An Assessment of Heat Engine Propulsion for a Long Duration Lunar Surface Mission.
- Paper number
IAC-08.D3.2.5
- Author
Mr. Eric Pritchard, Systems Engineering & Assessment Ltd, United Kingdom
- Year
2008
- Abstract
It is well known that on the Moon there is a significant temperature difference between illuminated and shadowed areas due to the lack of atmosphere, and a plate on the sub-solar meridian receives a constant 1350W/m2 if angled to compensate for latitude. It is considered that the temperature difference could be exploited by a heat engine for propulsion. From this, the concept of a lunar rover is developed as a potential user of this system, and based on the slow lunar axial rotation and small lunar diameter, a mission is developed which could cover a significant part of the higher lunar latitudes by following the Sun in a spiral between latitudes of 60 and 90 degrees, avoiding the need and mass penalty of battery back-up systems. Finally, this system concept is compared with the potential for a competing system using conventional solar array / electric propulsion particularly in terms of performance degradation over time.
- Abstract document
- Manuscript document
(absent)