Low-thrust propulsion technologies for space mission applications

In this thesis, various aspects of physical modeling are developed to suggest the possibility that alternative low-thrust propulsion systems could be concretely employed in mission scenarios made attractive by recent developments in astrobiology. The systems considered are a solar sail using the additional contribute of thermal desorptiona and the Direct Fusion Drive (DFD) engine. The specific aspects developed in this thesis are the use of evaporable materials to increase the thrust in solar sails, the modeling of the transport of charged particles in magnetized plasmas such as those of interest for compact fusion reactors, and the simulation of specific mission scenarios. The methods used for this purpose are based on the kinetic theory of gases and plasma and on flight dynamics. The results obtained, in addition to the first integrated exposure of these two propulsion systems within specific scenarios, are: the study of the effect of evaporable material, the development of a high-performance computing program for the simulation of the dynamics of charged particles in magnetized plasmas, the detailed simulation of a scenario for reaching promising targets for deep space exploration.