scholarly journals CURIUM FUELED GENERATORS FOR LUNAR AND SPACE MISSIONS. Preliminary Safety Analysis Report

1960 ◽  
Author(s):  
C.O. Riggs
Author(s):  
John W. Evans ◽  
Frank J. Groen ◽  
Lui Wang ◽  
Rebekah Austin ◽  
Arthur Witulski ◽  
...  

Author(s):  
John W. Evans ◽  
Frank Groen ◽  
Lui Wang ◽  
Shira Okon ◽  
Rebekah Austin ◽  
...  

Author(s):  
Nancy Lindsey ◽  
John W. Evans ◽  
Frank Groen ◽  
Lui Wang ◽  
Shira Okon ◽  
...  

Author(s):  
Peter G. Prassinos ◽  
John W. Lyver

Space missions are conducted to gain an understanding of the universe and our solar system; to study the surface of planets other than earth; and to explore our extraterrestrial environment. Many of these missions travel to the far reaches of the solar system or explore regions that require a continuous source of electrical power that is more than what is available from the conversion of solar energy. For these space missions, electrical power is supplied by a radioisotope thermoelectric generator (RTG) that uses the heat generated by the decay radioactive material. The approval to launch and fly space vehicles using nuclear material is governed by Presidential Directive and requires authorization by the Executive Office of the President. As part of the launch approval process for these missions, a comprehensive safety analysis is conducted. This safety analysis employs a full-scope probabilistic risk assessment (PRA) to help identify improvement in launch and flight systems and quantify the risk associated with potential accidents and abort conditions during the mission. In general, the PRA follows a typical scenario-based assessment similar to PRAs that have been conducted for terrestrial hazardous facilities and operations. However, there are some significant differences when conducting a PRA of a space mission. This paper will provide a general overview of the PRA process as applied to nuclear space missions including; defining the analysis objective, system familiarization, accident sequence analysis, accident analysis, atmospheric transport, consequence analysis, and risk integration and uncertainty analysis.


ARS Journal ◽  
1961 ◽  
Vol 31 (12) ◽  
pp. 1744-1751 ◽  
Author(s):  
W. HAGIS ◽  
T. DOBRY ◽  
G. DIX

1997 ◽  
Vol 161 ◽  
pp. 761-776 ◽  
Author(s):  
Claudio Maccone

AbstractSETI from space is currently envisaged in three ways: i) by large space antennas orbiting the Earth that could be used for both VLBI and SETI (VSOP and RadioAstron missions), ii) by a radiotelescope inside the Saha far side Moon crater and an Earth-link antenna on the Mare Smythii near side plain. Such SETIMOON mission would require no astronaut work since a Tether, deployed in Moon orbit until the two antennas landed softly, would also be the cable connecting them. Alternatively, a data relay satellite orbiting the Earth-Moon Lagrangian pointL2would avoid the Earthlink antenna, iii) by a large space antenna put at the foci of the Sun gravitational lens: 1) for electromagnetic waves, the minimal focal distance is 550 Astronomical Units (AU) or 14 times beyond Pluto. One could use the huge radio magnifications of sources aligned to the Sun and spacecraft; 2) for gravitational waves and neutrinos, the focus lies between 22.45 and 29.59 AU (Uranus and Neptune orbits), with a flight time of less than 30 years. Two new space missions, of SETI interest if ET’s use neutrinos for communications, are proposed.


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