Download or read book Space Nuclear Power Generators written by United States. Congress. Joint Committee on Atomic Energy and published by . This book was released on 1966 with total page 282 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Considers Space Nuclear Auxiliary Power program and plans for utilization of isotopic, reactor, or solar powered space electric power systems. Includes "Preliminary SNAPSHOT-1 Performance Summary," AEC report, p. 135-230.
Download or read book Space Nuclear Fission Electric Power Systems written by David Buden and published by . This book was released on 2011 with total page 277 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The advantages of space nuclear fission power systems can be summarized as: compact size; low to moderate mass; long operating lifetimes; the ability to operate in extremely hostile environments; operation independent of the distance from the Sun or of the orientation to the Sun; and high system reliability and autonomy. In fact, as power requirements approach the tens of kilowatts and megawatts, fission nuclear energy appears to be the only realistic power option. The building blocks for space nuclear fission electric power systems include the reactor as the heat source, power generation equipment to convert the thermal energy to electrical power, waste heat rejection radiators and shielding to protect the spacecraft payload. The power generation equipment can take the form of either static electrical conversion elements that have no moving parts (e.g., thermoelectric or thermionic) or dynamic conversion components (e.g., the Rankine, Brayton or Stirling cycle). The U.S. has only demonstrated in space, or even in full systems in a simulated ground environment, uranium-zirconium-hydride reactor power plants. These power plants were designed for a limited lifetime of one year and the mass of scaled up power plants would probably be unacceptable to meet future mission needs. Extensive development was performed on the liquid-metal cooled SP-100 power systems and components were well on their way to being tested in a relevant environment. A generic flight system design was completed for a seven year operating lifetime power plant, but not built or tested. The former USSR made extensive use of space reactors as a power source for radar ocean reconnaissance satellites. They launched some 31 missions using reactors with thermoelectric power conversion systems and two with thermionic converters. Current activities are centered on Fission Surface Power for lunar applications. Activities are concentrating on demonstrating component readiness. This book will discuss the components that make up a nuclear fission power system, the principal requirements and safety issues, various development programs, status of developments, and development issues.
Download or read book Space Nuclear Power Generation Conversion and Storage for the Nineties and Beyond written by United States. Congress. House. Committee on Science and Technology. Subcommittee on Energy Research and Production and published by . This book was released on 1986 with total page 20 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Essential Guide to Space Nuclear Power and Propulsion written by National Ae Space Administration (Nasa) and published by Independently Published. This book was released on 2019-04-28 with total page 284 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This unique book reproduces important government documents, reports, and studies dealing with spaceflight nuclear power and propulsion technologies, including Radioisotope Thermoelectric Generators (RTGs), Plutonium-238 production, NASA Kilopower Fission Reactor (KRUSTY) and nuclear thermal propulsion (NTP) rockets for human Moon and Mars exploration.Contents include: Overview of Space Radioisotope Power Systems and RTGs * Advanced Radioisotope Power System Concepts and Designs * Energy Department and Plutonium Production * Space Exploration - DOE Could Improve Planning and Communication Related to Plutonium-238 and Radioisotope Power Systems Production Challenges * Nuclear Thermal Propulsion (NTP) * NASA's Kilopower Fission Reactor Program and KRUSTYRadioisotope Thermoelectric Generators, or RTGs, provide electrical power for spacecraft by converting the heat generated by the decay of plutonium-238 (Pu-238) fuel into electricity using devices called thermocouples. Since they have no moving parts that can fail or wear out, RTGs have historically been viewed as a highly reliable power option. Thermocouples have been used in RTGs for a total combined time of over 300 years, and a not a single thermocouple has ever ceased producing power. Thermocouples are common in everyday items that must monitor or regulate their temperature, such as air conditioners, refrigerators and medical thermometers. The principle of a thermocouple involves two plates, each made of a different metal that conducts electricity. Joining these two plates to form a closed electrical circuit while keeping the two junctions at different temperatures produces an electric current. Each of these pairs of junctions forms an individual thermocouple. In an RTG, the radioisotope fuel heats one of these junctions while the other junction remains unheated and is cooled by the space environment or a planetary atmosphere.Benefits of NTP propulsion include: For human Mars missions, first generation NTP can reduce crew time away from earth from greater than 900 days to less than 500 days while still allowing ample time for surface exploration; reduce crew exposure to space radiation, microgravity, other hazards; can enable abort modes not available with other architectures including the potential to return to earth anytime within 3 months of earth departure burn, also to return immediately upon arrival at Mars; and stage/habitat optimized for use with NTP could further reduce crew exposure to cosmic rays and provide shielding against any conceivable solar flare.
Download or read book Space Nuclear Power Generators Hearings Before 89 1 August 5 1965 written by and published by . This book was released on 1966 with total page 277 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Space Nuclear Power and Propulsion written by Mohamed S. El-Genk and published by . This book was released on 1993-04 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This extensive and completely comprehensive proceedings volume offers the most in-depth examination available today of nuclear power for applications in space.
Download or read book Nuclear Space Power and Propulsion Systems written by Claudio Bruno and published by Progress in Astronautics and A. This book was released on 2008 with total page 282 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Nuclear propulsion : an introduction / Claudio Bruno -- Nuclear-thermal-rocket propulsion systems / Timothy J. Lawrence -- Application of ion thrusters to high-thrust, high-specific-impulse nuclear electric missions / D.G. Fearn -- High-power and high-thrust-density electric propulsion for in-space transportation / Monika Auweter-Kurtz and Helmut Kurtz -- Review of reactor configurations for space nuclear electric propulsion and surface power considerations / Roger X. Lenard -- Nuclear safety : legal aspects and policy recommendations / Roger X. Lenard -- Radioactivity, doses, and risks in nuclear propulsion / Alessio Del Rossi and Claudio Bruno -- The Chernobyl accident : a detailed account / Alessio del Rossi and Claudio Bruno.
Download or read book SNAP Nuclear Space Reactors written by William R. Corliss and published by . This book was released on 1966 with total page 52 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Space nuclear power generators written by United States. Congress. 89:1. Joint Committee on Atomic Energy and published by . This book was released on 1965 with total page 277 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Radioisotope Power Systems written by National Research Council and published by National Academies Press. This book was released on 2009-07-14 with total page 69 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Spacecraft require electrical energy. This energy must be available in the outer reaches of the solar system where sunlight is very faint. It must be available through lunar nights that last for 14 days, through long periods of dark and cold at the higher latitudes on Mars, and in high-radiation fields such as those around Jupiter. Radioisotope power systems (RPSs) are the only available power source that can operate unconstrained in these environments for the long periods of time needed to accomplish many missions, and plutonium-238 (238Pu) is the only practical isotope for fueling them. Plutonium-238 does not occur in nature. The committee does not believe that there is any additional 238Pu (or any operational 238Pu production facilities) available anywhere in the world.The total amount of 238Pu available for NASA is fixed, and essentially all of it is already dedicated to support several pending missions-the Mars Science Laboratory, Discovery 12, the Outer Planets Flagship 1 (OPF 1), and (perhaps) a small number of additional missions with a very small demand for 238Pu. If the status quo persists, the United States will not be able to provide RPSs for any subsequent missions.
Download or read book Space Nuclear Propulsion for Human Mars Exploration written by National Academies of Sciences Engineering and Medicine and published by . This book was released on 2021-11-12 with total page pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Space Nuclear Propulsion for Human Mars Exploration identifies primary technical and programmatic challenges, merits, and risks for developing and demonstrating space nuclear propulsion technologies of interest to future exploration missions. This report presents key milestones and a top-level development and demonstration roadmap for performance nuclear thermal propulsion and nuclear electric propulsion systems and identifies missions that could be enabled by successful development of each technology.
Download or read book Space Nuclear Power Generators written by United States. Congress. Joint Committee on Atomic Energy and published by . This book was released on 1966 with total page 277 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Reenergizing U S Space Nuclear Power Generation written by Michael W. Obal and published by . This book was released on 2022 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Nuclear Power in Space written by United States. Energy Research and Development Administration and published by . This book was released on 1977 with total page 20 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Nuclear Power in Space written by United States. Department of Energy. Office of Public Affairs and published by . This book was released on 1978 with total page 24 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Multi Megawatt Space Nuclear Power Generation written by and published by . This book was released on 1993 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Capability for multi-megawatt nuclear power generation in space is examined and promising options identified. Nuclear power systems will generate approximately three times as much power as chemical systems, at the same rate of expenditure of consumables. In addition, the nuclear power system exhaust, if used for platform thrust, will have approximately twice the specific impulse of chemical systems. Three reactors options are compared NERVA and two particle bed reactors, the Fixed Bed Reactor (FBR), and the Rotating Bed Reactor (RBR). The particle bed reactors appear to have advantages of much faster startup capability, and reduced concern about reliability and fuel element failure. They also have somewhat smaller size and lower weight, but the benefits are marginal in terms of overall system weight. The FBR appears as the most attractive overall reactor system. It would operate bimodally, generating cw in the hundreds of kW(e) for station keeping, surveillance, defense purposes, etc, and high power, in the hundreds of MW(e), for pulsed energy devices.
Download or read book Space Nuclear Power Applications written by United States. Congress. Joint Committee on Atomic Energy and published by . This book was released on 1962 with total page 380 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
