Defining the requirements for the Micro Electric Propulsion systems for small spacecraft missions

Recent technology advancements in Micro Electric Propulsion (MEP) will enable the next generation of small spacecraft to perform trajectory and attitude maneuvers with significant ΔV requirements, provide thrust over long mission durations, and replace reaction wheels for attitude control. These advancements will open up the class of mission architectures achievable by small spacecraft to include formation flying, proximity operations, and precision pointing missions in both LEO and interplanetary destinations. The goal of this study is to establish the optimal performance parameters for future MEP technology that are applicable to a broad range of flight demonstration platforms (e.g. dedicated 3-12U CubeSats to ESPA-class spacecraft ), for a variety of applications, including LEO and Earth escape orbit transfers, travel to interplanetary destinations, hover and drag make-up missions, and performing reaction wheel-free attitude control. An integrated systems-level model for propulsion, spacecraft (power, data, telecommunication, thermal management), and orbit and attitude maneuvers is developed to support solution space exploration. MEP system performance parameters are derived that maximize the performance capability subject to realistic system-level constraints in the context of upcoming mission opportunities where MEP is enabling or advantageous relative to other technologies.