Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
5
AnalysisforCharacteristicsofNuclear
SpacecraftinaNanogravityEnvironment
for
Deep
Sp
aceExploration
*
TaehoWooandSoonhoLee
CONTENTS
5.1. Introduction................................................................................................... 51
5.2. Economic.Aspect.......................................................................................... 54
5.3. Safety.Aspect................................................................................................. 57
5.4. Results............................................................................................................ 60
5.5. Conclusions................................................................................................... 61
Acknowledgment.................................................................................................. 63
References............................................................................................................... 63
5.1 Introduction
Nuclear.energy.for.space.craft.is.studied.for.deep.space.travel..Solar.energy.
produces. limitations. with. respect. to. power. production. as. one. moves. far-
ther. from. the. Sun. so. it. is. necessary. to. make. as. much. powerful. energy. as.
a. spacecraft. can. produce. without. external. energy. sources.. Safety. proce-
dures.are.important.for.nuclear.spacecraft.missions,.which.is.a.critical.issue.
in. commercial. nuclear. power. plants. (NPPs). (IAEA. [International. Atomic.
Energy.Agency].2010)..There.are.two.kinds.of.energy.sources.in.deep.space.
beyond.the.orbit.of.Mars..The.safety.analysis.for.the.Cassini.mission.is.seen.
in. FigureĀ 5.1.. Similar. analyses. were. used. in. Galileo. and. Ulysses. missions.
(NASA. [National. Aeronautics. and. Space. Administration]. 1997).. There. are.
several.missions.to.Jupiter.shown.in.TableĀ 5.1.
The. radioisotope. thermoelectric. generator. (RTG). is. a. kind. of. nuclear.
electrical.generator.that.obtains.its.power.from.radioactive.decay..The.heat.
released. by. the. decay. of. a. suitable. radioactive. material. is. converted. into.
electricity. by. the. Seebeck. effect. using. an. array. of. thermocouples,. which.
*.
With.permission.of.the.American.Society.of.Civil.Engineers.
51
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