Nuclear thermal propulsion
Nuclear thermal propulsion uses a nuclear core to heat a propellant and provide propulsion to a space vehicle.
Liquid hydrogen is usually used as the propellant as it has a higher velocity for the same input power, and therefore produces a faster final velocity according to the rocket equation. An animated illustration of nuclear thermal rockets can be found at [1].
History of nuclear thermal propulsion
American
Nerva[2]
| Propellant | Liquid hydrogen |
|---|---|
| Performance | |
| Thrust (vac.) | 246,663 N (55,452 lbf) |
| Chamber pressure | 3,861 kPa (560.0 psi) |
| Isp (vac.) | 841 seconds (8.25 km/s) |
| Isp (SL) | 710 seconds (7.0 km/s) |
| Burn time | 1,680 seconds |
| Thrust to weigh ratio | 1.36 |
| Restarts | 24 |
| Dimensions | |
| Length | 6.9 meters (23 ft) |
| Diameter | 2.59 meters (8 ft 6 in) |
| Dry weight | 18,144 kilograms (40,001 lb) |
Russian
Analysis of use
Advantages
- Higher ISP than chemical
- Higher power energy source
- Shorter travel time
- Oberth effect
- Self cooling
Disadvantages
- Cost
- Cost of development
- Risk of accident
- Lower ISP than electric
- Low public trust
- Thrust to weight ratio close to 1 (cannot take off from Earth with a significant payload)
Types
References
- ↑ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3aBOhC1c6m8
- ↑ Nerva on Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NERVA
- ↑ https://ntrs.nasa.gov/archive/nasa/casi.ntrs.nasa.gov/19960001947.pdf
- ↑ https://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/handle/2027.42/87734/585_1.pdf
- ↑ https://ntrs.nasa.gov/archive/nasa/casi.ntrs.nasa.gov/19690014077.pdf
- ↑ http://www.path-2.narod.ru/design/base_e/nswr.pdf
