National Aeronautics and Space Administration
Small Business Innovation Research & Technology Transfer 2003 Program Solicitations
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T8.01 Realistic Non-Nuclear Testing of Nuclear Systems
T8.01 Realistic Non-Nuclear Testing of Nuclear Systems
NASA recently announced the Project Prometheus Program. One goal of the program is to use nuclear electric propulsion (NEP) to send a sophisticated probe to Jupiter's moons. A successful NEP flight will rely heavily on a viable approach to development and flight qualification testing of the NEP system. An important part of that testing approach will be realistic non-nuclear testing.
NEP systems can be designed to allow highly realistic non-nuclear testing. Such testing can be used to develop and qualify systems in all areas except those strongly affected by radiation damage. Realistic non-nuclear testing is particularly valuable for near-term missions, in that the relatively low required power levels lead to a relatively low neutron flux and hence reduced radiation damage concerns. Realistic non-nuclear testing is required for flight unit acceptance testing because full power nuclear tests cannot be performed on the actual NEP flight unit.
Specific areas of interest in this solicitation include innovative high fidelity, long-life thermal simulators (used to mimic heat from fission), innovative, non-obtrusive approaches to instrumentation (e.g. temperature, pressure, and strain measurement), and innovative testing approaches. Peak system temperatures during testing are expected to reach 1300 K, and peak thermal simulator temperature could be significantly higher.
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