NUCLEAR THERMAL PROPULSION DESIGN

Описание: Nuclear thermal propulsion is one technology that can provide high thrust and double the propellant efficiency of chemical rockets, making it a viable option for crewed missions to Mars. The system works by transferring heat from the reactor directly to a gaseous hydrogen propellant. Heated hydrogen expands through a nozzle to provide thrust to propel a spacecraft.

Today’s advances in materials, testing capabilities, and reactor development are providing momentum for NASA, in partnership with the Department of Energy (DOE), to mature functional nuclear thermal propulsion components needed to support a subscale engine demonstration.
Nuclear thermal propulsion has been on NASA’s radar for more than 60 years.
Nuclear thermal propulsion could be an enabling technology for future crewed missions to Mars, largely due to its performance advantages over conventional chemical propulsion systems. Under NASA’s current Moon to Mars exploration approach, human exploration of Mars is targeted for as early as the 2030s.
Nuclear thermal propulsion could allow for more flexible abort scenarios, allowing crew to return to Earth at multiple times, if needed, including immediately upon arrival at Mars.
Materials inside the fission reactor must be able to survive temperatures above 4,600 degrees Fahrenheit.
To keep the round-trip crewed mission duration to about two years, NASA is looking at nuclear-enabled transportation systems to facilitate the shorter-stay class of missions, taking advantage of optimal planetary alignment for a low-energy transit for one leg of the trip, and using the new technology to make the higher-energy transit for the other leg.
NASA is looking at two types of nuclear propulsion systems – thermal and electric – for human missions to Mars, specifically for stays of up to 50 days in the vicinity of Mars (30 days on the surface) and an overall mission duration of no more than two years. To meet this mission duration, a nuclear electric system would need a large chemical stage to meet the overall thrust capability needed for a human Mars mission.
Partners:
NASA’s space nuclear propulsion project is led by the agency’s Space Technology Mission Directorate and funded through its Technology Demonstration Missions program based at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama. The project, also at Marshall, collaborates with DOE to advance the key technologies needed for future human missions to Mars.
DOE facilities supporting NASA’s space nuclear propulsion project include Idaho National Laboratory, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, and Los Alamos National Laboratory.
In addition to Marshall, NASA centers supporting nuclear thermal propulsion activities include NASA’s Glenn Research Center in Cleveland and NASA’s Stennis Space Center in Mississippi.
Nuclear thermal propulsion development is also supported by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, University of Alabama Huntsville, Aerojet Rocketdyne, BWX Technologies, UltraSafe Nuclear Corporation, the Aerospace Corporation, Analytical Mechanics Associates, and Geocent.
Each supporting entity brings its own unique expertise and capabilities to contribute to the goal of realizing a high-performance fission-based propulsion system to enable extended human exploration of the solar system.nuclear thermal propulsion,nuclear propulsion,nuclear thermal rocket,nuclear,nuclear thermal,nuclear rocket,propulsion,nuclear fusion,bimodal nuclear propulsion,nuclear space propulsion,bwxt nuclear thermal propulsion,nuclear thermal propulsion nasa,nuclear electric propulsion,nuclear thermal propulsion (ntp),pulsed nuclear thermal propulsion,nuclear thermal propulsion engine,nuclear rocket engine,nuclear thermal rocket nasa