Hybrid Rocket Propulsion Design Handbook

Dr. Ashley Chandler Karp is the Mars Launch System Manager for the Sample Retrieval Lander at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory. Dr. Karp has designed and built multiple hybrid rocket test facilities. She was the Principal Investigator for the Hybrid Propulsion Test Facility, where she designed, built and tested hybrid rocket motors for Mars In Situ Resource Utilization (ISRU) and interplanetary CubeSats/SmallSats (6U+). Dr. Karp led a hybrid technology development program for a potential Mars Ascent Vehicle from a clean sheet design using a new propellant combination, through subscale and full scale testing, towards technology infusion. As a technologist and propulsion engineer at JPL, she worked on a low-cost ventilator, lead the technology development for pyrotechnic paint for planetary protection, contributed to the ballute inflation aide for the Low Density Supersonic Decelerator. She was also the cognizant engineer for multiple propulsion components on the Mars 2020 cruise and descent stage propulsion systems. Dr. Karp earned an M.S. and Ph.D. in Aeronautics and Astronautics from Stanford University, where she specialized in hybrid rocket propulsion. While at Stanford, she designed, built and operated a test facility to visualize hybrid rocket combustion (slab burner). She completed her bachelor’s degree at the University of California, Berkeley, with a triple major in Astrophysics, Physics and Political Science. She is a former Chair of the AIAA Hybrid Rocket Propulsion Technical Committee. Dr. Elizabeth Jens is a Propulsion and Systems Engineer at the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory in California. She is currently the Assistant Product Delivery Manager for the propulsion subsystem of the Sample Retrieval Lander. She is also active in technology development for hybrid rocket propulsion systems and was the cognizant engineer for the gas Dust Removal Tool on the turret of the Perseverance Rover. Dr. Jens has conducted over 70 successful hybrid rocket hot fire tests and has conducted a variety of propulsion system trades for a range of space missions. Dr. Jens was recognized as a Global Australian Award Game Changer in 2022, a Vogue Game Changer in 2018 and as one of Australia’s Most Innovative Engineers of 2017 as Determined by Engineers Australia. She has twice been an Amelia Earhart Fellow (2012 and 2014), was a Rotary Ambassadorial Scholar (2010) and the Australian Fulbright Scholar in Science and Engineering (2010). Dr. Jens received a Ph.D. in Aeronautics and Astronautics from Stanford University in 2016. She received a bachelor of science in physics and a bachelor of mechanical engineering from the University of Melbourne, Australia in 2008. She was the former chair of the ASME Propulsion Technical Committee and is a current member of the ASME Aerospace Division Executive Committee, the Propulsion Technical Committee of the IAF, and the Hybrid Rocket Technical Committee of AIAA