Renewed interest in the region between the Earth and the moon suggests that a tug operating between these two destinations will be most likely required in the near future. This report details a parametric spacecraft model which sizes a nuclear thermal propulsion or chemical propulsion spacecraft and compares their payload transport capabilities for missions to the moon. A spacecraft sized to fit in a single launch vehicle is assumed, and six launch vehicles are investigated. Maximum spacecraft payload mass and minimum mission transit time are compared between nuclear and chemical propulsion spacecrafts. For vehicles sized to the maximum capability of a launch vehicle, payloads of at least five metric tons are possible with either propulsion option; with nuclear thermal propulsion able to provide additional mass or reduced transit time when the spacecraft is sized to the maximum capability of the heaviest-lift launch vehicles. Transit times to the moon with a five-ton payload could be reduced by at least 0.2 days with a nuclear propulsion system.


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    Titel :

    Capabilities of Single Launch NTP and Chemical Spacecrafts for Cis-Lunar Tug Missions


    Beteiligte:
    Christopher Harnack (Autor:in) / Emanuel Grella (Autor:in) / Sean Greenhalge (Autor:in) / Matthew Duchek (Autor:in)

    Kongress:

    Nuclear and Emerging Technologies for Space (NETS 2023) ; 2023 ; Idaho Falls, ID, US


    Medientyp :

    Aufsatz (Konferenz)


    Format :

    Keine Angabe


    Sprache :

    Englisch




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