This thesis explores how an Asteroid Sample Return Mission might make use of solar electric propulsion to send a spacecraft on a journey to the asteroid 1989ML and back. It examines different trajectories that can be used to get an asteroid sample return or similar spacecraft to an interplanetary destination and back in the most fuel-efficient manner. While current plans call for keeping such a spacecraft on the asteroid performing science experiments for approximately 90 days, it is prudent to inquire how lengthening or shortening this time period may affect mission fuel requirements. Using optimal control methods, various mission scenarios have been modeled and simulated. The results suggest that the amount of time that the spacecraft may spend on the asteroid surface can be approximated as a linear function of the available fuel mass. Furthermore, It can be shown that as maximum available thrust is decreased, the radial component of the optimal thrust vector becomes more pronounced.

"A study is presented detailing the simulation of a drag-free follow-on mission to NASA’s Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment (GRACE). This work evaluates controller performance, as well as thrust, power, and propellant mass requirements for drag-free spacecraft operation at orbital altitudes of 160 - 225 kilometers. In addition, sensitivities to thermospheric wind, GPS signal accuracy and availability of ephemeris data are studied. Orbital dynamics were modeled in Matlab and take into account 2 body gravity effects, J2-J6 non-spherical Earth effects, atmospheric drag and control thrust. A drag model is used in which the drag acceleration is a function of the spacecraft’s relative velocity to the atmosphere, and a “drag parameter,” which includes the spacecraft’s drag coefficient and local mass density of the atmosphere. A MSISE-90 atmospheric model is used to provide local mass densities as well as free stream flow conditions for a Direct Simulation Monte Carlo drag analysis used to validate the spacecraft drag coefficient. The controller is designed around an onboard inertial sensor which uses a freely floating reference mass to measure deviations in the spacecraft position, resulting from non-gravitational forces, from a desired target orbit. Thruster (control actuator) models are based on two different Hall thrusters for providing the orbital along-track acceleration, colloid thrusters for the normal acceleration, and a miniature xenon ion thruster (MiXI) for the cross-track acceleration. The most demanding propulsion requirements correspond to the lowest altitude considered, 160 kilometers. At this altitude the maximum along-track thrust component is calculated to be 98 millinewtons with a required dynamic (throttling) response of 41 mN/s. The maximum position error at this altitude was shown to be in the along-track direction with a magnitude of 3314.9 nanometers and a peak spectral content of 1800 nm/sqrt(Hz) at about 0.1 Hz. At 225 kilometers, the maximum along-track thrust component reduces to 10.3 millinewtons. The maximum dynamic response at this altitude is 4.23 mN/s. The maximum along-track position error is reduced to 367.9 nanometers with a spectral content peak of 40 nm/sqrt(Hz) at 0.1 Hz. For all altitudes, the maximum state errors increase as the mission length increases, however, higher altitude missions show less of a maximum displacement error increase over time than those of lower orbits. The ability of a colloid thruster to control the normal drift is found to be dependent on how frequently the spacecraft state data is updated. Reducing the period between updates from 10 seconds to 1 second reduces the maximum normal state error component from 199 nanometers to less than 32 nanometers, suggesting that spacecraft state update frequency could be a major driver in keeping the spacecraft on the target trajectory. Sensitivity of maximum required thrust and accumulated sensor error to measurement uncertainty is found to be less of a driver than state update frequency. A ‘worst case” thermospheric wind gust was modeled to show the increase on propulsion requirements if such an event were to occur. At 200 kilometers, maximum winds have been measured to be in increase of 650 m/s in the westward direction in the southern pole region. Assuming the majority of the 650 m/s gust occurs over a 4 second time span, the maximum required cross-track thrust at 200 kilometers increases from 1.12 to 2.01 millinewtons. This large increase may drive the thruster choice for a drag-free mission at a similar altitude. For the spacecraft point design considered with a propellant mass fraction of 0.18, the mission lifetime for the 160 km case was calculated to be 0.76 years. This increases 2.27 years at an altitude of 225 km."

The power requirements for future spacecraft power systems will be on the order of a few hundred kilowatts to a few megawatts. Because of these power levels, a high-voltage, high-power distribution subsystem may be utilized to transmit power from the source to the different loads. Using current state-of-the-art power conditioning electronics, complex series and parallel configurations will be required at the interface between the source and the distribution subsystem and between the distribution subsystem and the loads. The dynamic response of such a spacecraft power system may be obtained using a general purpose program such as SPICE2. However, for large and complex spacecraft power systems, the input file will be large and complex with correspondingly large computation times. As an alternative, the spacecraft power system can be considered as an interconnection of modular components. Each component is treated as a two-port network, and a state model is written with the port voltages as the inputs. The state model of each component is solved using the state transition matrix and assuming that the port voltages are . clamped for each time step. This calculation proceeds as if all two-port networks are decoupled. After the state variables have been updated, the inputs to all components are calculated using network analysis principles. The solution procedure alternates between solving the dynamic model of all components and the network equations for the component inputs. The modular state variable approach and SPICE2 are compared using two example systems. This comparison shows the advantages of the modular state variable approach. First, for the modular state variable approach the system is considered as an interconnection of modular components. In SPICE2, the system is treated as an interconnection of circuit elements. As a result, the system description for large and complex spacecraft power systems is much _ larger and more complex than a modular state variable description. Secondly, the modular state variable approach requires less CPU time than SPICE2. For one of the example systems presented here, the modular state variable approach uses one-twentieth of the CPU time used by SPICE2. / Ph. D.

Thesis. 1978. M.S.--Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Dept. of Aeronautics and Astronautics. / This electronic version was submitted by the student author. The certified thesis is available in the Institute Archives and Special Collections. / MICROFICHE COPY AVAILABLE IN ARCHIVES AND AERONAUTICS. / Includes bibliographical references. / M.S.

Reservoir-type dispenser hollow cathodes are currently being developed for use on NASAs Prometheus 1 mission. In these cathodes, the reaction between a barium source material and tungsten powder contained in a cavity surrounding a porous tungsten emitter produces barium vapor which is crucial to operation of the cathode. The primary objective of this research was to investigate the reactions between tungsten and a commercial barium source material in a simulated reservoir hollow cath-ode environment. Mixtures of tungsten and a barium calcium aluminate material were sealed inside molybdenum capsules with porous tungsten closures and heated to 1000?1200?and 1300?or 100, 200, and 400 hours. Based on the reaction products, which were identified to be BaAl2O4 and Ba2CaWO6, a reaction was proposed for the barium calcium aluminate material with tungsten. The bottom pellets in the capsules were found to have reacted to a much further extent than the top pellets in all of the samples, possibly due to a temperature gradient or excessive moisture in the base of the capsules. Quantita-tive and semi-quantitative x-ray analysis results did not show a clear trend as to how the concentrations of BaAl2O4 and Ba2CaWO6 vary with time. Most of the barium source materials are hygroscopic, and hydration of the materi-als would substantially reduce the performance of the cathode. Therefore, the environ-mental stability of several barium compounds, 3BaO??2O3 (B3A), 6BaO????2O3 (612), 4BaO????O3 (411), Ba2.9Ca1.1Al2O7 (B4ASSL), and Ba3Sc4O9, were investi-gated in order to evaluate their suitability for use as barium source materials. A micro-balance was used to measure weight gain of the materials as they were exposed to dew points of ??C and 11?t room temperature. The results showed that B3A hydrated more extensively than any of the other materials tested in the low- and intermediate-humidity environments, while the 612, 411, and B4ASSL materials were all reasonably stable in the low-humidity environment. The Ba3Sc4O9 was extremely stable compared to the barium aluminates in the intermediate-humidity conditions.

Hall Effect Thrusters (HETs) are a form of electric propulsion device which uses external electrical energy to produce thrust. When compared to various other electric propulsion devices, HETs are excellent candidates for future orbit transfer and interplanetary missions due to their relatively simple configuration, moderate thrust capability, higher thrust to power ratio, and lower thruster mass to power ratio. Due to the short history of HETs, the current design process of a new HET is a largely empirical and experimental science, and this has resulted in previous designs being developed in a narrow design space based on experimental data without systematic investigations of parameter correlations. In addition, current preliminary low-thrust trajectory optimizations, due to inherent difficulties in solution procedure, often assume constant or linear performances with available power in their applications of electric thrusters. The main obstacles come from the complex physics involved in HET technology and relatively small amounts of experimental data. Although physical theories and numerical simulations can provide a valuable tool for design space exploration at the inception of a new HET design and preliminary low-thrust trajectory optimization, the complex physics makes theoretical and numerical solutions difficult to obtain. Numerical implementations have been quite extensively conducted in the last two decades. An investigation of current methodologies reveals that to date, none provide a proper methodology for a new HET design at the conceptual design stage and the coupled low-thrust trajectory optimization. Thus, in the first half of this work, an efficient, robust, and self-consistent numerical method for the analysis of HETs is developed with a new approach. The key idea is to divide the analysis region into two regions in terms of electron dynamics based on physical intuition. Intensive validations are conducted for existing HETs from 1 kW to 50 kW classes. The second half of this work aims to construct a simultaneous design optimization environment though collaboration with experts in low-thrust trajectory optimization where a new HET and associated optimal low-thrust trajectory can be designed simultaneously. A demonstration for an orbit raising mission shows that the constructed simultaneous design optimization environment can be used effectively and synergistically for space missions involving HETs. It is expected that the present work will aid and ease the current expensive experimental HET design process and reduce preliminary space mission design cycles involving HETs.

The present work proposes a methodology to define the electric propulsion system for PSVs. This methodology was applied to a case study: the conceptual design of a PSV for operation at the pre-salt fields at Santos basin. First, four different alternatives of electric propulsion systems for the PSV are presented and sized. The first one has induction motors as main propulsion motors, the second one has synchronous motors as main propulsion motors; the third and fourth alternatives are the same as the first and second, respectively, with a batteries bank connected to the main switchboard. Each of the four arrangements was contemplated with two options for Diesel generators: high speed and medium speed generator sets. The mass, volume, fuel consumption, exhaust gases emissions and reference capital costs for each arrangement are estimated and analyzed. Moreover, an economic analysis through the Net Present Value (NPV) is performed. The methodology ends with the Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) to support the decision making procedure. Some of the parameters obtained for each arrangement (mass, volume, fuel consumption, exhaust gases and NPV) are used as criteria and sub-criteria for selection. Two scenarios are evaluated, the first scenario gives more importance to the financial component of the design; the second scenario sets the exhaust gases emissions as the more significant parameter. The results were different, the arrangements 1 and 2 with medium speed Diesel generator sets appear as the most suitable option from the economical point of view; whereas the arrangements with batteries and high speed Diesel gensets are the best options to reduce the exhaust emissions. / O presente trabalho propôs uma metodologia para definir o sistema de propulsão elétrica para PSVs. A metodologia foi aplicada para um caso estudo: o projeto conceitual de um PSV para operar nos campos do pré-sal na Bacia de Santos. Primeiramente, as quatro diferentes alternativas de sistemas de propulsão elétrica para PSV são apresentadas e dimensionadas. A primeira alternativa tem motores de indução como motores de propulsão principal, a segunda alternativa tem motores síncronos como motores de propulsão principal; a terceira e quarta alternativas são as mesmas que a primeira e a segunda, respectivamente, com um banco de baterias conectado ao quadro principal. Cada um dos quatro arranjos foi considerado com duas opções para Diesel geradores: Diesel geradores de alta e média rotação. A massa, volumem, consumo de combustível, emissão de gases e os custos capitais de referência para cada arranjo são estimados e analisados. Adicionalmente, uma análise económica usando o Valor Presente Líquido (VPL) é feita. A metodologia finaliza com o Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) para apoiar o processo de escolha de alternativa. Alguns dos parâmetros obtidos para cada arranjo (massa, volumem, consumo de combustível, gases poluentes e o VPL) são utilizados como critérios de seleção. Dois cenários são avaliados, o primeiro cenário dá maior importância à parte financeira do projeto, o segundo cenário estabelece as emissões de gases poluentes como o parâmetro mais significativo. Os resultados foram diferentes, os arranjos 1 e 2 com Diesel geradores de média rotação se apresentam como a opção mais adequada desde o ponto de vista econômico; enquanto os arranjos com baterias e Diesel geradores de alta rotação são a melhor opção para reduzir as emissões de gases poluentes.

The present work proposes a methodology to define the electric propulsion system for PSVs. This methodology was applied to a case study: the conceptual design of a PSV for operation at the pre-salt fields at Santos basin. First, four different alternatives of electric propulsion systems for the PSV are presented and sized. The first one has induction motors as main propulsion motors, the second one has synchronous motors as main propulsion motors; the third and fourth alternatives are the same as the first and second, respectively, with a batteries bank connected to the main switchboard. Each of the four arrangements was contemplated with two options for Diesel generators: high speed and medium speed generator sets. The mass, volume, fuel consumption, exhaust gases emissions and reference capital costs for each arrangement are estimated and analyzed. Moreover, an economic analysis through the Net Present Value (NPV) is performed. The methodology ends with the Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) to support the decision making procedure. Some of the parameters obtained for each arrangement (mass, volume, fuel consumption, exhaust gases and NPV) are used as criteria and sub-criteria for selection. Two scenarios are evaluated, the first scenario gives more importance to the financial component of the design; the second scenario sets the exhaust gases emissions as the more significant parameter. The results were different, the arrangements 1 and 2 with medium speed Diesel generator sets appear as the most suitable option from the economical point of view; whereas the arrangements with batteries and high speed Diesel gensets are the best options to reduce the exhaust emissions. / O presente trabalho propôs uma metodologia para definir o sistema de propulsão elétrica para PSVs. A metodologia foi aplicada para um caso estudo: o projeto conceitual de um PSV para operar nos campos do pré-sal na Bacia de Santos. Primeiramente, as quatro diferentes alternativas de sistemas de propulsão elétrica para PSV são apresentadas e dimensionadas. A primeira alternativa tem motores de indução como motores de propulsão principal, a segunda alternativa tem motores síncronos como motores de propulsão principal; a terceira e quarta alternativas são as mesmas que a primeira e a segunda, respectivamente, com um banco de baterias conectado ao quadro principal. Cada um dos quatro arranjos foi considerado com duas opções para Diesel geradores: Diesel geradores de alta e média rotação. A massa, volumem, consumo de combustível, emissão de gases e os custos capitais de referência para cada arranjo são estimados e analisados. Adicionalmente, uma análise económica usando o Valor Presente Líquido (VPL) é feita. A metodologia finaliza com o Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) para apoiar o processo de escolha de alternativa. Alguns dos parâmetros obtidos para cada arranjo (massa, volumem, consumo de combustível, gases poluentes e o VPL) são utilizados como critérios de seleção. Dois cenários são avaliados, o primeiro cenário dá maior importância à parte financeira do projeto, o segundo cenário estabelece as emissões de gases poluentes como o parâmetro mais significativo. Os resultados foram diferentes, os arranjos 1 e 2 com Diesel geradores de média rotação se apresentam como a opção mais adequada desde o ponto de vista econômico; enquanto os arranjos com baterias e Diesel geradores de alta rotação são a melhor opção para reduzir as emissões de gases poluentes.