MULTIDISCIPLINARY MISSION AND SYSTEM DESIGN TOOL FOR A REUSABLE ELECTRIC PROPULSION SPACE TUG

According to the Global Exploration Roadmap, a Getaway in the lunar vicinity will enable the human exploration of the Moon, Mars and the deep space. A reusable transportation system, the Lunar Space Tug (LST), can be the key support to achieve a continuous link between the Earth and the lunar outpost. The complexity of the preliminary design of the LST calls for merged trajectory and sizing tool. Politecnico di Torino, in collaboration with ESTEC, developed a MatLab-based preliminary design tool for electric propulsion space tug missions, called MultidisciplinAry desiGN Electric Tug tOol (MAGNETO). The paper describes the overall tool architecture and analyses its main outputs. The comparison with the previous results obtained with the MISS (Mission and Space Systems) tool will be presented.