Lunar Cargo Tug

Future moon utilization will require a great deal of cargo in the form of facilities, machinery, vehicles, and supplies. Present planning assumes that all of this cargo will be transferred from low Earth orbit to the Moon’s surface by chemical propulsion.

An unmanned cargo capability based on VASIMR^® propulsion offers significant cost savings to the proposed lunar exploration program.  VASIMR^® delivers the highest fraction of the initial mass in low Earth orbit (IMLEO) to the Moon, thereby reducing the cost per kg. In a 6 month lunar cargo mission, a VASIMR^® with 5,000 s specific impulse can deliver approximately double the payload mass of a chemical rocket system.