| About this Abstract |
| Meeting |
Materials Science & Technology 2020
|
| Symposium
|
Advanced Characterization of Materials for Nuclear, Radiation, and Extreme Environments
|
| Presentation Title |
Design of a Hot Hydrogen Test Loop for Testing of Nuclear Thermal Rocket Elements |
| Author(s) |
William Searight, Alex Somers, Leigh Winfrey |
| On-Site Speaker (Planned) |
William Searight |
| Abstract Scope |
Nuclear thermal propulsion (NTP) is a promising candidate for deep-space manned missions to Mars for its powerful, compact engines, which offer transit times approximately half that of traditional chemical rockets. One of the most pressing issues in the development of NTP rocket engines is the design and testing of high temperature materials which can withstand the high heat and particle fluxes from fission in the core and maintain desirable surface and inner molecular structure and material performance. To this end, a hot hydrogen test loop capable of producing circulating hydrogen plasma at temperatures up to 3000 K is being designed and constructed at Penn State to study the plasma-material interactions of plasmas with NTP component materials. This work focuses on the ongoing progress in modeling and designing this tabletop-sized loop to test tie tubes, U-bend shaped tubes through which the hydrogen coolant/propellant will be channeled through the NTP core. |