Orbiting spacecraft need to be able to control their orientation relative to the earth for mapping of natural resources and relative to a star to give a stable background for astronomical measurements. Cold gas thrusters expand gas through a nozzle to accelerate it in a controlled fashion since the thrust is a force proportional to the velocity times the gas usage. A plasma can be used to increase the velocity of the propellant thereby saving the gas usage. Projects are available on different types of thrusters from palm sized nano-satellites ranging up to bar fridge sized mini-satellites. The research can be purely physics ranging through to mainly engineering.

A background in Physics or Engineering is desirable.