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European Student Moon Orbiter solar electric propulsion subsystem architecture: an all-electric spacecraft

European Student Moon Orbiter solar electric propulsion subsystem architecture: an all-electric spacecraft
European Student Moon Orbiter solar electric propulsion subsystem architecture: an all-electric spacecraft
This paper presents the results of the Phase A study for the solar electric propulsion subsystem selected for the ESA European
Student Moon Orbiter spacecraft, performed at QinetiQ under ESA funding. To minimise mass, a so-called “all electric” approach is adopted based around the re-use of a flight-spare GOCE T5 gridded ion engine and the introduction of hollow cathode thrusters (HCTs) for attitude control functions. Three different subsystem architectures are considered and analysed with reference to the mass, cost, risk and level of integration between the HCTs and the T5. The favoured system architecture that best meets the various requirements adopts a shared tank and gas flow controller between the HCTs and the T5, with power being supplied from two dedicated power processing units. The possibility of reducing the propellant requirement by using an engine gimbal mechanism is also presented. The study also demonstrates how an increase in the T5 specific impulse to higher values than used on GOCE does not offer substantial system-level mass savings in this particular case.
0094-5765
354-364
Coletti, M.
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Grubisic, A
a4cab763-bbc0-4130-af65-229ae674e8c8
Collingwood, C.
a030f9a2-3155-4c2e-beeb-b006298d34cc
Wallace, N.
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Wells, N.
5364b6ce-62b9-41f0-9066-f839b2897ff8
Gabriel, S.B.
ac76976d-74fd-40a0-808d-c9f68a38f259
Coletti, M.
f99567c2-8fab-42dd-9e25-c3f69495667f
Grubisic, A
a4cab763-bbc0-4130-af65-229ae674e8c8
Collingwood, C.
a030f9a2-3155-4c2e-beeb-b006298d34cc
Wallace, N.
6058f1ab-89a7-49fd-b41a-6606d29c15ab
Wells, N.
5364b6ce-62b9-41f0-9066-f839b2897ff8
Gabriel, S.B.
ac76976d-74fd-40a0-808d-c9f68a38f259

Coletti, M., Grubisic, A, Collingwood, C., Wallace, N., Wells, N. and Gabriel, S.B. (2009) European Student Moon Orbiter solar electric propulsion subsystem architecture: an all-electric spacecraft. Acta Astronautica, 65 (3-4), 354-364. (doi:10.1016/j.actaastro.2009.03.001).

Record type: Article

Abstract

This paper presents the results of the Phase A study for the solar electric propulsion subsystem selected for the ESA European
Student Moon Orbiter spacecraft, performed at QinetiQ under ESA funding. To minimise mass, a so-called “all electric” approach is adopted based around the re-use of a flight-spare GOCE T5 gridded ion engine and the introduction of hollow cathode thrusters (HCTs) for attitude control functions. Three different subsystem architectures are considered and analysed with reference to the mass, cost, risk and level of integration between the HCTs and the T5. The favoured system architecture that best meets the various requirements adopts a shared tank and gas flow controller between the HCTs and the T5, with power being supplied from two dedicated power processing units. The possibility of reducing the propellant requirement by using an engine gimbal mechanism is also presented. The study also demonstrates how an increase in the T5 specific impulse to higher values than used on GOCE does not offer substantial system-level mass savings in this particular case.

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Published date: August 2009
Organisations: Aeronautics, Astronautics & Comp. Eng

Identifiers

Local EPrints ID: 156383
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/156383
ISSN: 0094-5765
PURE UUID: 9f838ae6-b70c-4487-891a-f3f8b300b0b6

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Date deposited: 02 Jun 2010 08:59
Last modified: 14 Mar 2024 01:43

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Contributors

Author: M. Coletti
Author: A Grubisic
Author: C. Collingwood
Author: N. Wallace
Author: N. Wells
Author: S.B. Gabriel

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