Inter-moon cargo tug (V7)
Slow spirals between Titan, the Gateway and Enceladus
Slow spirals between Titan, the Gateway and Enceladus. Gentle and patient. A fission reactor feeds Hall thrusters that push very hard in speed and very softly in force, spiralling cargo between Titan, the Gateway and Enceladus over months.
Propulsion: Nuclear-electric: fission reactor, Brayton conversion, Hall thrusters. Envelope: 70 m long by 40 m maximum diameter design · span across radiator wings
All input and derived values below are read from assets/data/vehicles.json, generated by scripts/analysis/vehicle_budget.py. Values marked “verify” are not established facts.
Open the 3D model See it in the tour How the propulsion works
Inputs
| Input | Value | Basis and notes |
|---|---|---|
| Isp, s | 2,500 | physics Hall thrusters with xenon: Isp 1,500-3,000 s (NASA Glenn electric propulsion) |
| Dry mass with payload, t | 100 | design |
| Trip, days | 120 | design |
| Thruster efficiency | 0.6 | physics |
| Conversion efficiency | 0.3 | physics |
| Radiator temperature, K | 500 | physics |
| Propellant | xenon, imported | design |
Derived performance
| Quantity | Value |
|---|---|
| Spiral Δv Titan to Enceladus, km/s | 7.05 |
| Mass ratio | 1.358 |
| Xenon, t | 35.8 |
| Xenon volume, m³ | 23 |
| Thrust, N | 85 |
| Electric power, MW | 1.74 |
| Reactor thermal, MW | 5.8 |
| Radiator area, m² | 790 |
| Radiator wings | 2 |
| Radiator wing length, m | 18.5 |
| Radiator wing chord, m | 21.4 |
| Hall thrusters | 16 |
| Power per thruster, kW | 109 |
| Thrust per thruster, N | 5.3 |
| Xenon tanks | 4 |
| Xenon tank diameter, m | 2.24 |