In-space transportation of a solar power satellite using a hall thruster propulsion system

Abstract

A feasibiity study of solar power satellite (SPS) in-space transportation using a Hall thruster propulsion system was conducted based on cost evaluation. The transportation scenario was optimized through the cost evaluation: the choice of reusing or disposing orbit transfer vehicle (OTV), and power of propulsion system. From the result, the case of reusing OTVs was superior to the case of disposing them because the OTVs' manufacturing cost is predominant in the total cost. In addition, the power had only limited influence on the cost. In order to achieve the target cost of $3.75 billion (300 billion yen) from LEO to GEO including propellant launch cost from Earth to LEO, further improvements are required, and related desirable innovations are discussed.