Study on High Power All-Electric Propulsion System for Spacecraft Orbit Transfer

Abstract

Compared with chemical propulsion，the application electric propulsion system in spacecraft can save the amount of propellant，which is able to significantly reduce the launch mass or allow more payloads to the target. In this paper，the research on high power electric thrusters in the world is investigated. An electric propulsion systemis designed for the near-earth spacecraft orbit transfer. Several schemes are compared with different thruster performances. At last，the suggestions are proposed for developing high power electric thruster and propulsion system in China.

Keywords

high power / electric propulsion / orbit transfer