Electric Propulsion Options for Mars Cargo Missions

This paper summarizes an evaluation of mission performance (in terms of vehicle mass and trip time of solar electric propulsion (SEP) and nuclear electric propulsion (NEP) operating at power levels on the order of 1.5 MW⊆ for Mars cargo missions. The SEP and NEP vehicles are both assumed to use lithium-propellant magnetoplasmadynamic (MPD) thrusters with an efficiency (electric-to-jet) of 60 percent at a specified nominal specific impulse.