Location

Howard Johnson Plaza-Hotel, Columbia/ Enterprise Rooms

Start Date

25-4-1990 2:00 PM

End Date

25-4-1990 5:00 PM

Description

As the Air Force mission in space continues to expand, the cost of delivering the necessary resources to assure mission accomplishment has become a critical issue. With the amount of payload delivered to high earth orbit driven by the characteristics of the upper stage, significant benefits can be achieved by reducing its weight and/or increasing its performance. Highly efficient electric propulsion stages can provide advantages in both areas. Ongoing studies at Air Force Space Command and Space Systems Division have identified some payoffs of using this revolutionary propulsion method to power future orbit transfer vehicles. Preliminary results indicate that an Electric Orbital Transfer Vehicle (EOTV) may allow us to efficiently launch some of our largest payloads, currently planned for Titan IV, on Atlas or Delta class vehicles. This capability offers the potential to significantly reduce launch costs by tens of millions of dollars per mission. The ELectric Insertion Transfer Experiment (ELITE) is proposed as a "critical experiment" to demonstrate the capability of solar electric propulsion in an orbit raising mode.

ELITE integrates several ongoing technology programs within the Department of Defense (DoD) and NASA in a space demonstration. The experiment will address issues associated with low thrust, solar powered orbit transfers and methods for autonomous control of EOTVs. ELITE will also address issues peculiar to electric thrusters such as contamination of spacecraft components, plume-plume interaction of multiple thrusters, charging of spacecraft surfaces and potential interference with radio frequency transmissions and other electronics. Other potential applications for electric propulsion are also discussed in the context of future DoD and NASA missions.

Comments

Technology Payloads and Robotics

Session Chairman: Jon Pyle, Project Manager, Flight Projects Division, Office of Aeronautics and Space Technology, NASA Headquarters

Session Organizer: Keith Chandler, Boeing Aerospace Operations, FL

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Apr 25th, 2:00 PM Apr 25th, 5:00 PM

Paper Session II-B - The Electric Insertion Transfer Experiment (ELITE): An Air Force Critical Experiment to Revolutionize Space Transportation

Howard Johnson Plaza-Hotel, Columbia/ Enterprise Rooms

As the Air Force mission in space continues to expand, the cost of delivering the necessary resources to assure mission accomplishment has become a critical issue. With the amount of payload delivered to high earth orbit driven by the characteristics of the upper stage, significant benefits can be achieved by reducing its weight and/or increasing its performance. Highly efficient electric propulsion stages can provide advantages in both areas. Ongoing studies at Air Force Space Command and Space Systems Division have identified some payoffs of using this revolutionary propulsion method to power future orbit transfer vehicles. Preliminary results indicate that an Electric Orbital Transfer Vehicle (EOTV) may allow us to efficiently launch some of our largest payloads, currently planned for Titan IV, on Atlas or Delta class vehicles. This capability offers the potential to significantly reduce launch costs by tens of millions of dollars per mission. The ELectric Insertion Transfer Experiment (ELITE) is proposed as a "critical experiment" to demonstrate the capability of solar electric propulsion in an orbit raising mode.

ELITE integrates several ongoing technology programs within the Department of Defense (DoD) and NASA in a space demonstration. The experiment will address issues associated with low thrust, solar powered orbit transfers and methods for autonomous control of EOTVs. ELITE will also address issues peculiar to electric thrusters such as contamination of spacecraft components, plume-plume interaction of multiple thrusters, charging of spacecraft surfaces and potential interference with radio frequency transmissions and other electronics. Other potential applications for electric propulsion are also discussed in the context of future DoD and NASA missions.

 

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