The National Aeronautics and Space Administration Lewis Research Center (NASA LeRC) is developing a FORTRAN-based model of a complete nuclear electric propulsion (NEP) vehicle to be used for piloted or cargo missions to the Moon or Mars. The proposed vehicle will use either a Brayton or K-Rankine power conversion cycle, and either ion or magnetoplasmadynamic (MPD) thrusters. In support of this effort, Rocketdyne evaluated various power management and distribution (PMAD) approaches and selected a low-frequency design that is based on the direct use of the alternator voltage and frequency for power transmission. This approach was compared with dc and high-frequency ac designs, and selected on the basis of mass, efficiency, and qualitative assessment of power quality, reliability and development costs. This low-frequency architecture will be used as the reference in future NEP PMAD studies and for the subsequent FORTRAN model development.


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    Title :

    Multimegawatt dynamic NEP PMAD study


    Contributors:

    Conference:

    Symposium on Space Nuclear Power and Propulsion ; 1993 ; Albuquerque, NM, United States


    Publication date :

    1992-11-01


    Type of media :

    Report


    Type of material :

    No indication


    Language :

    English




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