Space Fission System Test Effectiveness

Journal Article · Wed Feb 04 00:00:00 EST 2004 · AIP Conference Proceedings

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1063/1.1649629· OSTI ID:20632875

Houts, Mike ^[1]; Schmidt, Glen L ^[2]; Van Dyke, Melissa; Godfroy, Tom; Martin, James; Bragg-Sitton, Shannon; Dickens, Ricky; Salvail, Pat; Harper, Roger ^[3]

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1. Los Alamos National Laboratory, MS-K575, Los Alamos, NM 87545 (United States)
2. New Mexico Tech, Institute for Engineering Research and Applications, 901 University Blvd SE, Albuquerque, NM 87109-4339 (United States)
3. NASA MSFC, TD40, Marshall Space Flight Center, AL, 35812 (United States)

Space fission technology has the potential to enable rapid access to any point in the solar system. If fission propulsion systems are to be developed to their full potential, however, near-term customers need to be identified and initial fission systems successfully developed, launched, and utilized. One key to successful utilization is to develop reactor designs that are highly testable. Testable reactor designs have a much higher probability of being successfully converted from paper concepts to working space hardware than do designs which are difficult or impossible to realistically test. ''Test Effectiveness'' is one measure of the ability to realistically test a space reactor system. The objective of this paper is to discuss test effectiveness as applied to the design, development, flight qualification, and acceptance testing of space fission systems. The ability to perform highly effective testing would be particularly important to the success of any near-term mission, such as NASA's Jupiter Icy Moons Orbiter, the first mission under study within NASA's Project Prometheus, the Nuclear Systems Program.

• OSTI ID: 20632875
• Journal Information: AIP Conference Proceedings, Vol. 699, Issue 1; Conference: STAIF 2004: 21. symposium on space nuclear power and propulsion: Human space exploration, space colonization, new frontiers and future concepts, Albuquerque, NM (United States), 8-11 Feb 2004; Other Information: DOI: 10.1063/1.1649629; (c) 2004 American Institute of Physics; Country of input: International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA); ISSN 0094-243X
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

21 SPECIFIC NUCLEAR REACTORS AND ASSOCIATED PLANTS
22 GENERAL STUDIES OF NUCLEAR REACTORS
DESIGN
FISSION
NASA
NUCLEAR POWER PLANTS
PROBABILITY
PROPULSION SYSTEMS
REACTOR INSTRUMENTATION
REVIEWS
SOLAR SYSTEM
SPACE
SPACE POWER REACTORS
SPACE VEHICLES
TEST FACILITIES
TESTING
NESDPS Office of Nuclear Energy Space and Defense Power Systems