Technology Development of an Electrically Driven Pump Fed Storable Liquid Bi-Propellant for a Mars Ascent Vehicle

摘要

The Mars Ascent Vehicle (MAV) as part of a Mars Sample Return (MSR) campaign is a very unique challenge and has been the focus of technology development and design efforts at JPL for the several decades. Recent trajectory studies, for the current range of MAV payloads (6-25kg), evaluated performance using propulsion systems in the 2.5kN to 4.5kN (600-1000lbf) thrust range. The study examined several propulsion system approaches, solid rocket, bi-propellant and hybrid propulsion systems and developed a ranking based on several key figures of merit. This paper focuses on the evaluations conducted for the two bi-propellant propulsion systems considered for a potential MAV. Historically bi-propellant propulsion systems have been considered for this application, this study took a fresh look at both a conventional State of the Art (SOA) pressure fed bi-propellant propulsion system and recent developments using small EDPF bi-propellant propulsion systems.