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Gas core nuclear rocket feasibility project
| Content Provider | NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS) |
|---|---|
| Author | Howe, S. D. Thode, L. DeVolder, B. Zerkle, D. |
| Copyright Year | 1997 |
| Description | The next giant leap for mankind will be the human exploration of Mars. Almost certainly within the next thirty years, a human crew will brave the isolation, the radiation, and the lack of gravity to walk on and explore the Red planet. However, because the mission distances and duration will be hundreds of times greater than the lunar missions, a human crew will face much greater obstacles and a higher risk than those experienced during the Apollo program. A single solution to many of these obstacles is to dramatically decrease the mission duration by developing a high performance propulsion system. The gas core nuclear rocket (GCNR) has the potential to be such a system. The gas core concept relies on the use of fluid dynamic forces to create and maintain a vortex. The vortex is composed of a fissile material which will achieve criticality and produce high power levels. By radiatively coupling to the surrounding fluids, extremely high temperatures in the propellant and, thus, high specific impulses can be generated. The ship velocities enabled by such performance may allow a 9 month round trip, manned Mars mission to be considered. Alternatively, one might consider slightly longer missions in ships that are heavily shielded against the intense Galactic Cosmic Ray flux to further reduce the radiation dose to the crew. The current status of the research program at the Los Alamos National Laboratory into the gas core nuclear rocket feasibility will be discussed. |
| File Size | 639662 |
| Page Count | 8 |
| File Format | |
| Alternate Webpage(s) | http://archive.org/details/NASA_NTRS_Archive_19990041848 |
| Archival Resource Key | ark:/13960/t5dc2zs9p |
| Language | English |
| Publisher Date | 1997-09-30 |
| Access Restriction | Open |
| Subject Keyword | Spacecraft Propulsion And Power Gas Jets Conferences Feasibility Analysis Computerized Simulation Space Flight Propulsion System Configurations Core Flow Propellants Aerospace Vehicles Fissionable Materials Ships Vortices Nuclear Engine for Rocket Vehicles Manned Mars Missions Propulsion Specific Impulse Reactor Cores Ntrs Nasa Technical Reports Server (ntrs) Nasa Technical Reports Server Aerodynamics Aircraft Aerospace Engineering Aerospace Aeronautic Space Science |
| Content Type | Text |
| Resource Type | Technical Report |
