You are not logged in.
What is it with you and Sterling Cycles???
Use what is abundant and build to last
Offline
Like button can go here
they're very easy and very efficient
-Josh
Offline
Like button can go here
Did you just assume there was a WP article for it, 'cause there isn't.
Use what is abundant and build to last
Offline
Like button can go here
Turns out Wikipedia is case sensitive. Here ya go: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sterling_cycle
Offline
Like button can go here
Well hold on a minute,
That Hyperion reactor is an interesting idea, but its pretty far from a flight-weight reactor. Even with a VASIMR engine and gobs of energy, if the thing is too heavy you still won't get anywhere. The has got to weigh only tens of tonnes, which includes everything. I am sure that a space version of the power plant with turbines, radiators, power conditioners etc will weigh an order of magnitude too much at least.
Anyway, speaking of a reactor of similar output and temperature as Hyperion, that 27MWe advertised comes at the expense of a heavy water-cooled steam turbine system... but I digress, this cooling system removes essentially all the heat from the reactor, and in the process the hot steam loses a great deal of energy and this "luke warm" steam is what carries the 70MWt of waste heat from the reactor.
This steam could be piped through a nano-thermoelectric system perhaps, but it would not have anywhere near 45% since it is not very hot anymore. Long story short, you don't have that 70MWt of thermal energy available to you at high temperature if you use the Hyperion's steam turbine system.
The mass of the cooling loop, turbines, generators, radiators, power electronics, and structure for all this are going to put you waaay over mass budget.
[i]"The power of accurate observation is often called cynicism by those that do not have it." - George Bernard Shaw[/i]
[i]The glass is at 50% of capacity[/i]
Offline
Like button can go here
I have a question that pertains to rockets but not the VASMIR, For my ISS Module ship project I am working on I have come across the deleted Propulsion Module that would have been able to dock with the Unity Module and provide manuevering and other course correction's.
Would this module be able to be uprated with the orbiter engine pods to provide enough thrust to make it to the Moon and onto Mar's and then make a return voyage back to the Earth?
Offline
Like button can go here
I have a question that pertains to rockets but not the VASMIR, For my ISS Module ship project I am working on I have come across the deleted Propulsion Module that would have been able to dock with the Unity Module and provide manuevering and other course correction's.
Would this module be able to be uprated with the orbiter engine pods to provide enough thrust to make it to the Moon and onto Mar's and then make a return voyage back to the Earth?
Depends. Payload, fuel budget, power supply...?
[i]"The power of accurate observation is often called cynicism by those that do not have it." - George Bernard Shaw[/i]
[i]The glass is at 50% of capacity[/i]
Offline
Like button can go here
Horses for courses dryson. If you want to design a vehicle to "make it to the Moon and onto Mar's and then make a return voyage back to the Earth" don't start with an orbiting space station module. Space vehicles are designed at the edge of what is technically possible. With current technology it's probably impossible to design a vehicle to do such a voyage unless it takes a very long time. Reusing an ISS module and an OMS pod would make it impossible.
[color=darkred]Let's go to Mars and far beyond - triple NASA's budget ![/color] [url=irc://freenode#space] #space channel !! [/url] [url=http://www.youtube.com/user/c1cl0ps] - videos !!![/url]
Offline
Like button can go here
There is are pretty decent thread around here somewhere about taking the ISS to Mars and using stacked Solar Panels as heat shields among other things.
I'm a Yank if I can find it though.
Come on to the Future
Offline
Like button can go here
bump another on VASIMR
Offline
Like button can go here
Space Billionaires Are Excited About Nuclear Rockets But Haven’t Built One Yet
https://observer.com/2023/08/nuclear-ro … llionaire/
NASA's 1st nuclear-powered rocket could launch as soon as 2025
https://www.livescience.com/space/space … on-as-2025
The U.S. plans to launch the world's first nuclear-powered spacecraft
Six-Week Trip to Mars? VASIMR Plasma Engine Could Propel Spacecraft to the Red Planet in a Short Period of Time
https://www.sciencetimes.com/articles/4 … ft-red.htm
and Kilopower is an experimental project aimed at producing reactors for space travel.
Last edited by Mars_B4_Moon (2023-08-17 10:30:39)
Offline
Like button can go here
Don't believe the marketing hype, from anyone.
There is no way in hell NERVA could be reprised by 2025, because there is almost no one left alive, who did any of the actual work on NERVA back in the 50's, the 60's, and the early 70's.
See my contention that rocket "science" isn't really science (that being what has actually been written down). It's about 40% science at most, about 50% art (passed on one-on-one on the job, because no manager wanted to pay for writing it down), and 10% blind dumb luck. And that's in production work!
In development work, the art and luck percentages are much higher. Been there and done that!
GW
GW Johnson
McGregor, Texas
"There is nothing as expensive as a dead crew, especially one dead from a bad management decision"
Offline
Like button can go here