Hall thrusters are considered for propulsion systems in Mars exploration missions and typically utilize xenon as the propellant. However, owing to geopolitical factors, the price of xenon has soared. Consequently, cheaper alternative propellants such as carbon dioxide have attracted interest. Hence, this study presents an Earth–Mars orbital analysis using Hall thrusters fueled by xenon and carbon dioxide, comparing them in terms of payload mass and transportation costs. We assumed that the launch to Earth's orbit could be conducted using the H3-24L rocket, and the injection energy C3 was calculated for each thruster. The payload mass, using carbon dioxide was 462 kg lower than that using xenon. In terms of transportation costs, using carbon dioxide instead of xenon would result in a projected savings of 29.4 million dollars. Furthermore, this study found that by improving the specific impulse of the CO2 Hall thruster to 1,800 s and the thrust efficiency to 0.28, transportation capabilities equivalent to those of xenon can be achieved.
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