The MITEE Hopper: A Compact NTP Spacecraft to Explore Multiple Surface Sites Using In-Situ Propellants
- Paper number
IAC-06-D2.8.-C3.5.-D3.5.-C4.7.06
- Author
Dr. James Powell, Plus Ultra Technologies, Inc., United States
- Coauthor
Dr. George Maise, Plus Ultra Technologies, Inc., United States
- Year
2006
- Abstract
The MITEE Hopper is a compact lightweight, robotic spacecraft that can visit many sites on a moon or planet. Its small NTP (Nuclear Thermal Propulsion) engine would use H2 propellant manufactured from surface ice deposits, or on Mars, CO2 from the atmosphere. After landing, the Hopper would manufacture and store propellant. When exploration was finished, it would hop to the next site, which could be hundreds of kilometers away. With this capability to explore dozens of sites and then lift off to another moon, or return to Earth with samples, a single Hopper mission is very cost effective and not possible using chemical or nuclear electric propulsion. The MITEE reactor is a compact assembly of modular independent pressure tubes, each with its own propellant, and hydride moderator block, annular fuel region, and exit nozzle. H2 propellant flows radially inwards through the hydride moderator, then through the inner-annular roll of perforated tungsten/UO2 cermet fuel sheets, exiting at 2750 K into a central channel and then to an exit nozzle at the end of the tube to achieve a specific impulse of 850 seconds. Tests of the W/UO2 cermet fuel in 710 reactor demonstrated more than 50 hour capability in hot H2. blowdown tests of similar PBR/SNTP elements demonstrated 30 MW/liter power densities, 3 times greater than the MITEE design. Detailed 3D Monte Carlo neutronic and thermal hydraulic analyses of a baseline 100 MW bi-modal MITEE engine are described. It delivers 20,000 newtons of thrust in the open cycle mode with H2 propellant and 20 KW(e) in the closed cycle mode using He coolant and a conventional steam cycle. Total engine mass is 360 kg including reactor, controls, pumps, power system, and 20
- Abstract document
- Manuscript document
IAC-06-D2.8.-C3.5.-D3.5.-C4.7.06.pdf (🔒 authorized access only).
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