When Lanie McKinney was three, her parents stopped at a huge meteor crater in the U.S. Southwest. She begged to wait for the next meteor, not realizing the odds of another impact at the same spot were negligible, but the episode sparked a lifelong fascination with space.
Now a fifth‑year PhD candidate in MIT’s Aerospace Plasma Group under Professor Carmen Guerra‑Garcia, McKinney focuses on in‑situ resource utilization (ISRU) – producing return‑to‑Earth propellant on Mars instead of hauling everything from Earth.
Her work uses cold plasma to convert the CO₂‑rich Martian atmosphere into O₂ and CO. The conversion step is efficient, but the resulting gas mixture must be quickly separated to harvest oxygen. To achieve this, she pairs the plasma reactor with an oxygen‑selective membrane that can extract O₂ under plasma conditions, yet the membrane’s behavior in the reactive environment remains uncertain, forming the core technical challenge.
McKinney finds it rewarding to link laboratory plasma experiments directly to the performance requirements of future Mars missions. She designs the entire experimental system and evaluates whether it can meet spacecraft fuel‑production specifications.
Through MIT’s Space Resources Workshop, she has entered several NASA competitions. Her first was a 10‑year self‑sustaining Mars mission design, where she learned the space‑systems basics by “jumping in and learning.” Later she co‑led MIT’s CERBERUZ team in the LunaRecycle Challenge, developing a process that grinds mixed waste into powder for injection molding or 3D‑printing spare parts, winning Phase 2 first prize and $775,000 in funding.
Another interdisciplinary effort involved architects and engineers creating lunar‑regolith bricks that can be stacked without mortar to shield habitats from radiation, illustrating how diverse expertise can generate novel solutions.
McKinney stresses that while research can be individual, solving human‑space‑exploration problems demands cross‑disciplinary collaboration. Her team experiences have taught her to listen, integrate different knowledge bases, and turn them into viable technologies.
Her long‑term vision is to help build permanent bases on the Moon and Mars, enabling continuous science and efficient exploration.
Outside the lab, McKinney is an avid hiker and mountaineer, having completed a mountaineering course in Alaska and summited Mount Baker. She sees a direct link between the curiosity that drives mountain climbing and the desire to explore space.
When she first arrived at MIT from the University of Tulsa, she felt like an impostor. By asking questions and committing fully to topics that intrigued her, she overcame the anxiety. Her mantra: if something interests you, try it and go all in.
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