MINI-MAGORION: A PULSED NUCLEAR ROCKET FOR CREWED SOLAR SYSTEM EXPLORATION Ralph Ewig*, Dana Andrews† Andrews Space, 505 5th Ave South #300, Seattle WA 98104 P-10 http://www.andrews-space.com/en/news/Pub-MiniMagOrion(200307).pdf http://www.andrews-space.com/en/corporate/MMO(200311).html
NUCLEAR PULSE SPACE VEHICLE STUDY Vol -I---SUMMSRY Gerge C. Marshall Space Flight Ceter Future Projects Offece National Aeronautics and Space Administration Huntaville, Albama Contract NAS 8-11053 http://66.49.163.218/data/orion_summary.pdf
Great reading material ! ....thanks for posting the links !
Pretty bullet-proof analysis, with no BS in sight anywhere
Particularly notable is the use of Curium-245 TRU SNF "waste" for spaceship propulsion. The proposed 54,000 MW to 263,000 MW pulsed propulsion units could also be adapted for ground-based application in thermal power plants.
Curious that there is no mention of antiproton triggering though, to reduce the number of neutron generations required to produce the desired ~10% burnup fraction, and thus the target mass.....
It looks like a pretty solid idea. High thrust with high Isp is doubly difficult because of the enourmous power involved--which Mini-Mag Orion apparently could do.
Running the engine at 260+ GW ought to generate a fearsome flux of neutrons (as well as other radiations!) I didn't really notice that the issue of shielding the Nozzle Field Magnets was addressed. The graphic seemed to suggest an open type array of field magnets. This would allow some of the radiation flux to simply fly right through unimpeded. However the flux that did strike the structures containing the magnets still ought to be very high.
Super conducting magnets such as Titanium-Niobium are (if memory serves) pretty sensitive to neutron radiation damage. How could these things be shielded from this flux, and I wonder how much mass this would add to the design?
We usually think of radiation damage to equipment exposed at a continuously operating power plant reactor.
In the case of this high-thrust propulsion scheme however, operating time is likely to be no more than a few hours -- with an equally limited neutron irradiation duration.
Also, since we're in space, there might be a possibility of effective shadow-shielding of the relatively thin, super-conducting Nozzle Field Magnets, without too much weight penalty (i.e. the vast majority of the neutron flux would originate from the point of detonation -- which is quite tiny -- allowing the use of conical ring shields with their geometrical apex located at that point....). One then has to also look at how bad the neutron scattering from the engine's cylindrical plenum walls would be..... properly designed, they could be pretty transparent to neutrons, allowing them to radiate harmlessly out to space.
"External Pulsed Plasma Propulsion" for Crew Exploration Vehicle ?? Nuclear pulse orbital launch vehicle. Year: 1965. Family: Orion. Country: USA. Manufacturer: General Atomic.
The final iteration of the Orion design was a nuclear pulse propulsion module launched into earth orbit by a Saturn V. The 100 tonne unit would have had a diameter of 10 m to match that of the booster. This would limit specific impulse to 1800 to 2500 seconds, still two to three times that of a nuclear thermal system. A second launch would put a 100 tonne Mars spacecraft with a crew of eight into orbit. After rendezvous and checkout, the combined 200 tonne spacecraft would set out on a round trip to the Mars - total mission duration as little as 125 days! Payload: 100,000 kg. to a: Mars and back trajectory. Total Mass: 100,000 kg. Core Diameter: 10.00 m. Total Length: 50.00 m. http://www.astronautix.com/lvs/oriturnv.htm
