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Diagram of a MMRTG. The multi-mission radioisotope thermoelectric generator (MMRTG) is a type of radioisotope thermoelectric generator (RTG) developed for NASA space missions [1] such as the Mars Science Laboratory (MSL), under the jurisdiction of the United States Department of Energy's Office of Space and Defense Power Systems within the Office of Nuclear Energy.
First, the aeroshell decelerates the spacecraft as it penetrates the planet's atmosphere and must necessarily dissipate the kinetic energy of the very high orbital speed. The heat shield absorbs some of this energy while much is also dissipated into the atmospheric gasses, mostly by radiation. During the latter stages of descent, a parachute is ...
The energy heats and ionizes the shell of metal formed by the crushed rings. The hot ionized metal is shot out of a magnetic rocket nozzle at a high speed (up to 30 km/s). Repeating this process roughly every minute would accelerate or decelerate the spacecraft. [ 18 ]
Hypothetical in-space propulsion technologies describe propulsion technologies that could meet future space science and exploration needs. These propulsion technologies are intended to provide effective exploration of the Solar System and may permit mission designers to plan missions to "fly anytime, anywhere, and complete a host of science ...
After the ban of nuclear weapons in space by the Outer Space Treaty in 1967, nuclear power has been discussed at least since 1972 as a sensitive issue by states. [8] Space nuclear power sources may experience accidents during launch, operation, and end-of-service phases, resulting in the exposure of nuclear power sources to extreme physical conditions and the release of radioactive materials ...
Rockets can carry their working mass and use other energy sources. The problem is finding an energy source with a power-to-weight ratio that competes with chemical fuels. Small nuclear reactors can compete in this regard, and considerable work on nuclear thermal propulsion was carried out in the 1960s, but environmental concerns and rising ...
An orbital propellant depot is a cache of propellant that is placed in orbit around Earth or another body to allow spacecraft or the transfer stage of the spacecraft to be fueled in space. It is one of the types of space resource depots that have been proposed for enabling infrastructure-based space exploration. [1]
A considerable amount of development is being conducted in industry, such as IHI Corporation in Japan, Aerojet and Busek in the US, SNECMA in France, LAJP in Ukraine, SITAEL in Italy, and Satrec Initiative in South Korea. The first use of Hall thrusters on lunar orbit was the European Space Agency (ESA) lunar mission SMART-1 in 2003.