General Atomics has tested a thermal propulsion reactor fuel at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center
Aerospace and defense company General Atomics has carried out several high-impact tests of the nuclear fuel that spacecraft could use for deep space missions, including human missions to Mars.
The tests, which were conducted with NASA at the Marshall Space Flight Center (MSFC) verified the ability of the fuel’s design to meet the high-performance specifications required to withstand the extreme operational conditions expected in space.
NASA’s General Atomics Electromagnetic Systems (GA-EMS), the part of General Atomics that develops power generation and energy storage technologies is also developing Nuclear Thermal Propulsion (NTP) reactor technology for rapid, agile cislunar transportation.
Scott Forney, president of GA-EMS said, “The recent testing results represent a critical milestone. Fuel must survive extremely high temperatures and the hot hydrogen gas environment that an NTP reactor operating in space would typically encounter.
“We’re very encouraged by the positive test results proving the fuel can survive these operational conditions, moving us closer to realizing the potential of safe, reliable nuclear thermal propulsion for cislunar and deep space missions.”
GA-EMS executed several high-impact tests at NASA’s MSFC in Huntsville, AL. The nuclear fuel was tested with hot hydrogen flow through the samples and subjected to six thermal cycles that rapidly ramped-up to a peak temperature of 2,600K or (4,220°F/2,326°C). Each cycle included a 20-minute hold at peak performance to demonstrate the effectiveness of shielding the fuel material from erosion and degradation by the hot hydrogen.
Additional tests were performed with varying protective features to provide further data on how different material enhancements improve performance under reactor-like conditions.
“To the best of our knowledge, we are the first company to use the compact fuel element environmental test facility at MSFC to successfully test and demonstrate the survivability of fuel after thermal cycling in hydrogen representative temperatures and ramp rates,” said Dr Christina Back, vice president of GA-EMS Nuclear Technologies and Materials.
“We’ve also conducted tests in a non-hydrogen environment at our GA-EMS laboratory, which confirmed the fuel performed exceptionally well at temperatures up to 3000K, which would enable the NTP system to be two-to-three times more efficient than conventional chemical rocket engines.
“We are excited to continue our collaboration with NASA as we mature and test the fuel to meet the performance requirements for future cislunar and Mars mission architectures.”
