Nuclear Electric Propulsion: A “Better, Safer, Cheaper” Transportation System for Human Exploration of Mars

Clark, Jennifer A.; George, Jeffrey A.; Gefert, Leon P.; Doherty, Michael F.; Sefcik, Robert J.

doi:10.1063/1.2950272

Cited by 9 publications

(5 citation statements)

References 4 publications

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“…Clark et al [9] also consider 4 MW minimum energy trajectory for a Mars cargo mission. They estimate that an array of ion thrusters offer significant mass savings over nuclear thermal systems, while maintaining comparable trip times.…”

Section: Review Of Previous Studiesmentioning

confidence: 99%

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A Survey of Propulsion Options for Cargo and Piloted Missions to Mars

Sankaran

Cassady

Kodys

et al. 2004

Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences

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Section: Review Of Previous Studiesmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…I sp for the performance of these thrusters. Clark et al [9] examine a 8 MW piloted (35 mT) fast trajectory mission for trip time, safety and reliability, abort options, and other costs. Pelaccio et al [10] provide a technology readiness assessment of various thrusters for such a mission.…”

Section: Review Of Previous Studiesmentioning

confidence: 99%

A Survey of Propulsion Options for Cargo and Piloted Missions to Mars

Sankaran

Cassady

Kodys

et al. 2004

Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences

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“…The case of low thrust is increasingly more important, since a number of robotic planetary missions are propelled by electric thrusters − mostly ion thrusters − [13,14] powered by solar arrays (Solar Electric Propulsion, SEP), often in conjunction with gravity assist manoeuvres, and in the future Nuclear Electric Propulsion is much promising [15]. Since the early studies of human Mars missions, the possibility of using electric propulsion (mostly NEP, but also SEP) was considered [16,17]. In this case the time spent in space becomes a very important parameter of the mission, and the use of gravity assist manoeuvres is seldom considered, except for performing missions which would be impossible without exploiting the gravitational field of a planet different from the departure or arrival planets (in case of Mars missions, the Venus' gravitational field).…”

Section: Low Thrustmentioning

confidence: 99%

IRMA: a Graphical Tool for Interplanetary Mission Design

Genta

Federica

2018

MATEC Web Conf.

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Designing an interplanetary mission is a complex task and requires the choice of the launch opportunity and of the exact launch and arrival dates. Depending on these choices, the trajectory must be defined and, in case of continuous thrust, also the thrust profile needs to be optimized.. Traditionally, these choices are made using some plots which allow to find a good compromise between the travel duration and the cost of the mission, which is often expressed in terms of initial mass in Earth orbit (IMLEO). IRMA (InterPlanetary Mission Analysis) code, based on the MATLAB  environment, is here described. It allows to deal with both impulsive propulsion (using the patched conics approach) and low continuous thrust (Solar or Nuclear electric or propellantless, like solar sails). A specific solver, based on indirect optimization techniques, has been developed specifically for this program, but IRMA can be used also as an interface for standard solvers, based on direct methods, like the FALCON.m code. * Corresponding author: giancarlo.genta@polito.it Fig.3. Trajectory for an impulsive lunar mission with a travel time of 2.5 days. A non-inertial frame centred in the centre of mass of the Earth-Moon system with x-axis on the Earth-Moon line is used. Both the starting approximation (elliptical and hyperbolic, dashed line) and the numerical solution (full line) are shown. The starting and arrival orbits are at 300 km and 200 km from the surface. . The starting ∆V is 3152 m/s, while at arrival a ∆V of 860 m/s is required. The total ∆V of the mission is thus 4012 m/s.

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“…Subsequent NEP studies also consider ion engines for the Mars mission but with smaller amounts of electrical power in the range of 4-10 MW. Among these Clark et al [2] consider a 4 MW Mars cargo mission that utilizes a more highly optimized heliocentric trajectory than the one considered by Stuhlinger. In this scenario a 440 MT NEP spacecraft with a reactor specific mass of 10 kg/kW transports about 320 MT of cargo to Mars in about 550 days.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 98%

Nuclear electric ion propulsion for three deep space missions

Chiravalle

2008

Acta Astronautica

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Nuclear Electric Propulsion: A “Better, Safer, Cheaper” Transportation System for Human Exploration of Mars

Cited by 9 publications

References 4 publications

A Survey of Propulsion Options for Cargo and Piloted Missions to Mars

A Survey of Propulsion Options for Cargo and Piloted Missions to Mars

IRMA: a Graphical Tool for Interplanetary Mission Design

Nuclear electric ion propulsion for three deep space missions

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