As an emerging trend, green propulsion has been exponentially growing over decades in the space sector. This paper assesses different technologies in a trade-off study weighing their applicability to a specific class of upper stage systems currently developed by many companies and often referred to as "kick-stages" or "orbital stages." In a generic two-stage-to-orbit scenario, many launchers require a system able to go the extra mile to deliver one or multiple payloads on orbit(s). That is where the kick-stage plays a crucial role. The trade-off study reported here is based on a well-known decisionmaking tool, the analytical hierarchy process (AHP), and is divided into two parts: low-thrust class engines, such as monopropellants including pre-mixed blends usually employed for attitude and reaction control, and high-thrust engines, such as hypergolic bi-propellants combinations used for apogee maneuver. Hybrid thrusters are also considered in the analysis with a dedicated parallel trade-off. This paper is published with the permission of the authors granted to 3AF - Association Aeronautique et Astronautique de France (www.3AF.fr) organizer of the Space Propulsion International Conference.
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