Aerojet Rocketdyne has completed mission analysis trade studies to support near-term NASA cislunar exploration mission concepts by comparing cargo delivery to the EarthMoon Lagrange points (EML1 or EML2) using a solar electric propulsion (SEP) stage (or "tug") versus the most efficient all-chemical approach. The study examined the relationship between total delivered mass to the destination, trip time required, and power level at the SEP thrusters and focused on flight-proven performance regimes for thruster and solar array performance. The results show how SEP enables the delivery of significantly more total mass versus all-chemical approaches, with the benefits increasing as SEP trip time is allowed to increase. SEP solutions can actually deliver up to twice as much mass to EML2 versus a chemical solution or the same mass on a lower cost launch vehicle. Aerojet Rocketdyne also examined the relationships between transfer time, delivered cargo, and campaign costs versus chemical solutions, finding that incorporating SEP tugs in the campaign can reduce cost per delivered cargo mass ($/kg) by over 50% compared to chemical. The results showed that SEP tugs reduce the number of launch vehicles required for the campaign, which is by far the largest campaign cost driver. Overall, using SEP tugs for space exploration and cargo delivery dramatically increases mission flexibility over allchemical solutions, and can enable significant campaign savings.
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