Gaseous Fission Reactors for Booster Propulsion

The gaseous fission reactor concept is examined as the prime energy source for direct heating of the propellant in a high thrust rocket engine. The analysis reveals that, if regenerative cooling is the only mechanism for removing the radiation heat deposited in the solid members of the reactor and engine, the maximum attainable specific impulse is about three times that for the corresponding all solid fuel reactor. In the high thrust application, i.e., booster stages, thermal radiation from the fissioning gas is not a critical factor. Even with conservative estimates of gas emissivities, the resulting engine performance is markedly superior to other methods of propulsion. Typical engine and vehicle characteristics are determined for a variety of missions ranging from 25,000 to 60,000 fps velocity increments.