LUNANOVA KICK STAGE STUDY: AN OVERVIEW OF THE SYSTEM PROPULSION TRADEOFFS

In the last decade, the boom of commercial space has irrevocably propelled the space sector into a new era. These new times come along with a whole new portfolio of missions and services to deliver. ArianeGroup, willing to embrace this vision, has been working to enhance the future European launcher capabilities by studying and developing new space transportation services and logistics. Among these lasts, kick stages play a significant role in providing multi injection capabilities and in-space services such as communications relay or towing. Under the ESA Future Launcher Preparatory Programme (FLPP), ArianeGroup is carrying out a Phase 0/A study to advance this new generation of in-orbit vehicles, i.e. the LunaNova study. This paper provides a product description of the envisioned LunaNova family to later focus on the performed propulsion system trade-offs. More specifically, an overview of the pressurisation system and propellant selection is provided. The paper concludes by discussing the selected alternatives, which will be then integrated into the preliminary system architecture.