Atmospheric Breathing Electric Thruster for Planetary Exploration

This study will investigate the development of an atmosphere-breathing electric propulsion solar-powered vehicle to explore planets such as Mars. The vehicle would use atmospheric gas for propellant, eliminating the need to launch and carry the propellant from Earth. The propulsion thruster would be electric where the gas is ionized in a plasma and accelerated by electromagnetic fields. The combination of high efficiency and high specific impulse of the electric propulsion thruster and free propellant in-situ will result in an exciting and enabling technology. At the completion of this development, NASA will be able to perform missions of extended lifetime and capabilities beyond those available by typical chemical rockets. Phase I will formulate feasibility of the concept through modeling, calculations and preliminary laboratory experiments and push validity into Phase II research.

Low altitude Mars orbiting spacecraft is of scientific interest to NASA and the space community. Some atmospheric measurements can only be made in-situ. On Earth, these measurements are typically performed by sounding rockets or very high altitude balloons. A spacecraft orbiting Mars at these low orbits will require significant drag makeup and carrying that much propellant from Earth is prohibitive. Developing a Mars atmosphere fed thruster can open up a new set of missions that are of extreme scientific interest. In addition to the atmospheric measurements, surface observation and polar orbits will be of interest.#An Earth based ABHET can be utilized for many atmospheric monitoring and measurement applications of interest to NASA. Real time and continuous monitoring of Earths atmosphere is beneficial to understanding the complex atmospheric weather. The high drag of LEO orbits in the 150km range is difficult to manage with typical spacecraft and much too light on oxygen for typical air combustion engines.

This is early/mid-stage (TRL 3) — the most realistic path in is NASA SBIR/STTR, which funds small businesses and research institutions to develop technology aligned with NASA's needs (equity-free, phased funding). Check whether a current SBIR/STTR solicitation topic overlaps with this project's technology area, or contact the project directly (above) to ask.

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