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Graduate Student Seminar by Rick Winski |
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Date: August 29, 2006
Time: 10:30am
Location: NIA, Rm 137
Lunar Robotic Precursor Missions Using Electric Propulsion
Rick Winski, Virginia Tech
The space exploration program laid out in 2004 specifies objectives for lunar exploration. Among these are to undertake activities that prepare for and enable future human exploration, including a series of robotic missions, and the use of these exploration activities to develop new approaches, technologies, and systems for the future.
With these goals in mind, there is a need to deliver non-time critical payloads in the near future for Robotic Lunar Exploration Program (RLEP) missions and for human explorations of the Moon. A direct drive Solar Electric Propulsion (SEP) system may be advantageous for such a purpose as it has the potential to deliver more payload to the lunar surface than chemical propulsion and reduce the mission cost.
A trade study is carried out for the design of electric propulsion based lunar robotic precursor missions. The results are compared against a baseline system using chemical propulsion with LOX/H2. The major differences between the chemical propulsion based and electric propulsion based systems are presented in terms of the payload mass and trip time. It is shown that solar electric propulsion offers significant advantage over chemical propulsion in delivering non-time critical payloads to lunar orbit.
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