Studies have been performed of a compact high‐performance nuclear rocket reactor that incorporates a tungsten alloy wire fuel element. This reactor, termed the wire core reactor, can deliver a specific impulse of 1,000 s using an expander cycle and a nozzle expansion ratio of 500 to 1. The core is constructed of layers of 0.8‐mm‐dia fueled tungsten wires wound over alternate layers of spacer wires, which forms a rugged annular lattice. Hydrogen flow in the core is annular, flowing from inside to outside. In addition to the concepts compact size and good heat transfer, the core has excellent power‐flow matching features and can resist vibration and thermal stresses during star‐up and shutdown.
Wire core reactor for nuclear thermal propulsion
Proceedings of the tenth symposium on space nuclear power and propulsion ; 1993 ; Albuquerque, New Mexico (USA)
AIP Conference Proceedings ; 271 , 1 ; 571-577
1993-01-10
7 pages
Conference paper
Electronic Resource
English
Wire Core Reactor for Nuclear Thermal Propulsion
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