The Decadal Survey Committee was tasked to develop a comprehensive science and mission strategy for planetary science that updates and extends the National Academies Space Studies Board s current solar system exploration decadal survey. A Uranus orbiter mission has been evaluated as a part of this 2013-2022 Planetary Science Decadal Survey. A comprehensive Uranus orbiter mission design was completed, including a broad search of interplanetary electric propulsion transfer options. The scope of interplanetary trades was limited to electric propulsion concepts, both solar and radioisotope powered. Solar electric propulsion offers significant payloads to Uranus. Inserted mass into the initial science orbit due is highly sensitive to transfer time due to arrival velocities. The recommended baseline trajectory is a 13 year transfer with an Atlas 551, a 1+1 NEXT stage with 15 kW of power using an EEJU trajectory and a 1,000km EGA flyby altitude constraint. This baseline delivers over 2,000kg into the initial science orbit. Interplanetary trajectory trades and sensitivity analyses are presented herein

Dankanich, John W.

McAdams, James

NASA Technical Reports Server

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INTERPLANETARY ELECTRIC PROPULSION URANUS MISSION 
TRADES SUPPORTING THE DECADAL SURVEY 
John W. Dankanich* and James McAdams† 
The Decadal Survey Committee was tasked to develop a comprehensive science 
and mission strategy for planetary science that updates and extends the National 
Academies Space Studies Board’s current solar system exploration decadal 
survey.  A Uranus orbiter mission has been evaluated as a part of this 2013-2022 
Planetary Science Decadal Survey.  A comprehensive Uranus orbiter mission 
design was completed, including a broad search of interplanetary electric 
propulsion transfer options.  The scope of interplanetary trades was limited to 
electric propulsion concepts, both solar and radioisotope powered. Solar electric 
propulsion offers significant payloads to Uranus.  Inserted mass into the initial 
science orbit due is highly sensitive to transfer time due to arrival velocities.  
The recommended baseline trajectory is a 13 year transfer with an Atlas 551, a 
1+1 NEXT stage with 15 kW of power using an EEJU trajectory and a 1,000km 
EGA flyby altitude constraint.  This baseline delivers over 2,000kg into the 
initial science orbit.  Interplanetary trajectory trades and sensitivity analyses are 
presented herein. 
INTRODUCTION 
Mission design trades were carried out in support of the decadal mission survey for a Uranus System 
mission.
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  The scope of trades presented is limited to interplanetary electric propulsion trajectories, both 
solar and radioisotope powered, to Uranus.  Trades originally included broad search of Neptune orbiter 
solutions, but the detailed results were only requested for Uranus. Several guidelines were provided for the 
Uranus mission trade space.  The solutions must have a reasonable backup solution.  The timeline for 
investigation is from 2018 to 2023 launch dates.  The total transfer times considered ranged from 10 – 13 
years.  The final mission design selected was provided to the APL ACE team for a preferred point design 
mission study.  The mission study was a Concept Maturity Level 4; a point design to subsystem level mass, 
power, performance, cost, and risk.
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The interplanetary trajectory is influenced by the arrival conditions at Uranus and minimizing the 
excess velocity.  The final result is from an iterative process with the science orbit specified as shown in 
Figure 1 with a periapsis of 1.3 RUranus by 20.08 days.  Following the primary science campaign, the 
spacecraft must have enough mass for a 730 m/s chemical ΔV to complete the satellite tour shown in 
Figure 2.  The orbit insertion and tour details are provided by McAdams et al.
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* Aerospace Engineer, NASA’s In-Space Propulsion Technology Project, 21000 Brookpark Rd., M/S 77-4, Cleveland, 
OH, 44135. 
† Mission Design Lead Engineer, The Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory, 11100 Johns Hopkins Rd, 
Laurel MD, 20723. 
AAS 11-189 
https://ntrs.nasa.gov/search.jsp?R=20120018044 2019-08-30T23:28:39+00:00Z
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Figure 1. Uranus orbiter and prove arrival trajectories. 
 
Figure 2. Uranus satellite tour from initial science orbit.  
BASELINE TRAJECTORY ASSUMPTIONS 
The electric propulsion mission trades were conducted using the Mission Analysis Low-Thrust 
Optimization (MALTO)
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 Tool. The electric propulsion margins and assumptions can have significant effect 
on the results.  The baseline assumptions are provided in Table 1 unless otherwise stated.  Also, the solar 
electric propulsion (SEP) thrusters assume a thruster model that can throttle from minimum to maximum 
power while changing thrust and specific impulse to coincide with the demonstrated performance of the 
thruster.  For radioisotope powered electric propulsion trades, the thruster is allowed to operate at the 
optimal specific impulse for the specified thruster efficiency.  This was chosen because the SEP thrusters 
are at Technology Readiness Level (TRL) 6 while the REP thruster is at TRL 3.
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Table 1. Thruster and optimization assumptions 
 
Solar Electric 
Propulsion 
Radioisotope Electric 
Propulsion 
Power, kW* 12 0.7 
Housekeeping Power, kW 0.0 0.0 
Thruster Efficiency, % NEXT
6
 55% 
Specific Impulse, s NEXT Optimized 
Duty Cycle, % 90% 90% 
Solar Array Model Ultraflex NA 
Number of Thrusters 2 1 
Launch Vehicle Atlas 551 Atlas 551 w/ Star 48 
* Solar power specified at 1 AU, radioisotope power is constant throughout the mission 
SOLAR ELECTRIC PROPULSION RESULTS 
As was shown by Landau, Lam and Strange,
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 the combination of solar electric propulsion and gravity 
assists enable missions with larger payloads than with chemical propulsion over a broad range of flight 
times and power levels.  Several of the highest performance trajectory solutions are provided in Table 2.  
The broad search included launch opportunities between 2018 and 2030.  The baseline trajectories from 
Table 2 are shown in the appendix.  These solutions are for 10 year transfer times using the NEXT 2+1 SEP 
stage with 15 kW of power as proposed for the Titan Saturn System Mission.
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  Inserted mass estimated in 
tables 3-8 used a SEP stage mass with a CBE of 625kg that is dropped prior to the chemical orbit insertion. 
Table 2. Highest performing SEP trajectory sequences to Uranus.  
Trajectory 
Sequence 
Launch Date 
Delivered     
Mass, kg 
Propellant      
Mass, kg 
Arrival V∞, km/s 
EEJU 7/14/2020 3756 411 8.67 
EEJU 5/24/2019 4238 330 9.90 
EVVEJU 8/31/2018 4941 426 10.96 
EVEJU 1/29/2020 4020 440 9.41 
EMEJU 2/5/1019 4245 311 10.51 
EESU 8/4/2026 3378 426 8.97 
EEEJU 3/10/2018 5627 639 13.16 
 
Overall, performance to Uranus is greatly increased with the use of a Jupiter Gravity Assist (JGA).  
Because of this, and the existence of primary and backup solutions in 2019 and 2020, they were the original 
the baseline solar electric propulsion options within the 2018 – 2023 timeframe.  For planning missions of 
the next decade, it is important to note that the phasing of Jupiter and Uranus will make the Jupiter gravity 
assist to Uranus only available for launch opportunities before 2020.  After Jupiter gravity assists become 
unavailable, Saturn flybys will provide the greatest delivered mass capabilities. 
One of the largest challenges to a Uranus mission is the distance that must be traveled to reach Uranus.  
Because of the distance that must be traveled, the spacecraft must either have a very long transfer time or 
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arrive with a very high V∞.  The high arrival velocities require a very large chemical Uranus Orbit Insertion 
(UOI) maneuver to enter the science orbit.  The UOI ΔV as a function of V∞ was provided by APL and is 
shown below in Figure 3. Aerocapture can enable a shorter mission time with greater delivered mass, but 
the risk associated with avoiding the rings eliminated Aerocapture from the trades. 
 
Figure 3. Uranus orbit insertion ΔV as a function of V∞. 
Recommended EEJU Solutions and Trades 
The EEJU trajectory provides the higher delivered mass capability with a viable backup opportunity.  
The 2019 and 2020 launch EEJU trajectories for 10 year solutions are shown in Figures 4 and 5 
respectively.  The mission must be designed for the lower performance solution with the worst case launch 
energy and propellant load.  Due to its lower performance, trades are conducted on the 2019 launch 
solution. 
 
Figure 4. EEJU 10 year trajectory for 2019 launch opportunity.  
 
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Figure 5. EEJU 10 year trajectory for 2020 launch opportunity. 
Trip Time Sensitivity 
As shown in Table 3 and Figure 6, increasing the trip time from a 10 year transfer to 13 years can 
significantly reduce the arrival velocity and therefore increases the overall delivered mass.  The transfer 
time has negligible effect on the EP propellant for delivered mass capability. 
Table 3. Transfer time effect on inserted mass.  
 
 
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Figure 6. Mission performance versus transfer time.  
Earth Flyby Distance Sensitivity 
The highest performing trajectory optimizes to a very low flyby altitude for the Earth Gravity Assist 
(EGA).  Because the Uranus mission will likely require the use of a radioisotope power, it is desired to 
have a high flyby altitude constraint.  The mission performance as a function of flyby altitude is shown in 
Table 4 and Figure 7. The inserted mass is not very sensitive to the flyby attitude from 300km to 1,000km, 
but the performance drop off becomes steep at several thousand kilometer altitudes. For safety 
considerations, it was determined to use 1,000km as the minimum EGA flyby altitude.   
Table 4. EGA flyby altitude effect on inserted mass.  
 
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Figure 7. Mission performance versus EGA flyby altitude.  
Launch Vehicle Performance 
After iterating with the overall spacecraft design, the baseline mission was established to be a 12 year 
transfer to reduce the UOI ΔV.  This new baseline is shown in Figure 8.  Using this 12 year transfer time 
baseline, the performance capability was assessed for smaller launch vehicles. 
 
Figure 8. Performance for a 12 year transfer and a 1,000km EGA flyby altitude.  
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Launch vehicle step down decreases the inserted mass by approximately 200 kg per step down.  The 
mission performance is shown in Table 5 and Figure 9. 
Table 5. Performance for the Atlas V family of launch vehicles. 
 
 
Figure 9. Mission performance versus launch vehicle. 
Power Level Sensitivity and Single Thruster Performance 
One concern of using electric propulsion is the cost of the SEP stage.  To minimize the cost, a smaller 
solar array, fewer thrusters, and/or a commercial Hall thruster can be considered.  The performance of 
lower power and only one thruster is shown in Table 6 and Figure 10.  The results show that there is very 
little performance drop-off as the power level is decreased, only one thruster is used, or a Hall thruster is 
employed.  The Hall thruster shown below is a 2+1 BPT-4000 system and provides the greatest decrease in 
C3, but also required twice the propellant. 
  
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Table 6. Performance of lower cost SEP stage options.  
 
 
Figure 10: Mission performance of lower cost SEP stage options. 
All Solar Power 
Another consideration is the performance of Solar Electric Propulsion if radioisotope is unavailable for 
spacecraft power.  As was shown in Figure 10, the performance is not very sensitive to available power.  A 
60 kW solar array is assumed for the all solar powered case.  The solar array performance is modeling 
using the DARPA FAST array.  The resulting trajectory is shown in Figure 11.  The overall delivered mass 
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is not greatly enhanced using the additional power.  A comparison of using the FAST array and the 
radioisotope powered 15 kW SEP stage is shown in table 7. 
Table 7. Performance of all solar powered system versus RPS powered SEP stage concept.  
 
 
Figure 11. Mission performance with 60 kW a solar array. 
SEP Options without Jupiter Gravity Assist 
Low-thrust trajectories using solar electric propulsion were found to deliver significant payloads to 
Uranus insertion with reasonable cruise durations of 10-12 years and with a minimal EP system 
configuration; one or two operating thrusters and less than 15kW of solar power.  Because the JGA 
opportunities are not available within the limits of the decadal study beyond a 2020 launch, an additional 
constraint eliminating the option of a JGA was imposed to make the study more broadly applicable.  
Unfortunately, as was shown in table 2, all of the highest performing SEP solutions within the launch years 
benefited significantly from a JGA.  Within the 2018 – 2023 launch opportunities, two options were found 
for consideration; a long duration multi-gravity assist sequence or only an Earth Gravity Assist (EGA). 
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Long Duration Interplanetary Transfer 
The solution shown in figure 12 is for an E-E-V-E-E-S gravity assist solution to Uranus.  The challenge 
with this trajectory option is that the arrival velocity is very high.  As shown in table 8, the 13 year transfer 
option has an arrival V∞ approaching 12 km/s, which is prohibitive for a chemical insertion.  A 15 year 
transfer does lower in the insertion ΔV to 2 km/s, but this is likely still prohibitive for the follow-on 
satellite tour. This option may be viable with aerocapture. 
Table 8. Performance of a long-duration option without a JGA.  
 
 
Figure 12. Long duration transfer to Uranus without a JGA. 
Earth Gravity Assist 
A solution to Uranus with a lower arrival velocity is to leverage only a single Earth Gravity Assist.  
Because of the propulsive capability of the Solar Electric Propulsion system, the launch vehicle can propel 
the vehicle with a launch energy of only 11.8 km
2
/s
2
 and then SEP system will raise the aphelion of the 
spacecraft orbit and after two heliocentric revolutions over 4 years, the spacecraft will perform an Earth 
gravity assist towards Uranus.  After the EGA, the SEP system can be staged and the spacecraft will cruise 
another 9 years before performing the Uranus orbit insertion.  The 9 year transit from Earth to Uranus 
allows the spacecraft to arrive with a V∞ of 7.21 km/s.  This option delivers sufficient payload to Uranus 
with a feasibly chemical orbit insertion maneuver.  This option also allows for repeatable launch 
opportunities because it only requires an Earth Gravity Assist. The trajectory shown in figure 13 is this 
recommended solution at 20 days prior to the optimal launch date, for launch window requirements, and 
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with a 30 day forced coast period after launch and before the EGA.  This solution is based on 20 kW of 
solar array power, 335W of housekeeping power assumed, and two operating NEXT thrusters with a 90% 
duty cycle.  Because of the study constraints, this option was carried for the complete spacecraft design. 
The estimated performance is shown in table 9, though the detailed higher fidelity results are available in 
the final decadal report.
 1 
Table 9. Performance of an EGA option without a JGA.  
 
 
Figure 13. EGA option to Uranus with a JGA. 
RADIOISOTOPE ELECTRIC PROPULSION RESULTS 
Options were also evaluated assuming the use of radioisotope powered electric propulsion (REP).  For 
the radioisotope powered electric propulsion trades, the baseline is the Atlas 551 with a Star 48 upper stage.  
The baseline power is 700 Watts and a baseline trip time of 13 years. 
Chemical Insertion or EP Rendezvous 
With the use of radioisotope power for the electric propulsion system, the EP can be leveraged to lower 
the arrival velocity and decrease the chemical insertion ΔV.  The REP can also reduce the launch 
requirements for the chemical UOI, but because the power is very low compared to the SEP capability, the 
improved launch performance is minimal.  A comparison of the performance of SEP vs. REP is shown in 
Table 10.  An REP trajectory with chemical UOI is shown in Figure 14.  The performance of the SEP 
solution is approximately 1,000kg greater than the any of the REP options.  The highest performance REP 
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solution leveraged the REP to decrease the arrival velocity but not rendezvous.  Figure 15 compares various 
REP options with the SEP solution.  The EP rendezvous is not recommended for this mission because the 
chemical propulsion system can leverage the large gravity well for an efficient UOI. 
Table 10. REP JGA performance with comparison to SEP and direct options. 
 
 
Figure 14. REP trajectory with chemical UOI.  
 
  
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Figure 15. Performance comparison of various REP options and SEP comparable solution. 
SUMMARY 
Based on the trades conducted, the recommended starting point for a higher fidelity mission and 
spacecraft point design is a 1+1 NEXT propulsion system with a 15 kW solar array assuming the JGA is 
allowed.  The recommended trajectory is shown in Figure 16, and the trajectory characteristics are shown 
in Figures 18 – 20.  Without a JGA option, the recommended starting point for a higher fidelity mission and 
spacecraft point design is a 2+1 NEXT propulsion system with a 20 kW solar array.  The recommended 
trajectory is shown in figure 17, and the characteristics are shown in figures 21-23.  Because of the increase 
in mission risk, new technology requirements, and decreased performance, no REP solutions are 
recommended for a Uranus orbiter mission. 
  
Figure 16. Recommended EEJU solution  
with a JGA. 
Figure 17. Recommended solution    
without a JGA. 
 
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Figure 18. Solar array power over                   
EEJU mission time. 
Figure 19. PPU input power over EEJU 
mission time. 
  
Figure 20. Distance from the Earth and Sun from 
the spacecraft over the EEJU mission. 
Figure 21. Solar array power over EEU 
mission time. 
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Figure 22. PPU input power over        
EEU mission time. 
Figure 23. Distance from the Earth and Sun 
from the spacecraft over the EEU mission 
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS 
This work was funded by NASA supporting the Ice Giant Orbiter / Probe Decadal Study led by The 
Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory (JHU/APL), with significant input from Yanping 
Guo, Steve Oleson, Rob Gold, Doug Eng, and Helmut Seifert. 
APPENDIX 
 
Figure A-1 Example EVVEJU 10 year trajectory. 
 
. 
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Figure A-2. Example EVEJU 10 year trajectory.  
 
Figure A-3. Example EMEJU 10 year trajectory 
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Figure A-4. Example EESU 10 year trajectory 
 
Figure A-5. Example EEEJU 10 year trajectory.  
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Interplanetary Electric Propulsion Uranus Mission Trades Supporting the Decadal Survey

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