“Our discriminator also comes from our deep space exploration heritage, which requires the ability to do high-technology, first-of-a-kind missions,” said May. Lockheed Martin’s expertise in avionics, mission control and integration give us leverage. While nuclear systems are an emerging field, Lockheed Martin has a long history and expertise in nuclear controls, having supported instrumentation and controls for both terrestrial power plants and Naval nuclear reactors. Lockheed Martin’s space nuclear systems work includes three current contracts – a partnership with BWXT Technologies on both nuclear thermal reactor and fission surface power concepts for NASA and the Department of Energy, and a contract with the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency to develop a spacecraft concept design with NTP capability. “NTP will enable us to extend our exploration beyond the Moon more quickly than other alternatives might.” “If we want to get serious about deep space exploration, a reusable nuclear system is a cleaner, more efficient way to achieve our goals,” said Bendle. NTP allows the use of fewer refuelers than other systems – making it an environmentally cleaner, more efficient way to fuel. Other benefits include maximum reusability and extensibility to other missions. NTP’s efficiency can also enable more abort options during missions. “It could take a hundred launches to get humans to Mars on a chemical propulsion system, but we can get it down to five with a nuclear thermal propulsion system,” said Chambers. The speed of NTP comes from its high-efficiency thrust-upwards of two times more efficient than conventional propulsion systems. Increased speed from NTP means benefits like longer launch windows, less crew exposure to cosmic radiation in space and satellites and robotic spacecraft getting to their destinations quicker or with much higher mass. NTP will enable faster space travel than ever before. In short: speed, efficiency and reusability. “Ground testing helps us understand what the expected behavior and limitations of the nuclear reactor are and how we expect it to respond and interact with the control systems that we’re developing,” said John Bendle, Senior Manager, Strategy and Business Development, Human Space Exploration, Lockheed Martin.
This makes handling and launching a reactor with the high assay low enriched uranium (HALEU) fuel very safe.ĭefining the level of ground testing that’s needed to prove safe, effective operations in space is part of Lockheed Martin’s current efforts, too. Once in this orbit, the nuclear reactor would be turned on, and the fission process would start. One of the mechanics that makes NTP safe is simply that the mechanics wouldn’t happen on Earth.Ī traditional chemical propulsion launch vehicle would lift a spacecraft off Earth’s surface and navigate it to a safe Earth orbit far out of the Earth’s atmosphere. These systems can produce at least 40 kilowatts of power and can operate on permanently shadowed regions of the Moon. In fission surface power systems, the heat from the splitting of uranium atoms is converted to electricity. The mechanics of an NTP engine are much simpler and vastly more efficient than chemical propellent engines. In nuclear thermal propulsion (NTP), the super-hot pressurized hydrogen is funneled out a nozzle to create a powerful thrust. Super-cooled hydrogen is flowed into the reactor and the heat from the uranium quickly turns the hydrogen into a very hot, pressurized gas. Although they’re relatively new – nuclear systems for propulsion or electrical power are simple.įission-based systems work by splitting low-enriched uranium atoms in a reactor to create heat.
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