Changing the game in space exploration involves changing the paradigm for the human exploration of the Solar System, e.g, changing the human exploration of Mars from a three-year epic event to an annual expedition. For the purposes of this assessment an annual expedition; capability is defined as an in-space power; propulsion system which, with launch mass limits as defined in NASA's Mars Architecture 5.0, enables sending a crew to Mars and returning them after a 30-day surface stay within one year, irrespective of planetary alignment. In this work the authors intend to show that obtaining this capability requires the development of an in-space power and propulsion system with an end-to-end specific mass considerably less than 3 kg/kWe. A first order energy balance analysis reveals that the technologies required to create a system with this specific mass include direct energy conversion and nuclear sources that release energy in the form of charged particle beams. This paper lays out this first order approximation and details these conclusions.


    Zugriff

    Zugriff über TIB

    Verfügbarkeit in meiner Bibliothek prüfen


    Exportieren, teilen und zitieren



    Titel :

    Direct Energy Conversion for Low Specific Mass In-Space Power and Propulsion


    Beteiligte:
    J. H. Scott (Autor:in) / J. A. George (Autor:in) / A. G. Tarditi (Autor:in)

    Erscheinungsdatum :

    2013


    Format / Umfang :

    10 pages


    Medientyp :

    Report


    Format :

    Keine Angabe


    Sprache :

    Englisch




    Direct Energy Conversion for Low Specific Mass In-Space Power and Propulsion

    Scott, John H. / George, Jeffrey A. / Tarditi, Alfonso G. | NTRS | 2013




    Primitive Experiments on Photon Pressure Space Propulsion - Energy Direct Conversion to Thrust

    Toki, Kyoichiro / Asakura, Norihiro / Seto, Taiki | AIAA | 2007


    Antimatter-Initiated Microfusion: Direct Energy Conversion for Propulsion Applications

    Kramer, K. J. / Smith, G. A. / Institute for Space and Nuclear Power Studies | British Library Conference Proceedings | 2002