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The quantity of power needed by a spacecraft depends 2. The manned spacecraft, such as those in the
upon the job to be done. The more power required, Gemini and Apollo programs, which must support
the bigger and heavier the space power plant. Because men. From one to four kilowatts suffice for these
weight and space are always coveted by spacecraft spacecraft.
engineers for other equipment, the actual power level
on any specific spacecraft is a matter of negotiation NASA has studied more ambitious missions to the
and compromise. In the spacecraft design process, outer planets that would consume tens and even
everyone has to agree upon a weight and space hundreds of kilowatts-mostly for electrical propulsion.
budget as well as a power budget: so much of each In general, however, spacecraft are misers with
commodity for experiments, so much for communica- electrical power when compared with the average
tions, so much for attitude control, and so on. American household.
The first satellites orbited in late 1957 and 1958 Spacecraft do not draw power at a steady rate like
needed no more than a watt or two to radio their a light bulb or radio. Refrigerators and washing
sensor readings back to Earth. Today's satellites and machines are better examples because they operate
probes need more power because they make many in cycles or sequences of events, each event demand-
more measurements, because they are often much ing a different quantity of power. The same is true
farther away from Earth, because they are bigger and on spacecraft. A typical cycle for a scientific satellite
more complex, and because some must sustain is illustrated by its record-and-readout operation.
astronauts. Despite their higher metabolic rates,
A
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Chemical Reaction *
*These reactions are rather idealized; cell chemistry is not nearly so clear cut.
t When used as primary batteries.
Adhesive
oneycomb Core
Batteries have almost inevitably accompanied solar The half-life problem, however, is not as limiting as
cells into space. Secondary batteries act as energy the high cost and scarcity of good radioisotope fuel.
accumulators that help the power plant meet the These factors have restricted the use of radioisotopes
peaks and valleys in the desired power profile. When in space power plants to a handful of missions.
the spacecraft moves into the shadow of Earth, Moon, The U.S. Navy has powered several of its Transit
or planet, the batteries become the sole source of navigation satellites with RTGs varying in power level
electricalpower. On OGO, two silver-cadmium batteries from 2 to 25 watts. NASA has also installed an
were installed. Each contained 24 cells and weighed RTG called SNAP-19 * on one of its Nimbus
about 24 pounds. When the solar cells (but not the
power-conditioning equipment) were included, the
OGO power plant weighed approximately 174 pounds. * SNAP = Systems for Nuclear Auxiliary Power, a joint NASA-AEC
This figure corresponds to about 3 watts per pound Program. -
weather satellites. Speaking generally, RTGs are If one takes two dissimilar metal wires, joins them,
competitive with solar-cell power plants on a weight and heats the junction, one can measure a voltage
basis, but they are more costly due to their expensive across the cool ends of the wires. This is the thermo-
fuel. For this reason, RTGs find application electric efJect. In the thermocouple, the magnitude of
wherever, for some reason, solar cells cannot do the the voltage measured is a measure of the temperature
job well. Potential RTG applications include satellites differential . The key to the practical produc-
that must operate in the Van Allen belts, lunar tion of electrical power from the thermoelectric
probes that must generate power during the long effect is the substitution of semiconductor materials
lunar night, probes to Jupiter and other planets far for the metal wires of the thermocouple. For one
from the Sun, and probes that go so close to the wire, a p-type semiconductor is used; for the other,
Sun that solar cells would become overheated and an n-type semiconductor, just as in the solar cell,
cease to operate efficiently. which converts solar radiation instead of heat directly
into electricity.
In the center of the typical RTG, there is a thick
cylindrical fuel capsule, which serves as the heat If the semiconductor materials, say, lead telluride,
source. Surrounding the fuel capsule are thermoelectric are fashioned into squat cylinders and joined thermally
energy converters that change some of the heat flowing and electrically to a metal plate, a miniature thermo-
outward from the fuel capsule into electricity. The electric generator is created. If the plate-called the
heat that escapes conversion into electricity (usually hot junction-is heated, the electrons and holes in
some 95% of the radioisotope-generated heat) next the semiconductors will both be driven toward the
flows out to the shell of the RTG, where it is radiated cold ends of the cylinders. An electrical load can be
away. To understand the RTG better, we need connected acrcss the cold ends and electrical power
explanations of the thermoelectric effect and the will be delivered to it as electrons flow through it
process of thermal radiation. to combine with the holes in the p-type "leg" of the
thermoelectric couple.
The thermoelectric element is a close relative of the
thermocouple, the first device used by man to convert
heat into electricity directly without moving parts.
at Flow
13 When the hot junction of a fhermoelectric couple is
heated, electrons and holes are driven toward the cold ends of
the semiconductor cylinders. Electrons flow through the load
and neutralize the positive holes.
Nuclear Fission
Power Plants
in Space
Nuclear fission reactors, like radioisotope fuel
capsules, are extremely compact heat sources. When
the nucleus of uranium-235 is split by a neutron, the
kinetic energies of the fragments quickly appear as
heat energy. The amount of energy tied up in one
pound of uranium-235 is equivalent to that in 1400
tons of coal. The key to applying the nuclear fission
16 SNAP-1OA. The reactor is perched on the top of the cone
reactor to space power is the controlled release of that forms the radiator surface. During launch, the whole
this immense energy and its partial conversion into power plant was protected by a shroud.
electricity.
An important characteristic of the nuclear reactor is its SNAP-lOA, like the RTGs, employed thermoelectric
requirement for a certain minimum mass of fissionable elements to convert nuclear heat into electricity. The
fuel before a heat-releasing chain reaction can heart of SNAP-1OA was its nuclear reactor, consisting
commence. A nuclear reactor power plant designed of uranium-zirconium fuel elements surrounded by
for space use may weigh 900 pounds and generate a neutron reflector of beryllium. When the movable
500 watts, but it would not weigh a great deal less if reflector pieces closed in around the reactor fuel
it produced only 1 watt. Because of this irreducible core, a heat-producing chain reaction began. The
minimum size, reactor space power plants will be heat was removed by a circulating liquid sodium-
consigned to future missions requiring high power potassium alloy called NaK. The NaK conveyed the
levels-usually over 10 kilowatts. heat to a conical assembly of tubes that were bonded
to the hot junctions of hundreds of thermoelectric
Compared with the large extant supply of uranium-235, elements. The outer surface covering the cold
suitable radioisotope fuels for space power plants junctions of the thermoelectric elements formed the
are rare. Little wonder that space power engineers power plant radiator. The continually flowing stream
studied nuclear fission plants early. The NASA-AEC of NaK was propelled by an electromagnetic pump,
SNAP program has investigated a number of reactor which used magnetic force to accelerate the metallic
space power plants ranging from 500 watts to 1000 fluid.
kilowatts. One of these power plants, SNAP-lOA,
has already flown in an orbital test; another, SNAP-8,
is still under development.
-NaK
POWER-CONVERSION UNIT
SNAP-1OA was launched on an Atlas-Agena rocket SNAP-8 will not employ thermoelectric elements;
from Vandenberg Air Force Base, California, on rather the decision was made to try dynamic conversion
April 3, 1965, into an 800-mile polar orbit. The of heat into electricity. In dynamic conversion, heat
power plant generated some 500 watts during the test, is first converted into the motion of a working fluid,
which lasted 43 days until telemetry contact was say, steam; the high velocity steam then hits a
lost with the satellite. SNAP-1OA weighed about turbine, which is connected to an electrical generator
960 pounds, yielding about half a watt for each pound. by a shaft. As the turbine turns, electricity is
The overall conversion efficiency was less than 2%. generated. This is the same basic process employed
It should be emphasized, though, that SNAP-1OA in most commercial coal- and oil-fired electrical
was a test power plant, not one intended for operational power plants.
use. It was in fact the first nuclear reactor ever
launched into space. Mercury will replace water in SNAP-8; mercury
vapor will drive the SNAP-8 turbine rather than
SNAP-8 is a 35-kilowatt nuclear fission power plant
and is in a power range where nuclear fission power
is clearly superior to radioisotopes, chemicals, and
solar cells on a weight basis. SNAP-8 has not been
flown; it is still in the development stage.
(2) EXPANSION OF HOT WORKING FLUID
Load
Waste Heat
HEAT Radiator
ADDITION
(3) WASTE HEAT
REMOVAL
w
(4) LIQUID PUMP OR
GAS COMPRESSOR
steam. Because the mercury fluid and vapor travel in With SNAP-8, the problem of waste heat disposal
a continuous circuit from the heat source, to the becomes more critical. The amount of waste heat will
turbine, to the radiator, the word cycle is applied to be five to ten times the 35 kilowatts of electricity
these types of dynamic conversion systems. In generated. Simple RTG-type finned radiators are
particular, mercury and water cycles are termed grossly inadequate. With an operational SNAP-8
Rankine cycles, after William J. M. Rankine, a power plant, the spacecraft will require wing-like
Scottish engineer. The Rankine cycle can be broken radiators that make the craft look like some strange
down into four parts: (1) Heat addition at the airplane. Large solar-cell power plants present the
source (the reactor in SNAP-8); (2) the expansion same general appearance, but the objective there is to
step, where the vapor created by boiling during heat collect solar radiation rather than to dispose of
addition expands through the turbine and turns it; waste heat derived from an internal fuel supply.
(3) removal of the waste heat at the radiator, which
condenses the vapor to a liquid; and (4) repressur- Some other interesting features of SNAP-8 are its
ization of the fluid by a pump. The liquid then three liquid metal circuits and single circuit of
returns to the heat source for reheating. Of course, organic fluid. The first liquid metal circuit, called the
all four steps are going on all the time but in different primary loop, uses liquid NaK to carry heat from the
portions of the fluidivapor circuit. reactor to a heat exchanger where the heat is
transferred to liquid mercury, occupying the secondary
loop. The liquid mercury boils in the heat exchanger,
creating the hot vapor that drives the turbine.
Instead of going directly to the radiator for condensa-
tion, the mercury vapor is cooled and condensed in
19 Artist's concept of the SNAP-8 flight model. It is planned
for development of 30 to 60 kilowatts of electrical power.
another heat exchanger. The tertiary fluid used to When completely developed, SNAP-8 will probably
cool the mercury vapor is NaK again. The organic weigh about 10,000 pounds in flight co~ltiguration.
coolant loop cools various portions of the power plant Because it will generate 35 kilowatts, it will obtain
where liquid metals would be undesirable. There are 3 watts for each pound-a much higher figure than
several engineering reasons for this complexity; one those mentioned for other space power plants. Overall
is that mercury cannot be sent through the reactor thermal efficiency will be about 8%.
directly because its affinity for neutrons would stop the
fission chain reaction, NaK is used instead; another
reason is that mercury vapor condensation in a huge
radiator under zero-g conditions is difficult, instead
fluid NaK conveys the heat of condensation to the
radiator.
What missions would need SNAP-8's 35 kilowatts? The history of spacecraft design has been one of
NASA's mission planners foresee SNAP-8s being power-pinching because there has never been enough
used on large orbital space stations and on lunar bases. power for all desired spacecraft components and
NASA has even begun exploratory development instruments. If spacecraft engineers had kilowatts
work on components for space power plants that rather than watts at their disposal, they would
will generate hundreds of kilowatts; here, the applica- undoubtedly find many things to do with the extra
tion would be on advanced missions employing power. They would welcome this k i d of affluence.
electrical engines, such as ion rockets.
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