Electric Propulsion – EP– is a technology aimed at generating thrust with high exhaust velocities. Compared to other conventional propulsion methods, the result is a significant reduction of the propellant mass necessary for a given space mission. Reduced propellant mass can significantly decrease the launch mass of a spacecraft, leading to lower costs and smaller platforms. EP can also enable new missions that could not be attainable through less efficient thrusters.

The overall reduction in cost and mass of an EP mission has raised interest of commercial and institutional players in the last 10 years, so that today all LEO mega-constellations have an EP system onboard, and most of the GEO platforms rely on electric thrusters. Many space exploration missions also strongly benefit from the adoption of EP systems, as they are typically very demanding in terms of total delta-V and the propellant mass fraction would be too high if a conventional chemical propulsion system is used.

With this workshop SITAEL and Politecnico di Milano wish to promote an insight on the Italian know-how and competences on Electric Propulsion systems and on those advanced mission design capabilities that can allow us to better exploit the unique performance of EP thrusters for future endeavors.