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Nuclear Engineering Commons

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Full-Text Articles in Nuclear Engineering

Enhancements To Nuclear Thermal Propulsion Rockets, Kimberly Gonzalez Aug 2022

Enhancements To Nuclear Thermal Propulsion Rockets, Kimberly Gonzalez

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Nuclear thermal rocket propulsion has been proposed as a highly efficient technology for space vehicles traveling from earth orbit to the moon, Mars, and other locations in the solar system. With twice the performance of a chemical rocket, nuclear thermal propulsion (NTP) uses the thrust produced by heating hydrogen gas within a thermal nuclear reactor where the exhaust is then passed through a de Laval nozzle to produce supersonic flow. NTP engines were the subject ofthe NERVA experiments at the Nevada Test Site in the 1970’s, and they produced a specific impulse of up to 900 seconds which is almost …


Nuclear Thermal Rocket Engine Control Autonomy Via Embedded Decision, David Sikorski May 2022

Nuclear Thermal Rocket Engine Control Autonomy Via Embedded Decision, David Sikorski

Doctoral Dissertations

This doctoral dissertation presents an investigation of embedded decision capabilities as a means for developing nuclear reactor autonomous control. Nuclear thermal propulsion (NTP) is identified as a high priority technology for development, and is the focus of this research. First, a background investigation is presented on the state of the art in nuclear thermal rocket (NTR) engine control and modeling practices, resulting in the development of a low order NTR engine dynamic model based on the literature. The engine model was used to perform the following investigation, and is intended to serve as a research platform for the future development …


Control System Requirements For A Nuclear Thermal Propulsion System, Adam Hasse, Michael Smith, Bradley Pershke, Andrew Adams, Stephen GilliAm May 2016

Control System Requirements For A Nuclear Thermal Propulsion System, Adam Hasse, Michael Smith, Bradley Pershke, Andrew Adams, Stephen GilliAm

Chancellor’s Honors Program Projects

No abstract provided.