NASA NTRS · 20190004963
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Mitchell, Sonny, Johnson, Les. 2019-04-30. STMD: Nuclear Thermal Propulsion Update. https://ntrs.nasa.gov/citations/20190004963
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The National Aeronautics and Space Administration’s (NASA’s) Space Nuclear Propulsion (SNP) project aims to demonstrate the feasibility of nuclear thermal propulsion (NTP) as a thrust mechanism for spacecraft. An initial Demonstration Rocket for Agile Cislunar Operations (DRACO) launch will serve as a test of the technology in Earth’s orbit. Future work may involve the development of an NTP engine and spacecraft design with the capability to transport astronauts from Earth to Mars and back safely, though NTP has other potential uses too.
Nuclear Thermal Propulsion (NTP) is identified as one of the preferred propulsion technologies for manned missions throughout the solar system (NASA MSFC).[1, 2] The state-ofthe-art NTP cycle is based on a solid core Nuclear Engine for Rocket Vehicle Application (NERVA)[3] class technology (Fig. 1) that is envisioned to provide a specific impulse of 900 seconds doubling chemical rocket performance (450 seconds). Even with this impressive increase, the NTP NERVA designs still have issues providing adequate initial to final mass fractions for high ΔV missions.[4] Nuclear Electric Propulsion (NEP) can provide extremely high Isp (2,000 to over 10,000 seconds) but with only low thrust and limits on mass to power ratios. The need for an electric power source also adds the issue of heat rejection in space where thermal energy conversion is at best 30-40% under ideal conditions. NASA Space Technology Mission Directorate (STMD) has recently expressed interest in finding advanced nuclear propulsion technology through the NASA Go:Thrust RFI.[5, 6] A novel Wave Rotor (WR) topping cycle has been proposed for our NASA NIAC concept. It promises to deliver similar thrust as NERVA class NTP propulsion, but with Isp in the 1,200-2,000 second range. Coupled with an NEP cycle, the duty cycle Isp can further be increased (1,800-4,000 seconds) with minimal addition of dry mass. This bimodal design enables fast transit trajectories for manned missions to Mars and revolutionizes the deep space exploration of our solar system.
This report is aimed at identifying the implications associated with the operation of space nuclear power reactors that would be utilized for Nuclear Thermal Propulsion (NTP) missions to Mars. The objective of this study is to evaluate the operational features of reactors that could provide propulsion and possibly electrical power for future crewed and cargo missions to Mars. This report follows upon an initial report looking at the generic considerations for operating fission reactors in space applications and is intended as a deeper dive into the operational features related to specific Mars NTP applications.