Low cost lunar orbiter system design

Lunar and interplanetary missions are extraordinarily expensive. Previous missions have cost hundreds of millions of dollars and for this reason were primarily the domain of large national space agencies. However, in recent years a trend has developed in which missions have become more affordable giving rise to a new world of space faring nations. Surrey Satellite Technology Ltd (SSTL) has been at the forefront of providing ´affordable access to space´ for a range of Low Earth Orbit (LEO) mission since 1979. Extending this philosophy to a lunar mission will demonstrate a new affordable lunar and interplanetary platform. This paper aims to summarize SSTL´s interest and experience of missions beyond LEO. It outlines the current status of he low cost lunar orbiter system design, detailing the principle design drivers, platform budgets including overall mission cost and outline mission level trade-offs which effect cost the most. It assesses low cost launch options and makes a recommendation for a unique initial launch orbit. A practical Earth departure and lunar capture trajectory is proposed along with a cost-effective operations concept. While this research primarily focuses on platform demonstration the opportunity to undertake science has not been overlooked. This design for low-cost approach is challenging. However, the largely commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) system design, in part developed from the successful SNAP-1 nanosatellite avionics, suggests the mission is feasible for both low cost ($25million dollars) and low risk.