Hydrogen as a Nuclear Thermal Rocket Propellant
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.15392/2319-0612.2022.1825Keywords:
Nuclear Thermal Propulsion, Computational Fluid Dynamics, Rocket Propellant, HydrogenAbstract
Nuclear Thermal Propulsion (NTP) is a successfully developed technology, though it hasn’t been officially used in the propulsion system of an astronautical mission. It is the technology most likely to make long distance journeys in space possible. It is considerably more efficient than the traditional chemical rocket engines, regarding propellant consumption for each unit of thrust generated. The reason for that is the greater number of choices regarding the propellant composition. Therefore, in this work, Hydrogen has been chosen as propellant due to its low molecular mass compared to other possible substances. The main aim is to explain how the propellant molecular mass impacts a rocket performance, and to show, by Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) simulations that, indeed, hydrogen seems to be the best choice available among possible nuclear thermal rocket propellants.
- Views: 200
- PDF Downloads: 234
Downloads
References
FINSETH, J.L. Overview of Rover Engine Tests – Final Report, Huntsville & USA, 1991.
CORLISS, W. R.; SCHWENK, F.C. Nuclear Propulsion for Space, 1st ed. Washington & United States, Library of Congress, 1971.
KOENIG, D. R. Experience Gained from the Space Nuclear Rocket Program (Rover), Los Alamos Scientific Laboratory, Los Alamos & United States, 1986.
TURNER, M. J. L. Rocket and Spacecraft Propulsion, 2nd ed. Chichester & United Kingdom, Springer – PRAXIS, 2006.
MORAN, M. J.; SHAPIRO, H. N.; BOETTNER, D. D.; BAILEY, M. B. Engineering Thermodynamics, 9th ed. Hoboken & United States, John Wiley & Sons, 2018.
SUTTON, G. P.; BIBLARZ, O. Rocket Propulsion Elements, 9th ed. Hoboken & United States, John Wiley & Sons, 2017.
Engineering Toolbox. Molecular Weight of Substances, 2009. Available at: <https://www.engineeringtoolbox.com/molecular-weight-gas-vapor-d_1156.html>. Last accessed: 12 Jan. 2022.
Published
How to Cite
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2022 Brazilian Journal of Radiation Sciences
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
Licensing: The BJRS articles are licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license, and indicate if changes were made. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article’s Creative Commons license, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article’s Creative Commons license and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a copy of this license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
