Electric Propulsion System for a Maneuverable Orbital Vehicle

This paper presents a proposed maneuverable orbital vehicle based on the International Space Station (ISS) equipped with electric thrusters. The vehicle makes use of an external site of the ISS (e.g., the Express Pallet) to host a detachable platform which is able to perform a variety of missions, including formation flying with the ISS and missions to very low Earth orbit, down to 130 km altitude. After having accomplished a mission, the vehicle flies back to the ISS and rendez-vous in a semi-autonomuous mode to be refurbished and prepared for the next flight. The possible applications of such system include interferometric astronomy, the study of the extreme layers of the atmosphere, and high-resolution Earth imaging. The electric propulsion system features a cluster of high power Hall-effect thrusters, sized such as to give sufficient thrust authority to drive the vehicle without the need of chemical propulsion systems, yet able to be powered by standard deployable solar panels of acceptable extension. The vehicle is feasible with currently available electric propulsion and power generation systems