Nuclear data needs for the space exploration initiative
On July 20, 1989, the President of the United States announced a new direction for the US Space Program. The new Space Exploration Initiative (SEI) is intended to emplace a permanent base on the Lunar surface and a manned outpost on the Mars surface by 2019. In order to achieve this ambitious challenge, new, innovative and robust technologies will have to be developed to support crew operations. Nuclear power and propulsion have been recognized as technologies that are at least mission enhancing and, in some scenarios, mission enabling. Because of the extreme operating conditions present in a nuclear rocket core, accurate modeling of the rocket will require cross section data sets which do not currently exist. In order to successfully achieve the goals of the SEI, major obstacles inherent in long duration space travel will have to be overcome. One of these obstacles is the radiation environment to which the astronauts will be exposed. In general, an unshielded crew will be exposed to roughly one REM per week in free space. For missions to Mars, the total dose could exceed more than one-half the total allowed lifetime level. Shielding of the crew may be possible, but accurate assessments of shield composition and thickness are critical if shield masses are to be kept at acceptable levels. In addition, the entire ship design may be altered by the differential neutron production by heavy ions (Galactic Cosmic Rays) incident on ship structures. The components of the radiation environment, current modeling capability and envisioned experiments will be discussed.
- Research Organization:
- Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL), Los Alamos, NM (United States)
- Sponsoring Organization:
- USDOE; USDOE, Washington, DC (USA)
- DOE Contract Number:
- W-7405-ENG-36
- OSTI ID:
- 5635679
- Report Number(s):
- LA-UR-91-1595; CONF-910503-13; ON: DE91013231
- Resource Relation:
- Conference: International conference on nuclear data for science and technology, Juelich (Germany, F.R.), 13-17 May 1991
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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Related Subjects
22 GENERAL STUDIES OF NUCLEAR REACTORS
21 SPECIFIC NUCLEAR REACTORS AND ASSOCIATED PLANTS
71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS
GENERAL PHYSICS
NUCLEAR DATA COLLECTIONS
DATA COMPILATION
PROPULSION SYSTEMS
DESIGN
SPACE FLIGHT
RADIATION PROTECTION
SPACE PROPULSION REACTORS
COSMIC RADIATION
LUNA SPACE PROBES
MARS SPACE PROBES
RADIATION DOSES
SHIELDS
TECHNOLOGY ASSESSMENT
DATA
DOSES
INFORMATION
IONIZING RADIATIONS
MOBILE REACTORS
POWER REACTORS
PROPULSION REACTORS
RADIATIONS
REACTORS
SPACE POWER REACTORS
SPACE VEHICLES
VEHICLES
NESDPS Office of Nuclear Energy Space and Defense Power Systems
654000* - Radiation & Shielding Physics
220100 - Nuclear Reactor Technology- Theory & Calculation
220800 - Nuclear Reactor Technology- Propulsion Reactors
640101 - Astrophysics & Cosmology- Cosmic Radiation