大功率空间核电推进技术研究进展

大功率空间核电推进系统是空间核电源技术和大功率电推进技术的高度融合,具有高能量密度、超高比冲、较大推力的优势,可适用于超大型航天器轨道转移任务、远距离无人深空探测任务、载人火星等大型深空探测任务,能够极大地拓展人类深空探测的能力。本文针对大功率空间核电推进技术,对其工作原理和系统组成进行了介绍,同时开展了关键技术梳理,重点归纳了国内外在技术领域的研究历程和最新进展。

Progress on High Power Space Nuclear Electric Propulsion Technology Development

High power nuclear electric propulsion (NEP) highly integrates space nuclear reactor and high power electric propulsion technologies, with the advantages of high power density, very high spe-cific impulse and high thrust, which can be applied for large interplanetary missions, such as or-bital transfer task of super large spacecraft, robotic interplanetary missions and manned Mars ex-ploration, greatly enhancing human`s ability in deep space exploration. This paper presents the principle and system configuration of high power NEP system, and summarizes several critical techniques. Moreover, both research course and latest development in worldwide are also detailed studied.