Space Vehicle Mission Planning

In this chapter, following an introduction to the concepts and practices of mission planning, their relationships to the space propulsion systems used to generate the propulsive forces are discussed. Space propulsion systems are then broadly classified, and the fundamental concepts and metrics used to characterize space propulsion forces and impulses are presented. The dynamics of launch vehicles is then introduced, and this is followed by a brief discussion of the differing requirements for propelling launch vehicles into orbits and manoeuvring satellites in orbits. The celebrated rocket equation is then introduced and expressed in different forms for various applications. The concept of multistaging is then introduced followed by its use in optimizing the number of stages and maximizing the velocity increment that can be generated. Electric propulsion is briefly discussed including its applications to mission design, and this is followed by chemical propulsion systems from the perspective of mission design.