The A.C. Clarke - A Nuclear Thermal Rocket Mars Transfer Vehicle

Опубликовано: 17 мар. 2016 г. The A.C. Clarke, a Nuclear-Thermal Piloted Mars Transfer Vehicle Based on Publication AIAA-2014-3623 Conventional and Bimodal Nuclear Thermal Rocket NTR Artificial Gravity Mars Transfer Vehicle Concepts by Stanley K. Borowski, David R. McCurdy and Thomas W. Packard NASA Glenn Research Center, Cleveland, OH Quote from the document... As mentioned in the Introduction, the motivation for selecting NTP as the propulsion system of choice for Mars is simple – it is a proven technology with a specific impulse that is twice that of today’s best chemical rockets. During the Rover / NERVA programs 1955-1972, a technology readiness level TRL~5-6 was achieved. Twenty rocket reactors were designed, built and ground tested in integrated reactor/engine tests that demonstrated: 1. A wide range of thrust levels ~25, 50, 75 and 250 klb 2. High temperature carbide-based nuclear fuels that provided hydrogen exhaust temperatures up to 2550 K achieve