Selected Publications
Plasma Physics and Chemistry
Kinetic modeling of nanosecond repetitively pulsed discharges in CO2: insights for reactor design
L. McKinney, T. Silva, V. Guerra, and C. Guerra-Garcia. Journal of Physics D: Applied Physics, 2026.
Experimental Investigation and Conceptual Design of a Plasma Reactor for In-Situ Oxygen Production on Mars
L. McKinney and C. Guerra-Garcia. ICES 2026.
Plasma-based CO₂ Conversion for Mars ISRU
L. McKinney. Master’s thesis, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 2024.
A Numerical Model for Plasma Reactor Design: Application to CO₂ Conversion for Mars ISRU
L. McKinney, T. Silva, V. Guerra, and C. Guerra-Garcia. AIAA SCITECH 2024.
Plasma Chemical Conversion and Resource Generation Beyond Low-Earth Orbit
L. McKinney, R. Pitts, K. Engeling, & C. Guerra-Garcia. International Astronautical Congress 2024.
In-situ resource utilization concepts
Human Exploration of the Moon and Mars
Moon BRICCSS: Moon Blocks using Regolith ISRU for Corbelled Construction of Sustainable Shielding
L. McKinney, P. B. Patel, D. Massimino, A. Thomas, J. Salazar, M. Klimenka, G. Lordos, C. Paige, S. Tibbits, D. Newman.
IEEE Aerospace 2025.
Venus Aerial Platforms: Long-Lived Balloons with ISRU for Buoyant Gas Replacement
K. J. Horn, J. S. Izraelevitz, S. Krishnamoorthy, S. Elango Elangovan, T. Hafen, P. Khopkar, L. McKinney, J. A. Cutts, M. H. Hecht, J. A. Hoffman. Acta Astronautica, 2026.
Tradespace Exploration of Large Lunar Mars Analog Campaigns
L. McKinney, P. B. Patel, M. Johnson, C. Ma, M. Delkowski, E. Romero, N. Khan, E. Lopez-Contreras, L. Nardi, M. MacRobbie, G. Lordos, O. de Weck, J. A. Hoffman. IEEE Aerospace 2025.
Leveraging Economies of Scale and Gains from Specialization for Robust Crewed Mars Architectures
G. Lordos, M. Hoying, L. McKinney, O. de Weck, and J. A. Hoffman. IEEE Aerospace 2024.
Pale Red Dot: a Large, Robust Architecture for Human Settlements on Mars
V. M. O'Leary, G. Lordos, M. Hoying, Y. AlSadah, L. Arias, I. Arzuaga Garcia, H Azzouz, J. Beilstein, W. L. Chan, E. Eyre, D. Gleason, M. Ikinci, D. Krishnan, Y. Lin, E. Martin, L. McKinney, D. Miller, C. O'Neill, O. Orozco, P. Patel, E. Romero, F. Sepulveda, D. Villegas, A. N. Webb, K. Latyshev, C. Gentgen, A. Lordos, O. De Weck and J. A. Hoffman. AIAA ASCEND 2023.
Conditions for bound states of the pseudopotential with harmonic confinement in arbitrary dimensions
L. McKinney, B.A. McKinney. Physica Scripta, 2022.
Theoretical Physics
First-principles investigation of stable lead-free halide perovskite materials CsSnClxBryI3-x-y for solar cell applications