A preliminary analysis of a pulsed propulsion concept is performed utilizing the enormously dense energy generated by small nuclear detonations. The concept feasibility is based on the premise that current materials technology has undergone significant breakthroughs, allowing design of pressure vessels capable of containing the blast associated with such detonations. Furthermore, the rapid energy transfer to the propellant, allows generation of high thrust levels for up to 10 ms following the detonation. Preliminary reevaluation of the concept using off‐the‐shelf materials technology appears to indicate that the contained pulsed nuclear propulsion concept has no major flaws, and it can provide thrust levels resulting in average thrust‐to‐weight ratios on the order of 2–2.5 over an engine operating cycle. Furthermore, even though the specific impulse is not a good performance indicator for impulsive engines, operating‐cycle‐averaged specific impulse of approximately 1800 s has been calculated. The engine mass associated with this performance is on the order of 50 Mg. The concept appears attractive for a number of missions planned for the Space Exploration Initiative, however, there are still a number of issues that must be addressed.


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    Title :

    A feasibility study for a contained pulsed nuclear propulsion concept


    Contributors:

    Conference:

    10th SymposiumùSpace Nuclear Power and Propulsion ; 1993 ; Albuquerque, NM, USA


    Published in:

    AIP Conference Proceedings ; 271 , 3 ; 1613-1620


    Publication date :

    1993-01-20


    Size :

    8 pages





    Type of media :

    Conference paper


    Type of material :

    Electronic Resource


    Language :

    English