DESC0025111

The problem to be addressed is the high cost of getting to space. Despite the famous advances of a certain notable private launch company, the cost of launching anything into orbit remains the dominant cost for nearly any use of space. Dropping the cost much further will require going beyond chemical rockets, revisiting an old technology that was not feasible when first investigated but for which the components have now been developed: thermal nuclear rockets for transportation from ground to orbit. If an architecture that is both safe and economical can be established, and the technology licensed to American rocket companies, this would set the stage for much greater exploitation of space by non-government, civil government, and military users alike, enhancing current uses and enabling many more. The proposal is to study architectures that have become feasible, for a fully reusable thermal nuclear rocket that sheds no radioactive material at any point, save for replacing the nuclear element on the ground when not in operation. The study will focus on aspects of a proposed future scenario: a hypothetical launch provider developing a small, fully reusable thermal nuclear launch vehicle, requiring little more between most flights than replacing propellant, amortizing its costs across hundreds of launches per year. Safety and requirements for regulatory approval ľ which largely go hand in hand ľ will be primary concerns. This proposal will update miniature nuclear thermal rocket designs previously invested in by our country, primarily by giving a new mission more suited to their price and performance profile to make them economically feasible. This phase of the project will primarily be modeling and simulation, to lay the grounds for a future phase that may construct a physical prototype including nuclear material. Technical performance will be modeled: unlike existing nuclear rockets that are for use in space only, this design must have a much higher thrust in relation to its mass. As part of modeling this, exposure to radioactivity at various distances and under various conditions will be estimated, in comparison to existing standards for maximum safe levels of exposure to establish measures such as the minimum distance it must be from any member of the public upon reaching criticality.