Nuclear thermal propulsion engine cost trade studies

Conference · Sun Jan 10 00:00:00 EST 1993 · AIP Conference Proceedings (American Institute of Physics); (United States)

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1063/1.43223· OSTI ID:5661247

Paschall, R K ^[1]

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1. Rocketdyne Division, Rockwell International Corporation, Mail Stop IB57, 6633 Canoga Avenue, P.O. Box 7922, Canoga Park, California 91309-7922 (United States)

The NASA transportation strategy for the Mars Exploration architecture includes the use of nuclear thermal propulsion as the primary propulsion system for Mars transits. It is anticipated that the outgrowth of the NERVA/ROVER programs will be a nuclear thermal propulsion (NTP) system capable of providing the propulsion for missions to Mars. The specific impulse (Isp) for such a system is expected to be in the 870 s range. Trade studies were conducted to investigate whether or not it may be cost effective to invest in a higher performance (Isp[gt]870 s) engine for nuclear thermal propulsion for missions to Mars. The basic cost trades revolved around the amount of mass that must be transported to low-earth orbit prior to each Mars flight and the cost to launch that mass. The mass required depended on the assumptions made for Mars missions scenarios including piloted/cargo flights, number of Mars missions, and transit time to Mars. Cost parameters included launch cost, program schedule for development and operations, and net discount rate. The results were very dependent on the assumptions that were made. Under some assumptions, higher performance engines showed cost savings in the billions of dollars; under other assumptions, the additional cost to develop higher performance engines was not justified.

• OSTI ID: 5661247
• Report Number(s): CONF-930103-; CODEN: APCPCS
• Journal Information: AIP Conference Proceedings (American Institute of Physics); (United States), Vol. 271:1; Conference: 10. symposium on space nuclear power and propulsion, Albuquerque, NM (United States), 10-14 Jan 1993; ISSN 0094-243X
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

21 SPECIFIC NUCLEAR REACTORS AND ASSOCIATED PLANTS
MARS SPACE PROBES
SPACE PROPULSION REACTORS
COST BENEFIT ANALYSIS
COMPARATIVE EVALUATIONS
MARS PLANET
NERVA REACTOR
ROVER REACTORS
ECONOMIC ANALYSIS
ECONOMICS
EVALUATION
EXPERIMENTAL REACTORS
GAS COOLED REACTORS
HYDROGEN COOLED REACTORS
MOBILE REACTORS
PLANETS
POWER REACTORS
PROPULSION REACTORS
REACTORS
RESEARCH AND TEST REACTORS
SPACE POWER REACTORS
SPACE VEHICLES
VEHICLES
NESDPS Office of Nuclear Energy Space and Defense Power Systems
210600* - Power Reactors
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Mobile Package
& Transportable
210800 - Nuclear Power Plants- Economics