A Kuiper Belt Object Orbiter Enabled By 10 kW Kilopower Electric Propulsion

Oleson, Steven ; Dankanich, John ; Grantier, David ; Martini, Mike ; Warner, Joe ; Williams, Glenn L ; Schmitz, Paul ; Colozza, Anthony ; Fittje, James ; Packard, Thomas(Vantage Partners, LLC, Brook Park, OH, United States)

关键词: CHEMICAL PROPULSION;    ION PROPULSION;    KUIPER BELT;    MISSION PLANNING;    NUCLEAR ELECTRIC PROPULSION;    NUCLEAR FISSION;    PAYLOADS;    SOLAR ELECTRIC PROPULSION;    FAULT TOLERANCE;    INTERPLANETARY FLIGHT;   

RP-ID  :  GRC-E-DAA-TN70750

学科分类：航空航天科学

美国|英语

来源: NASA Technical Reports Server

【 摘 要 】

Recently, the New Horizons spacecraft flew by the Kuiper Belt Object Ultima Thule 13 years after launch. While flybys are a necessary 'first look' at the object in question a more comprehensive evaluation of the object will require an orbiter. Due to these object’s low mass a chemical propulsion system is not a viable option for entering their shallow gravity wells. The Dawn mission showed that solar electric propulsion is significantly better at the task of reaching low mass objects, but at Kuiper belt distances solar power is not a viable choice. A small nuclear reactor based on the recent kilopower ground test could provide 1-10 kWe of power for an electric propulsion system. The NASA Compass Team developed a Nuclear Electric Propulsion Kuiper Belt Object Orbiter to explore what a vehicle would look like to orbit these deep space objects.