THE FUTURE IS ELECTRIC
- Paper number
IAC-08.C4.6.3
- Author
Mr. Richard Blott, Space Enterprise Partnerships Limited, United Kingdom
- Year
2008
- Abstract
Today there are more than 120 operational communications satellites in geostationary orbit using electric propulsion with this number growing every year. In addition, there are many notable applications recently demonstrated or planned in the near-term including Deep Space 1, SMART – 1, DAWN, Hyabusa, GOCE and Advanced Extremely High Frequency (AEHF) which provide an exciting glimpse of the future of electric propulsion. Electric propulsion is enabling larger payloads in Earth Orbit, faster missions for planetary payloads headed toward both the inner and the outer solar systems and will soon enable ultra-sensitive drag free remote sensing and precision formation manoeuvring. At the same time future mission expectations are evolving rapidly. Commercial satellites are seeking ever more economies of scale in the form of improved payload to launch mass ratio, longer lifetime, greater manoeuvrability and lower capital costs. Science missions have ambitions to place large observatories at Lagrange points either as formation flying distributed apertures or locally assembled large structures. Exploration looks to the days of permanent human presence on the Moon and Mars and entrepreneurs to mass space tourism and eventually interplanetary trade. Much of this seems far fetched until one looks at the progress in space travel over the past 50 years. Now as then it is not possible to foresee many future developments but it is possible and most important to build a roadmap for the role of electric propulsion in helping to fulfil these ambitions. The paper considers the requirements for and technical developments needed to realise the benefits and potential of electric propulsion in two time frames: near (now to 2025) and longer term (beyond 2025). Future application performance requirements are considered in the context of: Earth and Lunar orbit transfer, Solar System exploration and exploitation and demanding Observational Science Missions. A system level approach is used examining the efficiency of the overall system architecture for each different electric propulsion technique. Key elements including power generation and conditioning, propellant storage and feed and electric thruster options are considered taking account of future mission requirements and anticipated technical evolution.
- Abstract document
- Manuscript document
IAC-08.C4.6.3.pdf (🔒 authorized access only).
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