Overview, Opportunities, and Challenges of Air-Breathing Electric Propulsion

This talk details open research questions and impacts of air-breathing electric propulsion (ABEP). We identify a roadmap to enabling ABEP technologies and describe applications of self-refueling thrust architectures. These include details of mission designs, performance characterization, and the impact of sustained satellite operation in very low Earth orbit (VLEO). We give an overview of current performance thresholds of air-breathing thrusters and identify how far this performance must go to sustain altitudes in VLEO. We highlight the needed scientific advancements to realize these technologies including innovations at the intersection of plasma physics, gas dynamics, air chemistry, and material science. Finally, we describe specific scientific and technological challenges ranging from the collection of air as a propellant to its impact on thruster longevity. These include the harvesting and compression of air, plasma generation, power requirements to sustain orbit, material passivation, and the effects of air chemistry.