SPACE PROPULSION REQUIREMENTS AND ENGINES

Technical Report · Mon Jul 31 04:00:00 EDT 1961

OSTI ID:4835995

Fox, R H

Presented at Sixth Army USAR, R and D Scientific Seminar, University of California at Davis, August 14, 1961. The relation between propulsion requirements and engines is examined for three classes of missions: lunar, interplanetary, and interstellar. For the lunar missions it is shown that there is an implicit relation between propulsion requirements and the type of powerplant used. Lowthrust nuclear-electric engines have much higher specific impulse than nuclear heat exchanger engines, but also require much higher DELTA V to achieve the same mission. Hence, they are inferior to nuclear heat exchanger engines for most missions in cislunar space. One-way probes, round trips, ferries, the effect of payloads and large electrical power requirements, and difficult orbit-perturbation missions are all discussed. For round-trip interplanetary missions the emphasis is on time and payload capability.The high specific inpulse capability of the nuclear-electric engines makes them look promising since they may be able to use fast trajectories without reduction in payload. It is shown that interstellar flight is infeasible if only time spans less than the current human life span are considered. This results from energy and power/weight limitations of a very basic nature. (auth)

• Research Organization: California. Univ., Livermore. Lawrence Radiation Lab.
• DOE Contract Number: W-7405-ENG-48
• NSA Number: NSA-16-001278
• OSTI ID: 4835995
• Report Number(s): UCRL-6570
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

ELECTRICITY
HEAT EXCHANGERS
LABORATORY EQUIPMENT
MAN
MOON
ORBITS
PAYLOAD
PLANETS
POWER
PROPULSION
REACTORS
ROCKETS
SPACE
SPACE APPLICATIONS AND TECHNOLOGY
SPACE FLIGHT
STARK
WEIGHT