Welcome to the Propulsion Research Center The Propulsion Research Center is your resource for: Cost-effective fundamental and applied research Nationally recognized faculty and students State-of-the-art test facilities Innovative solutions Watch to learn more about the Propulsion Research Center. Directory Students Capabilities Facilities News Contact Us UAH master’s student Ethan Hopping and UAH professor Dr. Gabe Xu partnered to design and test a Hall-effect thruster with a 3-D printed channel and propellant distributor. Spotlight Ethan Hopping uses 3-D printing to successfully build and test Hall-effect thruster Depending on the mission, electric propulsion systems like Hall-effect-thrusters can reduce the mass of propellant required by a factor of 10 or more as compared with chemical rockets.