Electric Propulsion Group

 

 

 

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Manuel Gamero-Castaño
Assistant Professor
Mechanical & Aerospace Engineering


S4232 Engineering Gateway
University of California Irvine
Irvine, CA 92697-3975


Phone: (949) 824-6597
Fax: (949) 824-8585
E-Mail: mgameroc@uci.edu

Education
  • Ph.D. & M.S. Mechanical Engineering Department, Yale University, 1999.
          Dissertation: The transfer of ions and charged nanoparticles from solution to the gas phase in electrosprays.
          Advisor:     Prof. Juan Fernández de la Mora.
  • B.S. Chemical Engineering, Escuela Superior de Ingenieros, Universidad de Sevilla, Spain, 1995.

Honors
  • S. K. Friedlander Award for an outstanding Ph.D. Dissertation, American Association for Aerosol Research, 2001.

Research
  • Colloid thrusters, an electric micropropulsion technology:
          Primary and secondary propulsion for nanosatellites: attitude control, orbit maintenance and insertion.
          Precision formation flying: Laser Intereferometer Space Antenna (LISA), Disturbance Reduction System
          (DRS-ST7), nanosats?
  • Other areas of interest in electric propulsion: hollow cathodes, low power Hall thrusters.
  • Fundamental research on the electrohydrodynamic atomization of liquids (electrosprays).
  • Fundamental research on nanoparticles: ion induced nucleation, cluster ion beams, generation and characterization of nanoparticles.

Representative Publications
  • Characterization of the Electrosprays of 1-Ethyl-3-Methylimidazolium Bis(Trifluoromethylsulfonyl) Imide in Vacuum, M. Gamero-Castaño, Physics of Fluids 20, 032103 (2008). Also in The Virtual Journal of Nanoscale Science & Technology, Vol. 17, Issue 15 (2008). Link to pdf copy
  • Characterization of a six emitter colloid thruster using a torsional balance, M. Gamero-Castaño, Journal of Propulsion and Power, 20, 736-741 (2004).
  • Electric-field-induced ion evaporation from dielectric liquid, M. Gamero-Castaño Physical Review Letters, 89, 147602 (2002). Link to pdf copy
  • Electrospray as a source of nanoparticles for efficient colloid thrusters, M. Gamero-Castaño & V. Hruby, Journal of Propulsion and Power, 17, 977-987 (2001).
  • Mechanisms of electrospray ionization of singly and multiply charged salt clusters, M. Gamero-Castaño & J. Fernández de la Mora, Analytica Chimica Acta, 406, 76-91 (2000).