Over the span of two projects, researchers at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign investigated using a propulsion concept known as multimode propulsion to get spacecraft to the moon and developed a technique to design optimal multimode transfers.

NASA provided the team with four real mission scenarios. The goal was to explore how a multimode propulsion system that integrates both a chemical high-thrust mode and an electric low-thrust mode—while using the same propellant—can succeed. They examined using a standard 12-unit CubeSat to accomplish four distinct missions.