The Solar Electric Propulsion Project shall develop and qualify an advanced 12.5 kW EP thruster applicable to human/robotic exploration and commercial spaceflight missions including the Power and Propulsion Element (PPE). The technology development objective of the SEP subproject, Plasma Diagnostics Package (PDP), is to develop, qualify, and deliver a flight PDP provided as GFE to PPE that can collect on-orbit PPE Ion Propulsion System (IPS) plasma data in the space environment.
More »The technology will enable the use of high power electric propulsion systems for long term missions such as cargo transports to Mars.
As NASA plans to extend human presence across the solar system, including the Moon and Mars, it also seeks to shorten the time required to develop and apply transformative technologies that increase the nation's capabilities in space, enable future missions and support a variety of commercial spaceflight activities. NASA's Solar Electric Propulsion (SEP) project is developing critical technologies to enable government and commercial customers to extend the length and capabilities of ambitious new exploration and science missions. Advanced propulsion technologies such as SEP deliver the right mix of cost savings, safety and superior propulsive power to support a variety of next generation journeys to destinations in deep space. Energized by the electric power from on-board solar arrays, the electrically propelled system will use 10 times less propellant than a comparable, conventional chemical propulsion system, such as those used to propel the space shuttles to orbit. Yet that reduced fuel mass will deliver robust propulsion capable of boosting robotic and crewed missions well beyond low-Earth orbit: sending exploration spacecraft to distant destinations, ferrying cargo to and from points of interest, laying the groundwork for future missions or resupplying those already underway.
More »Organizations Performing Work | Role | Type | Location |
---|---|---|---|
Glenn Research Center (GRC) | Lead Organization | NASA Center | Cleveland, Ohio |
Aerojet Rocketdyne Holdings, Inc. | Supporting Organization | Industry | El Segundo, California |
Analytical Mechanics Associates, Inc. | Supporting Organization | Industry | Hampton, Virginia |
Ball Aerospace & Technologies Corporation | Supporting Organization | Industry | Boulder, Colorado |
Deployable Space Systems, Inc (DSS) | Supporting Organization | Industry | Goleta, California |
ExoTerra Resource, LLC | Supporting Organization | Industry | Littleton, Colorado |
Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) | Supporting Organization | FFRDC/UARC | Pasadena, California |
Langley Research Center (LaRC) | Supporting Organization | NASA Center | Hampton, Virginia |
Lockheed Martin Inc. | Supporting Organization | Industry | Palo Alto, California |
Marshall Space Flight Center (MSFC) | Supporting Organization | NASA Center | Huntsville, Alabama |
Northrop Grumman Systems Corporation | Supporting Organization | Industry | Redondo Beach, California |
Ohio Aerospace Institute (OAI) | Supporting Organization | Non-Profit Institution | Brook Park, Ohio |
Orbital ATK Space Systems Group | Supporting Organization | Industry | Dulles, Virginia |
Sierra Lobo, Inc. | Supporting Organization |
Industry
Minority-Owned Business,
Small Disadvantaged Business (SDB)
|
Fremont, Ohio |
Space Systems/Loral, LLC (SSL) | Supporting Organization | Industry | San Jose, California |
The Boeing Company (Boeing) | Supporting Organization | Industry | Chicago, Illinois |