The Ion Propulsion System for the Asteroid Redirect Robotic MissionThe Asteroid Redirect Robotic Mission is a Solar Electric Propulsion Technology Demonstration Mission (ARRM) whose main objectives are to develop and demonstrate a high-power solar electric propulsion capability for the Agency and return an asteroidal mass for rendezvous and characterization in a companion human-crewed mission. This high-power solar electric propulsion capability, or an extensible derivative of it, has been identified as a critical part of NASA'a future beyond-low-Earth-orbit, human-crewed exploration plans. Under the NASA Space Technology Mission Directorate the critical electric propulsion and solar array technologies are being developed. This paper presents the conceptual design of the ARRM ion propulsion system, the status of the NASA in-house thruster and power processing development activities, the status of the planned technology maturation for the mission through flight hardware delivery, and the status of the mission formulation and spacecraft acquisition.
Document ID
20170000960
Acquisition Source
Glenn Research Center
Document Type
Conference Paper
Authors
Herman, Daniel A. (NASA Glenn Research Center Cleveland, OH United States)
Santiago, Walter (NASA Glenn Research Center Cleveland, OH United States)
Kamhawi, Hani (NASA Glenn Research Center Cleveland, OH United States)
Polk, James E. (Jet Propulsion Lab., California Inst. of Tech. Pasadena, CA, United States)
Snyder, John Steven (Jet Propulsion Lab., California Inst. of Tech. Pasadena, CA, United States)
Hofer, Richard R. (Jet Propulsion Lab., California Inst. of Tech. Pasadena, CA, United States)
Sekerak, Michael J. (Alcyon Technical Services-JV, Inc. Huntsville, AL, United States)