The Design Reference Mission for NASA’s human mission to Mars indicates the desire for in-situ propellant production and bio-regenerative life systems to ease Earth launch requirements. These operations, combined with crew habitation and science, result in surface power requirements approaching 160 kilowatts. The power system, delivered on an early cargo mission, must be deployed and operational prior to crew departure from Earth. The most mass efficient means of satisfying these requirements is through the use of nuclear power. Studies have been performed to identify a potential system concept using a mobile cart to transport the power system away from the Mars lander and provide adequate separation between the reactor and crew. The studies included an assessment of reactor and power conversion technology options, selection of system and component redundancy, determination of optimum separation distance, and system performance sensitivity to some key operating parameters. The resulting system satisfies the key mission requirements including autonomous deployment, high reliability, and cost effectiveness at an overall system mass of 12 tonnes and a stowed volume of about 63 m3.


    Zugriff

    Zugriff prüfen

    Verfügbarkeit in meiner Bibliothek prüfen

    Bestellung bei Subito €


    Exportieren, teilen und zitieren



    Titel :

    Surface nuclear power for human Mars missions


    Beteiligte:
    Mason, Lee S. (Autor:in) / Bragg, Mary J. (Herausgeber:in) / El-Genk, Mohamed S. (Herausgeber:in)

    Kongress:

    Space technology and applications international forum -1999 ; 1999 ; Albuquerque, New Mexico (USA)


    Erschienen in:

    AIP Conference Proceedings ; 458 , 1 ; 1464-1469


    Erscheinungsdatum :

    22.01.1999


    Format / Umfang :

    6 pages





    Medientyp :

    Aufsatz (Konferenz)


    Format :

    Elektronische Ressource


    Sprache :

    Englisch





    Surface Nuclear Power for Human Mars Missions

    Mason, L. S. / University of New Mexico; School of Engineering; Institute for Space and Nuclear Power Studies | British Library Conference Proceedings | 1999



    NUCLEAR FUSION PROPULSION SYSTEM FOR HUMAN MISSIONS TO MARS

    Kumar, Saroj / Cassibry, Jason | TIBKAT | 2020