The MITEE Nuclear Engine

[Boris_Badenov]

If 20 of the largest MITEE engine designs were clustered for a ship you could get in the range of 880,000lb of thrust for only 35,200lb of engine. What kind of a ship would you design if you had that much power at you finger tips? <br /><br /> <br /><br />Nuclear Thermal Propulsion (NTP), with its high thrust and high specific impulse, enables unique robotic and<br />human exploration missions capable of landing/taking off from surfaces of moons and planets; replenishing H2<br />propellant from in-situ resources; hopping to many sites on a moon or planet; returning samples to Earth; short trip<br />times, and cruising the atmospheres of the giant plants, via nuclear ramjets. A compact, ultra lightweight NTP<br />engine termed MITEE (MInature ReacTor EnginE) is described. MITEE, which is based on existing NERVA, 710<br />and SNTP technologies, can be scaled for thrusts from ~10,00 to ~100,000 Newtons. MITEE designs are described,<br />including 3D Monte Carlo neutronic and thermal-hydraulic studies. The smallest MITEE engine produces a thrust<br />of 14,000 Newtons and ISP of 1000 seconds, and weighs only 200 kg (100 kg reactor, plus controls, etc.). Potential<br />robotic science missions for the engine are described. A new space nuclear electric power system based on<br />commercial water reactor technology is also described. SUSEE (Space NUclear Steam Electric Energy) uses<br />zirconium/UO2 cermet nuclear fuel plus a conventional steam turbine. Reject heat from the cycle radiates to space<br />from an innovative lightweight, condensing radiator. Thermal to electric efficiency is attractive, i.e., ~24% for<br />standard turbine inlet conditions of ~1000° F (800 K) and 1000 psi (68 atm), with a very low system specific mass<br />of ~3 kg/KW(e).<br /><br /><br />The MITEE engine appears to be very promising for<br />future robotic and human exploration missions in the<br />Solar System and beyond to interstellar space. It has<br />unique capabilities and can carry out many important<br /> <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <font color="#993300"><span class="body"><font size="2" color="#3366ff"><div align="center">. </div><div align="center">Never roll in the mud with a pig. You'll both get dirty & the pig likes it.</div></font></span></font> </div>

 

[rogers_buck]

You could make a ship that would be able to haul all of the nuclear waste out of the solar system.<br />

 

[PistolPete]

Yes, because it would require all of the world's nuclear waste to power it. <img src="/images/icons/wink.gif" /> <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p> </p><p><em>So, again we are defeated. This victory belongs to the farmers, not us.</em></p><p><strong>-Kambei Shimada from the movie Seven Samurai</strong></p> </div>