Nuclear powered air-breathing electric thrusters used in UAV for extra-terrestrial applications
2022-26-1242
05/26/2022
- Event
- Content
- With an interest in space exploration developing at a remarkable rate in the course of the most recent couple of years, it has become a daunting task to explore the different planets because of hostile environmental conditions present on them and here UAVs play a critical role. This paper aims to study and develop Unmanned Aerial Vehicles that run using motors & electric thrusters and uses nuclear fuel Plutonium-238 (238Pu) as their power generation source. The UAV being ideated plans to operate both in earth's atmosphere and extra-terrestrial space. The heat from the decay of 238Pu is extracted by using Multi-Mission Radio Thermoelectric Generator (MMRTGs) using thermocouples thus providing electricity. The idea of utilizing MMRTG in UAVs has been proposed as it works well in both the space vacuum and the planetary atmosphere. The heat energy from the MMRTG can be utilized as a consistent wellspring to keep up with appropriate working temperatures for a UAV and its instruments in cold environmental conditions. MMRTG acts as a main power source for the UAV. The air-breathing electric thrusters work by compressing the air molecules into plasma and accelerating the stream of plasma molecules to provide thrust for the satellite, thus can be very well utilized in the vacuum of space for continuously providing thrust for the operation of the UAV in low-earth orbits. The thrusters are connected to a propellor, as in atmospheric conditions, air-breathing electric thrusters require a continuous flow of air to generate thrust. This paper concludes the working of the propulsion system for UAVs in various environmental conditions and depicts the advantageous uses of MMRTGs & Air-breathing electric thrusters in UAVs for extra-terrestrial space transportation and extends its research for future profound space investigation.
- Citation
- Bhurat, S., Shetty, N., and Das, S., "Nuclear powered air-breathing electric thrusters used in UAV for extra-terrestrial applications," SAE Technical Paper 2022-26-1242, 2022, .