Publication Date:
2019-07-13
Description:
A low specific weight (20 to 40 Kg/Kwe), long life (6 to 10 year), 100 to 400 KWe nuclear electric propulsion (NEP) system can deliver 2,000 to 10,000 Kg payloads for intensive study of our solar system. The nuclear power source is about 80% of the NEP system mass, thus the NASA program is focused on developing the power source technology. Because of the long life requirements, direct thermal to electric energy conversion technology (thermionic and thermoelectric) is being pursued. In order to meet the low specific weight it is necessary to develop a 10 to 15% conversion module with a 875 K minimum heat rejection temperature and a 1675 K maximum input temperature. The thermoionic converter is about 9% efficient at these temperatures. The thermoelectric converter is limited to a 1300 K input temperature. So, the thermionic program is focused on improving the efficiency while the thermoelectric program is focused on increasing the temperature.
Keywords:
SPACECRAFT PROPULSION AND POWER
Type:
AIAA PAPER 79-2088
,
International Electric Propulsion Conference; Oct 30, 1979 - Nov 01, 1979; Princeton, NJ
Format:
text
