A Spherical Torus Nuclear Fusion Reactor Space Propulsion Vehicle Concept For Fast Interplanetary Travel

Download or read book A Spherical Torus Nuclear Fusion Reactor Space Propulsion Vehicle Concept for Fast Interplanetary Travel written by National Aeronautics and Space Adm Nasa and published by . This book was released on 2018-10-21 with total page 38 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A conceptual vehicle design enabling fast outer solar system travel was produced predicated on a small aspect ratio spherical torus nuclear fusion reactor. Initial requirements were for a human mission to Saturn with a greater than 5% payload mass fraction and a one way trip time of less than one year. Analysis revealed that the vehicle could deliver a 108 mt crew habitat payload to Saturn rendezvous in 235 days, with an initial mass in low Earth orbit of 2,941 mt. Engineering conceptual design, analysis, and assessment was performed on all ma or systems including payload, central truss, nuclear reactor (including divertor and fuel injector), power conversion (including turbine, compressor, alternator, radiator, recuperator, and conditioning), magnetic nozzle, neutral beam injector, tankage, start/re-start reactor and battery, refrigeration, communications, reaction control, and in-space operations. Detailed assessment was done on reactor operations, including plasma characteristics, power balance, power utilization, and component design. Williams, Craig H. and Borowski, Stanley K. and Dudzinski, Leonard A. and Juhasz, Albert J. Glenn Research Center RTOP 242-74-74...