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Concept of application of water electrolysis propulsion system as a component of a universal space platform for asteroid exploration mission

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Abstract

The article presents the concept of a universal space platform with a propulsion system based on water electrolysis. The spacecraft based on the platform is used for an asteroid research mission. The mission task is to extract water from the target asteroid and refuel the spacecraft. The requirements for such a performance of a universal space platform are proposed. The advantages and disadvantages of using such propulsion systems in small spacecraft are highlighted.

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Code availability

All code can be found at https://github.com/Zebrushka/universal-space-platfrom-trajectory.

Data availability

Not applicable.

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Funding

The research was funded by the Ministry of Education and Science of the Chelyabinsk Region.

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All authors contributed to the study’s conception and design. Material preparation, data collection and analysis were performed by MS. The first draft of the manuscript was written by MS and all authors commented on previous versions of the manuscript. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.

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Correspondence to Mikhail Shalashov.

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The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

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Shalashov, M., Fedorov, V., Vaulin, S. et al. Concept of application of water electrolysis propulsion system as a component of a universal space platform for asteroid exploration mission. AS 5, 159–165 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s42401-021-00110-0

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s42401-021-00110-0

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