Date of Award

Fall 12-2024

Access Type

Thesis - Open Access

Degree Name

Master of Science in Aerospace Engineering

Department

Aerospace Engineering

Committee Chair

Scott Montgomery Martin

Committee Advisor

Scott Montgomery Martin

First Committee Member

Thomas Lovell

Second Committee Member

Eric Perrell

Third Committee Member

Mark Anthony Reynolds

College Dean

James W. Gregory

Abstract

As NASA and commercial contractors, such as SpaceX, continue to develop their programs with Artemis and Starship, respectively, it is becoming more and more apparent that the program developments are ultimately for finding a way to put humans onto Mars. However, when we approach the current timeline of going to Mars, it usually involves a 6-9 month one way trip. Due to this, human spaceflight to Mars becomes more dangerous as exposure to affects such as solar radiation, long exposure to low gravity fields, and isolation. These are some of the many hazards that come with interplanetary space travel for humans. Most of the effects of these hazards can be reduced by reducing the transit time to Mars. To this end, while current approaches use only chemical rockets, it is important to study how a hybrid architecture affects performance. Hybrid systems are defined as an electric-chemical propulsion system or a chemical-nuclear thermal propulsion system. While there are many other variations, for the purposes of this study the focus will be on electric-chemical propulsion systems and how that specific hybrid architecture affects the overall time of flight. To implement this, a model was developed that used real time acceleration on the spacecraft to accurately model the effects of the electrical portion of the propulsion system to reach Mars. The study varies the specific impulse from 1000 to 10,000 seconds with each specific impulse being tested with a range of p\propellant mass flow rates from 0.00001 kg/s to 0.001 kg/s. The chemical portion was represented by departure delta velocities of 3.6, 3.8, 4.0, and 4.2 km/s. These inputs were put into the model and calculated a time of flight for each which then was used to calculate time savings by comparing the results versus the chemical time of flight for each departure delta velocity values. A cost estimate was also considered to see if the hybrid propulsion system is feasible compared to chemical only systems.

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