Potassium-Rankine nuclear electric propulsion for Mars cargo missions

Details Potassium-Rankine nuclear electric propulsion for Mars cargo missions Potassium-Rankine nuclear electric propulsion for Mars cargo missions

Jan 1992

adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=1992aipc..246.1199r&link_type=abstract

Proceedings of the ninth symposium on space nuclear power systems. AIP Conference Proceedings, Volume 246, pp. 1199-1204 (1992)

Computer Science

Propulsion Reactors, Ion And Plasma Propulsion, Power And Production Reactors

Scientific paper

A system study was performed to determine the optimum initial mass to low Earth orbit (IMLEO), trip time, and power requirements for a Mars cargo mission utilizing a nuclear electric propulsion (NEP) spacecraft. The selected architecture consisted of parallel SP-100 type reactors, potassium-Rankine power conversion assemblies, and argon ion thrusters. Parametric potassium-Rankine cycle optimizations were performed to determine the operating state points, radiator area, and mass as a function of power level. NEP specific masses were determined over the anticipated power range, which then allowed missiono ptimizations to be completed, trading off IMLEO, trip time, and power level. These analyses resulted in a 5.5-MWe power system, 225 tonne IMLEO and a 480-day outbound trip to Mars.

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