Gopika Mukundan

Background

Gopika holds a bachelor's degree in Aeronautical Engineering from the University of Kerala, India. She underwent a year of apprenticeship trainee program in VSSC, Indian Space Research Centre (ISRO). Gopika moved to Scotland, United Kingdom, to pursue her master's in Aerospace Engineering from the University of Glasgow. After completing her master's, she started her PhD at Cranfield University, specializing in electric propulsion for Nanosatellites.

Current activities

Gopika is currently working on electrospray thrusters for space propulsion. Arranging an array of emitters while taking capillary effect, material study, and physical design parameters into account in order to enhance the emission. Her primary research focuses on the nanofabrication of the inner fed emitter and integrating it into a compact system. Moreover, researching the geometry and manufacturing factors to optimize the thruster performance.