M. Umair Siddiqui is a plasma physicist and engineer with over ten years of experience designing, building, and using radio-frequency plasma systems. Dr. Siddiqui leads the development of Phase Four’s “Radio Frequency Thruster,” an RF plasma-based electric propulsion system that is scalable from nanosatellites up to large satellites.

His research interests lie in heating plasmas using radio-frequency waves, the erosion of Hall effect thruster surfaces during operation, spacecraft interactions with the low Earth orbit environment, and plasma interactions and models with the interior walls of fusion devices. Prior to Phase Four, Dr. Siddiqui conducted research in the Lynch Rocket Lab at Dartmouth College, the University of Wisconsin-Madison, and West Virginia University.