The axial magnetic field is too weak to affect the motions of the dust particles but strong enough to channel the fragments into a beam which can be decelerated for power, allowed to be emitted for thrust, or a combination of the two.
The incredibly high surface area of the particles makes radiative cooling simple. As the nanoparticles ionize as fission occurs, the dust becomes suspended within the chamber. In their design, nanoparticles of fissionable fuel (or even fuel that will naturally radioactively decay) are kept in a vacuum chamber subject to an axial magnetic field (acting as a magnetic mirror) and an external electric field. Sheldon theoretically increases efficiency and decreases complexity of a fission fragment rocket at the same time over the rotating fibre wheel proposal. Nonetheless, the system provides the sort of performance levels that would make an interstellar precursor mission possible.Ī fission fragments ejected for propulsionĬ fission fragments decelerated for power generationĭ moderator (BeO or LiH), e containment field generator, f RF induction coilĪ newer design proposal by Rodney L. This is high performance, although the weight of the reactor core and other elements would make the overall performance of the fission-fragment system lower. The efficiency of the system is surprising specific impulses of greater than 100,000s are possible using existing materials. The fibre then rotates out of the reaction zone, to cool, to avoid melting.
#Cyclops engine fragments precursor free
The fission fragments at the surface of the fibres would break free and be channeled for thrust. The entire cylinder was rotated so that some fibres were always in a reactor core where surrounding moderator made fibres go critical.
Several such wheels were stacked on a common shaft to produce a single large cylinder. Research Rotating fuel reactor Ī fissionable filaments arranged in disks, b revolving shaft,Ī design by the Idaho National Engineering Laboratory and Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory uses fuel placed on the surface of a number of very thin carbon fibres, arranged radially in wheels. Numerous technological challenges still remain, however. Since they will be ionized due to the high energy of the reaction, they can then be handled magnetically and channeled to produce thrust. The atoms undergoing fission are at a temperature of millions of degrees, which is then spread out into the surrounding fuel, resulting in an overall temperature of a few thousand.īy physically arranging the fuel into very thin layers or particles, the fragments of a nuclear reaction can escape from the surface. The temperature of a conventional reactor design is the average temperature of the fuel, the vast majority of which is not reacting at any given instant. A rocket engine's efficiency is strongly related to the temperature of the exhausted working fluid, and in the case of the most advanced gas-core engines, it corresponds to a specific impulse of about 7000 s I sp. This limits the designs to temperatures that allow the reactor to remain whole, although clever design can increase this critical temperature into the tens of thousands of degrees. In traditional nuclear thermal rocket and related designs, the nuclear energy is generated in some form of reactor and used to heat a working fluid to generate thrust. The design can, in theory, produce very high specific impulse while still being well within the abilities of current technologies.
The fission-fragment rocket is a rocket engine design that directly harnesses hot nuclear fission products for thrust, as opposed to using a separate fluid as working mass. JSTOR ( May 2011) ( Learn how and when to remove this template message).Unsourced material may be challenged and removed.įind sources: "Fission-fragment rocket" – news Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. This article needs additional citations for verification.
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