The availability of clean, potable water is a concern for everyone, from residents here on Earth to astronauts in space. To address the issue, researchers have recently begun studying plasma-based technologies as a cost-effective method to purify water. The process, simply stated, involves removing pollutants from water by turning air bubbles into a plasma, or ionized gas, state and then releasing the chemicals produced inside those bubbles back into the liquid. The problem, however, is executing this process at scale. "Plasma at atmospheric pressures likes to stay as small as possible in small volumes," says Dr. Gabriel Xu, an associate professor in the Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering at UAH. "So getting it larger is a decent challenge."