Professor Little’s research interests focus on understanding and developing novel electric propulsion concepts with applications in space exploration, telecommunications, and military and low-cost small satellites. Central to this focus are the low-temperature plasma physics that govern the performance of electric thrusters, particularly the role of collisions and plasma chemistry on the stability and transport properties of high-velocity plasma flows. His research methods emphasize a close relationship between reduced-order theoretical modeling and innovative experiment design to explore the fundamental scaling of dominant physics. The ultimate goal of his research is to improve the efficiency and capabilities of next-generation electric propulsion systems.
