The disparate design problems of selecting an electric propulsion system, launch vehicle, and flight time all have a significant impact on the cost and robustness of a mission. The effects of these system choices combine into a single optimization of the total mission cost, where the design constraint is a required spacecraft neutral (non-electric propulsion) mass. Cost-optimal systems are designed for a range of mass margins to examine how the optimal design varies with mass growth. The resulting cost-optimal designs are compared with results generated via mass optimization methods. Additional optimizations with continuous system parameters address the impact on mission cost due to discrete sets of launch vehicle, power, and specific impulse. The examined mission set comprises a near-Earth asteroid sample return, multiple main belt asteroid rendezvous, comet rendezvous, comet sample return, and a mission to Saturn.
Electric Propulsion System Selection Process for Interplanetary Missions
AIAA/AAS Astrodynamics Specialist Conference ; 2008 ; Honolulu, HI, United States
2008-08-18
Conference paper
No indication
English
Electric Propulsion System Selection Process for Interplanetary Missions
Online Contents | 2011
|Electric Propulsion System Selection Process for Interplanetary Missions
British Library Conference Proceedings | 2008
|Advanced electric propulsion for interplanetary missions
NTRS | 1987
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