Utilization Focus Groups. Additionally, Claire is working on projects relating to the Civil and National Security Space as well as Air and Missile Defense programs.
Sean Young
Sean Young
LSII Power Systems Integration Lead
Sean A. Q. Young received the B.S. degrees in aerospace engineering and physics from The University of Texas at Austin, and the M.S. and Ph.D. degree from the Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics, Stanford University. His graduate research in the Space Environment and Satellite Systems Laboratory was funded by a NASA Space Technology Research Fellowship and concerned the interaction of the space plasmas and micrometeoroids with spacecraft and methods for using those interactions to power spacecraft systems. His research interests include spacecraft charging, hypervelocity impacts of micrometeoroids on spacecraft, and space weather. He is currently a member of the Senior Professional Staff at the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory where, in addition to his role on the LSII/LSIC Surface Power team works on a variety of projects in the Civil Space and National Security Space mission areas.