An atmosphere-breathing electric propulsion system (ABEP) captures the residual atmosphere of a planet and uses it as propellant for an electric thruster to counteract the drag. The system would theoretically allow orbiting for unlimited time without on-board propellant storage. A new range of altitudes, e.g. 120-250 km in Earth orbit, the Very-Low Earth orbit (VLEO), for permanent orbiting can be accessed, thereby enabling new scientific missions. ABEP can be conceptually applied to any planet with atmosphere. IRS has several decades of heritage on the development of inductively heated plasma generators (IPG). Such devices are electrodeless, removing the issue of electrode erosion that reduces performance over time (see RIT, HET). Aggressive gases such as O as propellant, highly present in VLEO, will cause even faster erosion. IRS is currently developing an inductive plasma thruster (IPT) for ABEP application within the H2020 DISCOVERER project.

Peer Reviewed