Abstract: By enabling In-Situ Resource Utilization (ISRU) to collect the ambient orbital atmosphere as propellant, Air-Breathing Electric Propulsion (ABEP) fundamentally breaks the physical constraints of conventional onboard propellant capacity. This provides a highly promising propulsion solution for the extended-life operation of deep-space exploration spacecraft. Targeting the unique atmospheric environment of Low Mars Orbit (LMO), this paper systematically investigates the aerodynamic design and engineering feasibility of the ABEP system for Mars exploration missions. First, a Martian atmospheric model spanning an altitude of 100 to 200 km is constructed to analyze the characteristics of the rarefied gas composition, which is predominantly carbon dioxide. Building on this, the Direct Simulation Monte Carlo (DSMC) method is employed to evaluate the capture and compression performance of a novel intake device—featuring a honeycomb inlet combined with a truncated-cone compression section—under varying wall accommodation coefficients. The results indicate that gas-surface interaction mechanisms dominate the particle transport process within the intake device. The compression ratio exhibits a non-monotonic trend—initially increasing and then decreasing with the wall accommodation coefficient—and reaches an optimal peak of approximately 36.8 under moderate accommodation conditions. Furthermore, a system-level aerodynamic drag assessment indicates that the drag at a 145-km orbital altitude is on the order of 10-4 N. This is complemented by discharge tests of a helicon plasma thruster using carbon dioxide (CO?) and nitrogen (N?) as propellants, effectively verifying propellant compatibility. By bridging microscopic aerodynamic capture with macroscopic thrust-drag matching, this study demonstrates the feasibility of utilizing an ABEP system to sustain satellite operations in LMO. The results provide a reference for the design and performance assessment of ABEP intakes under representative Martian orbital conditions. The system’s ability to balance thrust and drag requires further validation through thrust measurements under realistic propellant supply conditions.

Key words: Air-Breathing Electric Propulsion (ABEP), Mars exploration, In-Situ Resource Utilization (ISRU), Intake device, DSMC, Helicon plasma thruster