In recent years, studies on possible applications of Nuclear Power for Moon and Mars missions scenarios have been funded by space agencies in an attempt of exploring new opportunities that would allow reaching new goals. As a matter of fact, the interests in the field of study and the concepts presented at Atoms for Space: Nuclear Systems for Space Exploration in February 2022 underlined that a more profound development is required. In particular, the work hereby presented has been developed in the context of the research group Nuclear4Space. The aim of this research group, which is carrying on its activities at Politecnico di Milano, in collaboration with Thales Alenia Space is to address the use of nuclear power for space and to design and explore new technologies in the field of nuclear energy for space applications. For instance, following Thales Alenia Space input, a human-crewed Mission to Mars has been considered. The technological bottlenecks and the feasibility requirements, considering a reactor for high power scenarios derived from the Kilopower concept, will be presented and analyzed in this paper. A Nuclear Electric Propulsion technology has been evaluated in the mission. A particular focus has been put on the heat rejection system: the driver for the mission’s feasibility; the system has been modelled and validated according to previous design results. Furthermore, possible improvements have been proposed. Moreover, from the proposed design a supplementary feasibility study has been developed and a juxtaposition of different mission scenarios has been carried out.
Negli ultimi anni molti studi riguardanti l’energia nucleare in applicazioni spaziali sono stati finanziati dalle varie agenzie; l’introduzione di questa tecnologia potrebbe segnare una svolta per la fattibilità di varie missioni. In particolare l’interesse che suscita la materia e i progetti presentati presso la conferenza "Atoms for Space: Nuclear Systems for Space Exploration in February 2022" mostrano che l’argomento è di grande attualità. Un’analisi delle nuove tecnologie è di grande importanza per capire quale "filone" è opportuno approfondire e finanziare. Questo lavoro è stato portato avanti nel contesto del gruppo di ricerca Nuclear4Space: l’obbiettivo del gruppo, che ha svolto le sue attività presso il Politecnico di Milano in collaborazione con Thales Alenia Space, è quello di analizzare le potenzialità dei nuovi sviluppi per diversi tipi di missione, in particolare una propulsione di tipo Nucleare Elettrico è stata valutata. Seguendo l’input di Thales Alenia Space una missione marziana dotata di equipaggio è stata analizzata; i limiti tecnologici e i vari requisiti sono stati approfonditi. Un focus particolare è stato posto sul sistema termico, driver della fattibilità della missione per una questione di complessità, peso e area della struttura. Il sistema è stato modellato e validato tramite i risultati di studi precedenti e inoltre, considerando gli ultimi sviluppi in ambito di materiali, un possibile design è stato proposto. L’evoluzione del sistema per differenti livelli di potenza è stata analizzata e commentata. Infine, considerando i risultati ottenuti, una valutazione della fattibilità e un confronto di diversi scenari di missione sono stati presentati.
Feasibility study and thermal analysis for a manned mission to Mars powered by N.E.P
Vignini, Lorenzo
2021/2022
Abstract
In recent years, studies on possible applications of Nuclear Power for Moon and Mars missions scenarios have been funded by space agencies in an attempt of exploring new opportunities that would allow reaching new goals. As a matter of fact, the interests in the field of study and the concepts presented at Atoms for Space: Nuclear Systems for Space Exploration in February 2022 underlined that a more profound development is required. In particular, the work hereby presented has been developed in the context of the research group Nuclear4Space. The aim of this research group, which is carrying on its activities at Politecnico di Milano, in collaboration with Thales Alenia Space is to address the use of nuclear power for space and to design and explore new technologies in the field of nuclear energy for space applications. For instance, following Thales Alenia Space input, a human-crewed Mission to Mars has been considered. The technological bottlenecks and the feasibility requirements, considering a reactor for high power scenarios derived from the Kilopower concept, will be presented and analyzed in this paper. A Nuclear Electric Propulsion technology has been evaluated in the mission. A particular focus has been put on the heat rejection system: the driver for the mission’s feasibility; the system has been modelled and validated according to previous design results. Furthermore, possible improvements have been proposed. Moreover, from the proposed design a supplementary feasibility study has been developed and a juxtaposition of different mission scenarios has been carried out.| File | Dimensione | Formato | |
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https://hdl.handle.net/10589/190208