Rawlins, Samantha; Thomas, Lawrence Dale - 2022
This paper establishes the feasibility of Low-Enriched Uranium fueled Nuclear Thermal Propulsion (LEU-NTP) reactors in the low-thrust region below 16klbf (71kN). A reference, 7.5klbf, HEU design is converted to 19.75% enriched LEU and shown to be capable of reaching criticality and meeting other...