Sigrid Elschot

Sigrid Elschot is a Professor of Aeronautics and Astronautics and founding director of the Space Environment and Satellite Systems laboratory. Her research focuses on understanding and mitigating the space environment to enable more resilient spacecraft for interplanetary and interstellar exploration. Her work includes space weather detection and modeling, which is central to Space Situational Awareness (SSA) and Space Domain Awareness (SDA), achieved by integrating in situ and remote sensing data with high fidelity simulations to characterize space hazards. Current efforts include experimental and computational studies of hypervelocity dust and debris impacts on spacecraft using dust accelerators, light-gas guns, and Particle-In-Cell simulations, and ground-based radar to remotely characterize space debris and meteoroid populations. Prof. Elschot also leads research programs in hypersonic plasma physics relevant to atmospheric re-entry vehicles, and space energy harvesting for spacecraft power and propulsion. Prof. Elschot has been the recipient of several awards, including the Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers (PECASE), NSF CAREER award, DoE CAREER award, Outstanding Mentor Award and Outstanding Professor in Aeronautics and Astronautics.