The proposed thruster system has many applications both as a stand-alone system and as part of a much larger (higher power) cluster. On its own, the thruster will be well suited for orbit raising and interplanetary transfers, supporting exploration and science missions to NEOs, Asteroids, comets, and planets. The demonstrated throttling ability of iodine is important for a singular thruster that might be called upon to propel a spacecraft from Earth to Mars or Venus. The ability to throttle efficiently is even more important for missions beyond Mars. Another possible NASA application is re-boosting the ISS, a mission which is currently accomplished by inefficient chemical propulsion. For high power exploration missions (hundreds of kW or greater), the system would be increased in size and/or clustered. Destinations of interest include the Moon, Mars, asteroids, and NEOs. Integrated with a high power commercial spacecraft, the proposed thruster could accomplish all required propulsion functions including orbit raising, orbit circularization, inclination changes, station-keeping and repositioning. All aspects of a GTO to GEO transfer are possible. The thruster would be also very well sized for a high power electric upper stage for a commercial launch vehicle. The high stored density of iodine leads to much lower system volume than with xenon or other conventional alternatives.
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