Seminar 12th February 2013 2 p.m. Building 34, Room 4005
Ion thruster development for the Bepi Colombo Mission
Dr. Angelo Grubisic
QinetiQ's Space Division
- Web page
- http://www.yatedo.com/p/Dr.+Angelo+Grubisic/normal/7c493cd0531436a2d656be67e2cff264
- Categories
- Complex Systems
- Submitter
- Luke Goater
Dr Angelo Grubisic
Abstract
In 2008, QinetiQ’s Space Division in Farnborough was awarded the contract to provide the advanced propulsion system to propel the ESA (European Space Agency) Bepi Colombo mission to Mercury. With a total mission cost of circa £1.1billion, the UK now finds itself at the centre of one of the most ambitious missions ever undertaken by ESA. Bepi Colombo will launch in 2015, arriving at Mercury in 2021 and will be carrying an advanced payload to help us understand of the origins of the solar system. Dr. Angelo Grubisic, a Southampton University PhD graduate, is part of the QinetiQ team developing the most advanced twin ion thruster system ever flown in space and is primarily charged with leading the full system coupling tests of the SEPS (solar electric propulsion system). In this seminar, Dr. Grubisic will describe the nature of spacecraft electric propulsion with a focus on application. He will cover the QinetiQ T5 and T6 ion thrusters and their role in the Bepi Colombo and GOCE missions, as well as some of the more hands on engineering approaches to developing and testing such large and complex system architectures.
Dr. Angelo Grubisic’s Bio
Dr. Angelo Grubisic first encountered electric propulsion in 2004 during a Master of Science at the International Space University in Strasbourg, after which he worked with NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California, investigating the life limiting failure mechanisms of the NASA NSTAR ion thrusters. He spent a year at SSTL as a researcher, completed his PhD at the University of Southampton in 2009, and then collaborated again with NASA JPL during a post doc on micro thrusters. In 2010, Dr. Grubisic became a consultant for QinetiQ Space Division on the Bepi Colombo program and is now lead test engineer for the assembly, integration and verification of the complete coupled SEPS system. In 2009 he was a candidate in the European Astronaut Selection program and has also conducted zero gravity parabolic flight experiments for the European Space Agency. Dr. Grubisic also enjoys skydiving and entrepreneurial business development.